I was looking at the Emmy nominations, specifically for Barry and got to thinking about Stephen Root. I think he might be my favorite character actor. He shows up in everything and absolutely steals the scenes every time. He can play the most normal people and the most outlandish characters and he knocks it out of the park every time. He’s a chameleon.

Who are your favorite character actors?

  • McBinary
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    132 years ago

    Lance Reddick (RIP) by far. That man was incredible.

    • @canthidiumOP
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      22 years ago

      Oh definitely. He was great in everything. One of my favorite and earliest roles I remember him in was in OZ.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        I haven’t seen Oz yet (I desperately need to change that) so I feel like I kind of got into the Lance Reddick camp late. I loved him in Fringe and the John Wick films though. It was funny seeing him go from that cool, collected demeanor, to the ridiculous character he played on Eric Andre’s show.

        • @canthidiumOP
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          22 years ago

          Oh man, he was hilarious on Eric Andre. I would heavily recommend OZ. It was really one of the first of HBO’s “prestige” TV series, followed by The Sopranos. Lance is only in a season or 2, but he’s great while he’s there. There were a lot of people who came and went. People got killed off a lot on that show. One character who you think is gonna be around dies in the very first episode, haha. But it’s a who’s who of actors you see all the time now before they blew up. And I’d still argue one of JK Simmons’ best roles.

          • @[email protected]
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            22 years ago

            It has so many familiar faces in it, it’s a crime I haven’t watched it yet. I love JK Simmons.

            • @canthidiumOP
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              12 years ago

              Oh you’ll love it then. Just be warned, lots of hanging dong in it, lol.

      • @canthidiumOP
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        22 years ago

        God he’s so good in the Wire. I mean everyone is really. Ugh, it might be time for a rewatch.

    • @canthidiumOP
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      2 years ago

      Ricky Jay, gone too soon. My favorite role of his is in Heist. Way underrated movie. Mamet’s dialogue is so interesting. I loved watching Ricky’s magic too. If you haven’t seen it, check out Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants. Very entertaining.

  • @echoplex21
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    12 years ago

    Gary Oldman always comes to mind.

  • @FartWhippits
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    12 years ago

    Michael Stuhlbarg.

    Saw him in MIB3 and enjoyed it, then basically forgot about him until I saw him in Your Honor and loved it. Now I’ve spotted him in quite a few other things too.

    I need to start paying more attention to character actors. Michael Stuhlbarg is really the first one I’ve paid any attention to, so I’ll be taking notes from this thread and setting myself some homework 🙂

    • @canthidiumOP
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      22 years ago

      Oh this is a good one. Truly underrated