Weekend Small Talk: Top 5 That Guys
Every era has the busy actors who keep popping up in movie and movie or show after show yet you never know their name. Occassionaly they get their break and land a starring role but for the most part they just stick to their niche and play their roles so well that you never really notice that they are acting.
Honorable Mention goes to Mark Strong, who broke out this year in "Body of Lies" and "Rock'n'Rolla", two movies nobody saw. He also is a dead ringer for Andy Garcia. There's also Paul Ben-Victor who was Vonda, The Greek's right hand man, in "The Wire" and studio head Alan Grey in "Entourage".
I also have to recognize the girl I couldn't believe I remembered, Laura Ramsey. Now Ms. Ramsey probably isn't on many "That Guy" lists but she's always had a place in my heart because a) she's super-cute and b) she was in "The Real Cancun", a reality film that I worked on and that nobody else saw. I pretty much forgot about her until she popped up for a second in "The Lords of Dogtown". I couldn't figure out who she was and finally figured it out with the help of IMDB. Since then she's popped up in a few other movies and is starting to get bigger roles in, well, films with bigger marketing campaigns. She was in "The Covenant" as well as "The Ruins". Hopefully she'll keep getting roles and grow as an actress. What can I say, I'm kind of crushing on her.
Right now there are a number of these actors but I've picked out my five favorites. Who are yours?
5. Said Taghmaoui: Plain and simple, Said is Hollywood's go-to Arab. He tortured Mark Wahlberg in "Three Kings". He was in "Sleeper Cell" and "Vantage Point". He worked with Don Cheadle in "Traitor". When I saw that they were making "House of Saddam", I just knew he'd play a role in that. He'll finally get a chance to play a good guy as one of the Joe's in G.I. Joe. He's a very good actor and who knows, maybe he'll someday gets roles that aren't defined by his ethnicity.
4. Zeljko Ivanek: This guy pops up all over the place although he's recently gotten some meatier roles, especially his gig on "Damages", for which he won an Emmy. Ever since he played Mr. Cleary in "School Ties", I've recognized him but I've never known his name. In true "That Guy" fashion, I often confuse him with Paul McCrane aka the doctor who gets his arm cut off by a helicopter on ER. Ivanek is great at what he does yet immediately forgettable. I completely forgot he was even in "Live Free or Die Hard" and I remember the role he played in "In Bruges" but forgot it was him. HE's had a busy career spanning from "St. Elsewhere" to "Heroes" but I still had to check a few times before I spelled his first name right.
3. Craig Robinson: A lot of fans know who Craig Robinson is. He's in "The Office". He was the doorman in Knocked Up. He was one of the only funny things in Zack and Miri Make A Porno. He's one of the funnier members of Apatow's acting troupe but he's still yet to really get his close up. I can't imagine he won't have a leading role soon but I actually wouldn't mind if he didn't because that means he'll have more time to pop up in as many films as he can.
2. Luis Guzman: Luis Guzman is a great actor and absolutely hilarious. He also has the best Puerto Rican accent since Rosie Perez cooed "Mookie" (but for completely different reasons). When he popped up in "He Just Not That Into You", people started laughing. His mere presence gets people giggling. He broke through in "Boogie Nights" although I think he first popped up on my radar after "Carlito's Way". He one over a new groups of fans in "Waiting...". Now part of me thinks he should be disqualified because he had his own TV show but it only lasted two episodes and I'm willing to bet you could point to him, tell people he was on "Luis", and they'd still ask, "Waht's his name?" He's also one of those actors whom you say "I love that guy." and then when you look at his filmography you're kind of like, "Why do I? He's not in that many great flicks." But he makes every moment count, even if you don't know his name.
1. Stephen Tobolowsky: When I first moved to Los Angeles, my first job was on a film called "Par 6". It was basically the That Guy movie to end all that guy movies. The lead was John Mahoney aka Frasier's Dad (or Ione Skye's dad in "Say Anything"). The rest of the cast was like that. It was the Principal from "Ferris Bueller". The brother from "The Drew Carey Show". Jacques Renault from "Twin Peaks". It starred a pre-Nip/Tuck Dylan Walsh (and I'm not sure people even now know his name). It was directed by Grant Heslov aka the camera guy in "The Birdcage" or the guy who gets it big time from the gorilla in "Congo. Fittingly, nobody saw it. Still, perhaps the That Guy of That Guys was Stephen Tobolowsky. He has had great roles in classic films yet nobody knows him. He's Needlenose Ned Ryerson in "Groundhog's Day". He's Sammy Jankis in 'Memento". Mary McDonell has to get his password in "Sneakers". The guy plays great roles yet somehow isn't memorable. At all. For an actor, it's a gift and a curse. It allows people to watch his roles without the baggage of past performances but it also means that he'll never be a marquee guy. Still, he's been in tons of films and is constantly working (he recently did a little stint in "Heroes" so it might be the best of both worlds. The money from acting, the joy of performing, and none of the celebrity headaches.
