What Character Actors Do You Fixate On?

By Pajiba Staff | Celebrity | September 7, 2016 |

By Pajiba Staff | Celebrity | September 7, 2016 |

They might be famous, they might be someone you’d describe to a friend as, “Oh, you know, she was in that movie with Jennifer Garner!” or they might just be a face you love to see whenever you can. But these are the actors we love and sometimes don’t even know why.

Riley: I love Olivia Colman, I know she’s a bit bigger deal in the UK than here, but I get so excited when I see her in anything. Awesome on Broadchurch and as important to The Night Manager as Hiddles and Laurie. She’s my favorite choice to play a female regeneration of The Doctor. That said, I couldn’t get through the pilot of Flowers on SeeSo. Sorry ‘Liv!

TK: I just recently started watching Sons of Anarchy and I’ve really started digging Theo Rossi’s goofy mug. He’ll be playing Shades in the new Luke Cage series and I’m ridiculously excited for that.

Rebecca: I feel very protective of Scott Bakula, even though I am reasonably certain I’ve never seen him in anything. I know I’ve never seen any of his MAJOR stuff. And yet. I just really like the idea of Scott Bakula. Also, he has a good name.

Petr: It’s simple really. Franka Potente is a warm-but-precise actress who brightens up anything she’s in — especially the Bourne movies; David Morse is a hulking and unpredictable presence with piercing blue eyes; and Michael K. Williams somehow managed to act his way out of the self-created shadow of one of the greatest television characters ever. I’m not saying I spend a lot of time dream-casting buddy cop movies, but if someone could just throw these three together into something that’d be swell.

Emily: I’m not sure if Kathryn Hahn has become too famous to qualify as a character actor, but I would like her to play every role in my life. However, while I love Kathryn Hahn for infinity, I don’t feel like she’s “mine” the way I do with Carol Kane. I have what I acknowledge to be an inappropriate attachment to Carol Kane in no small part because I sounded just like her when I was a very small child. Both in the high pitched squeakiness of my voice and also somehow the New York accent. And Scrooged. Always Scrooged.

Dustin: I’m not saying that I will watch everything that Melanie Lynskey is in (she had a paycheck arc on Two and a Half Men), but of late, she’s become someone whose work I will actively seek out. The New Zealand actress began her career in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, and in recent years, she has matched that description in HBO’s Togetherness, the indie Happy Christmas, where she outshone Anna Kendrick, and Intervention (now on VOD), where she plays a Type-A alcoholic. Though I have always liked her work, I must confess it was her episode of Marc Maron’s podcast, where she revealed an abundance of insecurities, that fully drew me to her and her willingness to put her vulnerabilities on full display.

Kristy: Tom Hollander. He’s short, snarky and sinister, bringing a charged menace wherever he growls. I first noticed him as the creepy Mr. Collins in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice. Since then, whether’s he’s playing a curmudgeonly mate (About Time), a befuddled politician (In The Loop), or a flirtatious fiend (The Night Manager), I am absolutely giddy at the sight of him. His versatility and off-kilter energy promises anything can happen, sparking a sense of spontaneity whatever the project. But my all-time favorite Hollander performance is his turn as the merciless hitman in Hanna, who whistled a terrifying tune as he set about his bloody deeds.

Brian: Walton Goggins. I loved his work on The Shield as Shane Vendrell, but as Boyd Crowder on Justified, with his ear-to-ear smile, sharp fashion sense (it’s hard to picture Walton in a dress shirt, with no tie, that’s not buttoned all the way to the very top) and the beautiful way he would speak every line of dialogue that was given to him as he sparred with Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan Givens or any other character onscreen…it just deepened my appreciation for the man and his work so much more.

Jodi: Garret Dillahunt. Deadwood. Raising Hope. 12 Years A Slave. Looper. Winter’s Bone.Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. No Country for Old Men. You could be forgiven for not realizing Dillahunt was in every one of these shows and movies. The man fully immerses himself into each and every character, altering his appearance just enough to make you say, “Do I know this guy?” Then it suddenly hits you that Dillahunt is carefully crafting a long career from unforgettable roles that still somehow make you forget the actor himself. He’s an enigma wrapped in a bastard-load of talent.

Courtney: Jeremy Davies. This strange actor, with his jerky motions and soft trepidatious speech style, has captivated me for years. From Maggie Gyllenhaal’s nice safe boyfriend in Secretary to Lost’s Daniel Faraday, his quirk-laden style, able to make you uncomfortable or heartbroken in the same instant, is simply captivating. Here’s hoping American Gods finally gives him the attention he deserves.