The 20 Best 'That Guys' Of All Time
A "That Guy" is a B-list character actor who's just talented enough to secure bit parts in a handful of movies every year, but not quite good looking enough to become a brand-name star. Some specialize in playing villains and others in having freaky-enormous chest tattoos, but combined, these brave, barely handsome men have appeared in every single movie produced in the last decade.
DAVID MORSE
You Might Know Him From...
The Rock, 16 Blocks, The Green Mile, Proof of Life, 12 Monkeys, a bunch of other movies where he plays a psychotic government employee.
Special Moves
Being this close to jumping over this desk/car/boulder/pile of corpses and ferociously beating your face into the carpet.
Is a Poor Man's...
Russell Crowe
PHILIP BAKER HALL
You Might Know Him From...
Boogie Nights, Seinfeld, Ghostbusters 2, literally every hour-long TV drama about lawyers. There are honestly too many to list here.
Special Moves
Thinking you're a worthless longhaired hippie punk, and not being afraid to tell you as much to your worthless longhaired hippie punk face.
Is a Poor Man's...
James Coburn. (Needless to say, Hall has been called more frequently now that James Coburn is dead.)
JOAQUIM DE ALMEIDA
You Might Know Him From...
Clear and Present Danger, Desperado, 24, Behind Enemy Lines, his ruthless iron grip on the world of international drug trafficking.
Special Moves
Using his lack of a conscience to rise to power in the ruthless world of drugs/international espionage/banging chicks that are hotter than him.
Is a Poor Man's...
Al Pacino without eyebrows or, alternatively, Gabriel Byrne with a terrible Portuguese accent
DYLAN BAKER
You Might Know Him From...
Spider-Man 2, Kinsey, Road to Perdition, countless shitty TV shows.
Special Moves
Indignantly pointing his finger at people, rubbing their mistakes in their faces, wearing bowties, making people pay (within the law), penis envy.
Is a Poor Man's...
Michael Clarke Duncan
KEITH DAVID
You Might Know Him From...
Men at Work, Road House, Platoon, Barbershop, Armageddon, the 1980 blockbuster Disco Godfather.
Special Moves
Not giving a shit about anything other than completing the duty/assignment/trash pickup assigned to him.
Is a Poor Man's...
Louis Gossett, Jr.
DANNY TREJO
You Might Know Him From...
Desperado, Grindhouse, The Devil's Rejects, xXx, Con Air, Heat, your worst nightmares.
Special Moves
Knife throwing, gun shooting, bartending, and face kicking, all while not speaking and sometimes simultaneously.
Is a Poor Man's...
Rosie Perez
NOAH EMMERICH
You Might Know Him From...
Miracle, Beautiful Girls, The Truman Show, Cop Land, punching your nuts and taking your lunch money in elementary school.
Special Moves
Really swell guys with bad skin, really good friends with bad skin, really husky everymen with bad skin.
Is a Poor Man's...
Chemically burned Jon Favreau
TOM WILKINSON
You Might Know Him From...
Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Patriot, Rush Hour, The Full Monty, being a dead ringer for at least one teacher in every high school in America.
Special Moves
Obese, selfish slobs.
Is a Poor Man's...
Jon Voight
JK SIMMONS
You Might Know Him From...
Spider-Man, Thank You for Smoking, Law & Order (all three, seriously), Oz, The Jackal, poignantly capturing the essence of Ralph Earnhardt in the ESPN Films masterpiece, 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story.
Special Moves
Dispensing tough, well-informed love at top speed, top volume, and top borderline sarcasm.
Is a Poor Man's...
Ed Harris
WILLIAM FICHTNER
You Might Know Him From...
Prison Break, The Longest Yard, Crash, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, The Perfect Storm, Armageddon, 12,348 other movies and TV shows about something that's 40 times more manly than you've ever done.
Special Moves
Pricks in uniform, cowards in uniform, assholes in uniform, shitheads in uniform, douchebags in uniform, fishermen who drown in uniform.
Is a Poor Man's...
Kevin Bacon
JOHN HEARD
You Might Know Him From...
His tour de force role as the dad in Home Alone guaranteed him a lifetime of supporting roles in mildly entertaining TV shows and movies (with the exception of The Sopranos, which, of course, is the one drop-dead awesome show he's been on.)
Special Moves
Reminding you of a kindly but stern amalgamation of all your friends's dads.
Is a Poor Man's...
Tim Allen
ZELJKO IVANEK
You Might Know Him From...
His lifeless, skull-like face and cold, dead eyes haunting your dreams. Also, because he's appeared in every single TV law-enforcement drama, including, but not limited to, CSI, Shark, Cold Case, Bones, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, NYPD Blue, Oz, The Practice, 24, Homicide: Life on the Street, and Frasier.
Special Moves
Imagine the lawyer/prosecutor/accountant you'd most dread seeing across the table from you. Okay, got it? It's this guy, isn't it? I know-freaky, right?
Is a Poor Man's...
Viggo from Ghostbusters II (he's very busy)
RICHARD JENKINS
You Might Know Him From...
Six Feet Under, I Heart Huckabees, Me. Myself & Irene, Intolerable Cruelty, and a bunch of stupid bullshit like Rumor Has It.
Special Moves
Talking while eating and/or always sporting an expression of detached, judgmental contempt.
Is a Poor Man's...
Tommy Lee Jones
PETER STORMARE
You Might Know Him From...
The Big Lebowski, Prison Break, Bad Boys II, Minority Report, Armageddon, and instilling an intense fear of wood-chippers in you in Fargo.
Special Moves Believing in nothing, severing pinkie toes, and just generally giving off the impression that he's committed a couple of sex crimes lately.
Is a Poor Man's...
Swedish Bruce Willis (also a delicious gummy candy)
DAVID PAYMER
You Might Know Him From...
City Slickers, In Good Company, Payback, Get Shorty, Quiz Show, and every stereotypical caricature of Jewish people you've ever seen.
Special Moves
Bringing tears to your eyes with his heart wrenching portrayals of down-on-their-luck losers who'll never know the touch of a woman and die alone. That, and looking really, really Jewish.
Is a Poor Man's...
Clinically depressed Jon Lovitz
LANE SMITH
You Might Know Him From...
The Mighty Ducks, Son in Law, My Cousin Vinny, Lois & Clark, The Mighty Ducks, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Mighty Ducks, The Mighty Ducks. It's the evil youth hockey coach from The Mighty Ducks!
Special Moves
Looking like he's always about to knock you unconscious with a savage backhand that's for your own damn good.
Is a Poor Man's...
Gene Hackman
STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY
You Might Know Him From...
Deadwood, Memento, Groundhog Day, CSI: Miami, Murder in the First, Thelma & Louise, and that one really hilarious episode of Reba.
Special Moves
No matter what your normal propensity for violence is, the mere sight of Stephen Tobolowsky has been scientifically proven to make you want to roundhouse kick his nose through the back of his bald, smarmy skull.
Is a Poor Man's...
William H. Macy
JT WALSH
You Might Know Him From...
A Few Good Men, Hoffa, Blue Chips, The Client, Pleasantville, Outbreak, Sling Blade, Backdraft, Good Morning Vietnam, that time he showed up at your dorm in college, cheated everyone out of their money, ratted them out, then disappeared into the foggy, ink-dark night. Sadly dead now, but lives on in his evil roles on DVD.
Special Moves
Slimy, stubborn, unethical dirt bags that you wouldn't leave alone in the same room as your kid/dog/wallet.
Is a Poor Man's...
Evil Beau Bridges
JAMES REBHORN
You Might Know Him From...
Meet the Parents, Independence Day, Carlito's Way, Scent of a Woman, My Cousin Vinny, the picture next to the definition of "tight assed authority figure" in the dictionary.
Special Moves
Filling the roles that our #1 That Guy doesn't have time for. Then, channeling his seething resentment for Cromwell into an acting style that portrays each and every character as an enormous prick whether or not the script calls for it. Case and point: in the script for Scent of a Woman, the principal was supposed to befriend Charlie and invite him and the Colonel over for hot chocolate at the end of the film. Rebhorn's Cromwell envy, however, facilitated an entirely different outcome which facilitated that completely nonsensical Al Pacino rant.
Is a Poor Man's...
James Cromwell
JAMES CROMWELL, KING OF THE THAT GUYS
You Might Know Him From...
Come on-you know you know this dude. He's such a good "That Guy" that he's almost actually famous. Almost.
Special Moves
Everything. You need smug? Cromwell's got smug. You need flippant? Well, ol' Crommie's got that too. In fact, some conspiracy theorists contend that James Cromwell is the Voltron of That Guys-that he's actually an 80-foot tall physical combination of the other 19 men on this list; a massive, indestructible character actor endowed with the specific talents of all other That Guys.
As the theory goes, The Cromwell boasts Stephen Tobolowsky's annoyingness, Lane Smith's thinly veiled bloodthirstiness, John Heard's fatherliness, Danny Trejo's massive chest tattoos, and, of course, William Fichtner is curled up in the fetal position on The Cromwell's face to make the nose. The end result? A guy who, in all seriousness, has never not been in a movie.
Is a Poor Man's...
Anybody. The Cromwell can play any role well enough to get the job done, but just poorly enough to avoid becoming famous. In fact, some of The Cromwell's lesser-known roles include Arnold Schwarzenegger's female love interest in Commando and Carl Weathers's body double in Rocky III.
