unsung actors

[Dominic]

Give us your favorite unsung actor or actress and why you like them so much...

here's a couple of mine:

Bruce Greenwood



Bruce Greenwood is a Canadian actor seen in lots of Hollywood movies mostly as a corporate or government villain-type, as in Double Jeopardy, I Robot and Rules of Engagement. But when he's allowed to stretch in big movies or star in little ones, Greenwood is a striking film presence. Check out his work in Capote, Being Julia, The Sweet Hereafter, as a poignant and doubt-stricken JFK in Thirteen Days, and in my favorite performance of his, Exotica.

Although he first came to prominance as Mark Harmon's replacement on St. Elsewhere, it was in Exotica that I think I first noticed Greenwood, as a man who has suffered an unspeakable tragedy and finds unlikely solace at strip club. He's absolutely heartbreaking and just a little creepy at the same time.

Whenever I see his name in the credits I perk up, knowing I'm going to at least be interested in seeing what nuances Greenwood will bring to the role. He reminds me of a 21st century J.T. Walsh.

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Bill Nighy



I love this guy. He's one of those British actors who seems equally at home in a stark drama as he does in a silly comedy. He's had a long career in English television and features but has now been doing international and Hollywood films for a number of years now, and they are all much better for it.

You've seen him in many movies: as the Chief Inspector in Hot Fuzz, Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Viktor in the Underworld movies, Cate Blanchet's put-upon husband in Notes on a Scandal, the British Lord in The Constant Gardener, and the aging rock star in Love, Actually. He's also the man underneath all that make-up and CGI giving the best performance in all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, playing Davey Jones.

But it's his "little films" that I find Nighy most astonishing. Check out The Girl in the Cafe, Still Crazy (as another very funny aging and drugged-out rocker), and my favorite, Lawless Heart. In this one, Nighy plays a long-faithful husband whose life and passions are re-awakened due to the death of his friend. It's a little miracle of a movie, and one you should go search out right now! (In fact, I think that'll be my next "Obscure movie review.)

Really, this guy can do it all. He's so funny and yet can blow two pros like Dench and Blanchet off the screen in his minor role in Notes on a Scandal. Truly a great actor - one who will always get me to see a movie he is in.

[fatgirl_lover]

good choices. here are a couple i like, they are famous but i think they arent as popular as they should be. woody harrelson and philip seymour hoffman. i like harrelon a lot in his speech in that mining company. "my coach said there are two types of players. there are red ice players, win or lose they leave their blood on the ice. but that' not what you are, you're what the coach might call a yellow ice player... so what's it going to be, red or yellow? red or yellow? RED, OR YELLOW?"

i've only seen him in tarantino films, he's particularly good in Four Rooms. Tim Roth

[pryor15]

dom,

i'm sure you've heard that Greenwood's in the new HBO series, but in case you hadn't...

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
dom,

i'm sure you've heard that Greenwood's in the new HBO series, but in case you hadn't...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but I did my annual "cancel-HBO-after-The Sopranos-season-is-over" thing. In fact, I got rid of all my premium movie channels.

[pryor15]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
dom,

i'm sure you've heard that Greenwood's in the new HBO series, but in case you hadn't...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but I did my annual "cancel-HBO-after-The Sopranos-season-is-over" thing. In fact, I got rid of all my premium movie channels.

[/ QUOTE ]

ah

episode 1 is on hbo.com

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
good choices. here are a couple i like, they are famous but i think they arent as popular as they should be. woody harrelson and philip seymour hoffman. i like harrelon a lot in his speech in that mining company. "my coach said there are two types of players. there are red ice players, win or lose they leave their blood on the ice. but that' not what you are, you're what the coach might call a yellow ice player... so what's it going to be, red or yellow? red or yellow? RED, OR YELLOW?"

i've only seen him in tarantino films, he's particularly good in Four Rooms. Tim Roth

[/ QUOTE ]

well, Hoffman just won an Oscar last year, so I don't think we can call him "unsung" anymore...but I love Tim Roth...if you haven't seen it, you should check out Rob Roy with Roth as the villain...very good movie and a great performance. Also, check out The Hit with Roth in one of his first film roles.

[fatgirl_lover]

okay will see both those movies thanks. as far as HOffman goes what i mean is that people look for movies with Will Ferril in them, or dutin hoffman, al pacino, meryl streep or deniro. People know that hoffman is good but my impression is that people don't think of him in the same terms as those actors which he should be in.

[fatgirl_lover]

also another one, again maybe it's not right of me to list her since people know about her but kate winslett. her name doesn't seem as big as it should be with her perofmances in Little Children and Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind

[diebitter]

Bill Paxton

He may be better remembered for his highlight days in the 1980s in Aliens as Hicks, and as the outstanding redneck vampire in 'Near Dark', as well as turns cameoing in the Spy Kids movies and the underused lead in Twister, but I think his turn in 'Frailty' really showed his abilities to the maximum, whilst picking up very little comment.


Jeff Bridges

Okay, he's had his time you could say, as he was hailed as something great in the day (Big Lebowski, Starman), but the man keeps doing good work consistently. 'Fearless' is a heartbreaking look at damaged people trying to understand their wounds and come to terms with them, if you go back a bit. More recently, he was utterly compelling as the President of the USA in 'The Contender' - I completely believed this was a man entirely at home and at the height of his political powers (both big picture and in using his charm and abilities to take people where he wanted them to be without them knowing it) as the man that ran the country and made it look easy (jeez, if only the real president were a 100th of the man this guy is).


Bruce Campbell

Okay this is not so much unsung but underused and unable to show his abilities to their best advantage....

Apart from being the mighty Ash in the Evil Dead trilogy, I think Bruce Campbell has been sorely underused and somewhat unsung as an actor. I think apart from the Spiderman movie cameos, he doesn't get into feature films much these days.

However, he does a pretty darn good Elvis (and I don't mean just as an impression, I mean as a fully-rounded and believable character) in Bubba Ho Tep, and that film really benefits from his considerable acting abilities (and the presence of Ossie Davis).

I really thought he was going to be either a fully-rounded mainstream actor actually, or even the next action hero, but it didn't come to pass.

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]



Bruce Campbell

However, he does a pretty darn good Elvis (and I don't mean just as an impression, I mean as a fully-rounded and believable character) in Bubba Ho Tep, and that film really benefits from his considerable acting abilities (and the presence of Ossie Davis).


[/ QUOTE ]

QFMFT. Loved him in this one.