{"id":113807,"date":"2025-08-27T13:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/113807\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T13:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:19:11","slug":"the-21st-century-that-guy-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/113807\/","title":{"rendered":"The 21st-Century That Guy Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Movies<\/a>Movies<\/a> You know them only as \u201cthat guy from that thing,\u201d but make no mistake: Their on-screen presence is as unmistakable as it is essential.\"\"Universal Pictures\/Legendary Entertainment\/Paramount Pictures\/A24\/Ringer illustration\"\"<\/a>By Miles Surrey<\/a>Aug. 27, 10:30 am UTC \u2022 13 min<\/p>\n

As was made clear by all the worthy omissions<\/a> from The Ringer\u2019s ranking of the 101 greatest movie performances of the 21st century<\/a>, when you\u2019re combing through 25 years\u2019 worth of cinema, even A-listers can slip through the cracks. (Justice for Tom Cruise\u2019s work in Collateral\u2014or Edge of Tomorrow, if that\u2019s more your flavor\u2014which didn\u2019t even make our omissions roundup.) But I also wanted to spare a thought for the performers who, by virtue of their extensive IMDb pages, rarely get their flowers. Instead, you know them as that guy from that thing\u2014someone whose name escapes you but whose on-screen presence is unmistakable\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tricky to pin down a strict definition of a Hollywood That Guy\u2122. Are they exclusively character actors? How does one transcend That Guy status? Are they ineligible if they\u2019ve ever landed a starring role? What the hell do we do with Patrick Wilson? But I\u2019m more interested in the feelings they elicit from the audience. For instance, when I brought up the concept of That Guys to my girlfriend, she immediately thought of Holt McCallany\u2014not by name, but by saying, \u201cI love that guy\u201d in reference to Blackhat. (If I had any skills in video editing, I\u2019d have made a Holt McCallany fancam yesterday.) So to celebrate McCallany and the other familiar faces whose supporting roles make a film that much better, I\u2019ve put together the 21st-Century That Guy Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

The Best Movie Performances of the Century <\/p>\n

The Best Movie Performances of the Century <\/p>\n

The rules are simple: We\u2019re recognizing That Guy performances from 2000 onward, and while we won\u2019t omit an actor if they had a leading role on television\u2014as per the Holt Mindhunter Clause\u2014the bulk of their filmography needs to be supporting work. (This is why the likes of Patrick Wilson and Jason Clarke, who might not be household names but have starred in movies like Aquaman, The Conjuring, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, missed the cut.) Lastly, while we love TV That Guys like Zahn McClarnon and Paul Sparks, we\u2019re only including actors who also have extensive r\u00e9sum\u00e9s in film. Without further ado, allow me to introduce the inaugural class of the That Guy Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shea Whigham\u00a0\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Kong: Skull Island, F1, First Man, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook, Joker, Mission: Impossible\u2014Dead Reckoning Part One, Fast & Furious\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been inhaling Dad Cinema for the past 15 years, chances are you\u2019ve seen a lot of Shea Whigham. He\u2019s got the kind of face that screams \u201claw enforcement,\u201d and you could make a separate, exhaustive list of all the times he\u2019s played a detective, agent, or special forces operative: Joker, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Kong: Skull Island, Non-Stop, two Mission: Impossible films, three Fast & Furious flicks, and so on. A typical Whigham character presents as a gruff, macho figure\u2014someone who\u2019d be fun to grab a beer with as long as you don\u2019t ask about his politics. Whigham always nails the assignment; on my life, the single funniest film moment of the 21st century is when his character in Skull Island builds up to a heroic sacrifice \u2026 only to get absolutely owned by a monster:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whether or not Whigham is our greatest working character actor, odds are he\u2019s at least your dad\u2019s favorite character actor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stephen Root\"\"Gregg DeGuire\/Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: No Country for Old Men; The Empty Man; Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story; Get Out; Selma; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; The Tragedy of Macbeth\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some That Guys lean into a familiar archetype; others are so chameleonic that it\u2019s hard to recognize them from movie to movie. Stephen Root falls into the latter category: He\u2019s adept at being goofy (Dodgeball), slimy (No Country for Old Men), or downright sinister (Get Out). That versatility extends to his vocal range, which he can use to adopt a cartoonish Southern accent (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) or frantically rant about bubbles (yes, he\u2019s that fish<\/a> in Finding Nemo). That Root\u2019s such a malleable performer helps explain why he feels inescapable on our screens, particularly when you factor in his roles on HBO series like Barry, Succession, Boardwalk Empire, and Perry Mason. Not that we\u2019re complaining: Root is the type of actor whose work will, ahem, plant a lasting impression in your mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patrick Fischler\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Mulholland Drive; Under the Silver Lake; Old School; Hail, Caesar!; The Black Dahlia; American Fiction\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patrick Fischler has the look of someone on the verge of an existential crisis. It\u2019s no wonder, then, that his best roles are playing characters falling apart at the seams. I\u2019m thinking, of course, about Fischler\u2019s memorable appearance in Mulholland Drive as a man haunted by a dream he had about a monstrous figure lurking behind the dumpster of a diner\u2014only for his worst fears to be realized<\/a>. (In my headcanon, Fischler\u2019s hyper-paranoid cartoonist<\/a> from the positively Lynchian Under the Silver Lake is the same person.) We technically can\u2019t count Fischler\u2019s scene-stealing work in Mad Men, but it bears mentioning since his character told Don Draper off so iconically that women confronted him about it on the street<\/a>. When Fischler pops up in a movie, you know you\u2019re in for a good time\u2014even though he\u2019s probably gonna have a bad time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danny Huston\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: The Naked Gun, The Aviator, Children of Men, Marie Antoinette, 30 Days of Night, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Wonder Woman, Game Night\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danny Huston is part of Hollywood royalty\u2014the son of legendary filmmaker John Huston, the half brother of Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston\u2014but despite all that pedigree, he\u2019s still very much a That Guy, albeit a pretty great one. Huston\u2019s bread and butter is, and this is intended to be a compliment, leaning into the fact that he has legitimately sinister-looking features<\/a>. It\u2019s why he\u2019s been, among other things, the leader of a vampire horde (30 Days of Night), a German war criminal (Wonder Woman), a nefarious tech mogul (The Naked Gun), and the guy who experimented on everyone\u2019s favorite mutant (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Huston brings a devilish charm to many of these roles\u2014characters you know you\u2019re supposed to hate but can\u2019t take your eyes off of. With this body of work, Huston is a unique That Guy variant: He\u2019s That Villain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holt McCallany\"\"Gilbert Flores\/Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: The Iron Claw, Blackhat, Wrath of Man, Nightmare Alley, Sully, The Amateur, Mission: Impossible\u2014The Final Reckoning\u00a0<\/p>\n

My fucking king. I haven\u2019t gone out of my way to follow Holt McCallany\u2019s career, but sometimes you just connect with an actor\u2019s filmography. Holt and I have been in lockstep for years. When I rewatched A Perfect Getaway this summer, I did the pointing Rick Dalton meme<\/a> when Holt showed up for two minutes as \u201cPolice Lieutenant\u201d (he deserved a name). He slotted in seamlessly as another one of Michael Mann\u2019s rugged law enforcement characters in Blackhat; please don\u2019t ask me under oath if I cried during his death scene<\/a>. Holt\u2019s best work to date was playing the monstrous Von Erich patriarch in The Iron Claw, which, in a just universe, would\u2019ve landed him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He\u2019s aging like fine wine. To the rest of the world, Holt\u2019s a first-ballot That Guy; to me, he\u2019s a superstar of brooding masculinity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Carroll Lynch\u00a0\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Zodiac; Sorry, Baby; The Trial of the Chicago 7; Shutter Island; Crazy, Stupid, Love; The Invitation; Ted 2<\/p>\n

While this list comprises performances from only the 21st century, I\u2019d be remiss not to mention how terrific John Carroll Lynch was in Fargo as Marge Gunderson\u2019s kindly husband\u2014the only man in the entire film with an actual core of decency. That Lynch can exude such warmth and kindness (see also: Sorry, Baby) makes his most memorable role all the more unsettling. Fargo notwithstanding, Lynch is perhaps best known for Zodiac, where he plays the man suspected of being the infamous Zodiac Killer, Arthur Leigh Allen. What\u2019s so unnerving is that Lynch makes it really hard to gauge whether we\u2019re looking at a monster in hiding or a flawed but innocent man accused of the unthinkable. (David Fincher asked Lynch to play Allen like he wasn\u2019t the Zodiac Killer<\/a>, which adds to the eerie ambiguity of the film.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why Lynch is also That Guy From My Nightmares.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keith David\u00a0\"\"Christopher Polk\/Penske Media via Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, Requiem for a Dream, Nope, Barbershop, Crash, The Nice Guys, Cloud Atlas<\/p>\n

You might not know the name, but you definitely know the voice. With his trademark baritone, Keith David has featured in countless animated films, series, and video games over the years, including The Princess and the Frog, Coraline, Adventure Time, Rick and Morty, Halo, and Mass Effect David is just as ubiquitous in live-action roles, where his iconic voice can conjure everything from menace (the pimp Big Tim in Requiem for a Dream) to solemnity (not even joking, The Chronicles of Riddick). Of all our inductees, I\u2019d argue David has the most impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9, especially when you consider all the great work he did prior to the 21st century\u2014he\u2019s literally That Guy from The Thing. Regardless, I think we can all agree: Whether you see him or hear him, David levels up every project he\u2019s in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frank Grillo\u00a0\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: The Purge franchise, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Superman, Warrior, The Grey, Gangster Squad, Homefront, End of Watch, Zero Dark Thirty<\/p>\n

Frank Grillo is That Guy from every action movie you\u2019ve caught on TNT, and it suits him. After all, Grillo is built like a CrossFit instructor, and that physicality is key to many of his most prominent roles. You probably know him best as the mercenary Crossbones (sick name) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where his character was on the receiving end of Captain America\u2019s wrath in The Winter Soldier\u2019s acclaimed elevator fight<\/a>. I\u2019m also fond of his work in two Purge movies, where he plays a man hell-bent on finding the person responsible for his son\u2019s death before becoming [checks notes] head of security for an anti-purge presidential candidate. (You don\u2019t need to suspend your disbelief when a guy this shredded survives two purges.) In roles big and small\u2014in blockbusters and B movies\u2014Grillo always cuts a memorable figure. Someone find out this man\u2019s fitness regimen.<\/p>\n

John Ortiz\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Miami Vice, Blackhat, American Gangster, Silver Linings Playbook, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Fast & Furious, Public Enemies, Bumblebee, American Fiction\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a Michael Mann acolyte, John Ortiz holds a special place in my heart. Ortiz has starred in three Mann films\u2014Miami Vice, Public Enemies, and Blackhat\u2014which is tied for the most times that any actor has appeared in his work. It\u2019s within these three roles that you can appreciate Ortiz\u2019s range: He\u2019s been an old-timey mobster (Public Enemies), a straight-laced FBI boss (Blackhat), and a sadistic drug trafficker (Miami Vice) with so many unhinged line readings that are permanently etched in my brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite appearing in so many blockbusters, Ortiz hasn\u2019t quite eclipsed That Guy status, which is probably the sweet spot if you don\u2019t want to deal with all the trappings of celebrity but still want to rake in the dough. In any case, it\u2019s always a treat when Ortiz pops up in a film, like reuniting with an old friend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rob Morgan\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Don\u2019t Look Up, Mudbound, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Smile, Brawl in Cell Block 99, Greyhound, Just Mercy\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rob Morgan has perhaps the lowest profile of all our That Guy inductees: His filmography isn\u2019t huge, and he\u2019s appeared in quite a few Netflix productions that are liable to slip through the cracks But watch enough of Morgan\u2019s work\u2014especially Mudbound and The Last Black Man in San Francisco\u2014and you\u2019ll understand why The New York Times listed him as one of the 25 greatest actors<\/a> of the 21st century. As Times critic A.O. Scott said of Morgan\u2019s performance in The Last Black Man in San Francisco: \u201cAfter a few minutes in his presence you understand exactly what you need to know.\u201d That\u2019s the mark of a great character actor\u2014and a That Guy who should be on more people\u2019s radar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stephen McKinley Henderson\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Lady Bird, Dune, Fences, Lincoln, Civil War, Beau Is Afraid, Manchester by the Sea, Causeway<\/p>\n

For a long time, Stephen McKinley Henderson was a Theater That Guy who appeared in several August Wilson plays, including Fences, which earned him a Tony nomination in 2010. Now, however, the 75-year-old\u2019s career has blossomed on the big screen, where he often takes on small but meaningful supporting roles. It\u2019s a testament to Henderson\u2019s performance in Lady Bird as the exasperated Father Leviatch that his most iconic line in reference to a high school theater production\u2014\u201cThey didn\u2019t understand it\u201d<\/a>\u2014has endured as a meme The only thing preventing Dune: Part Two from being a five-star affair is the fact that Denis Villeneuve omitted Henderson\u2019s Thufir Hawat<\/a>\u2014king of the dainty parasol<\/a>\u2014from the final cut. Long may Henderson continue to grace our screens with his warm, paternal presence.<\/p>\n

Michael Stuhlbarg\"\"Gilbert Flores\/Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: A Serious Man, Call Me by Your Name, The Amateur, Lincoln, The Post, The Shape of Water, Arrival, Men in Black 3, Doctor Strange, Bones and All\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a potentially contentious pick\u2014can the lead of a Coen brothers movie really be a That Guy?\u2014but I do think Michael Stuhlbarg is one of those actors whom non-cinephiles would recognize without ever being able to name him. He hasn\u2019t been the leading man in enough movies to be quite in the Patrick Wilson\/Jason Clarke tier, which I consider the cutoff. (Also, being the star of A Serious Man doesn\u2019t have the mainstream appeal of, say, The Conjuring, even though it\u2019s an infinitely better movie.) Like Root, Stuhlbarg\u2019s greatest strength is his versatility; look no further than his wildly divergent roles in two Luca Guadagnino films as a supportive father (Call Me by Your Name) and a wild-eyed cannibal (Bones and All). Whatever role he inhabits, Stuhlbarg does what the best That Guys are capable of: He keeps you glued to the screen. Now, if you\u2019ll excuse me, I\u2019m going to rewatch that speech from Call Me by Your Name again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bill Camp\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Drive-Away Dolls, Joker, Vice, Dark Waters, Molly\u2019s Game, 12 Years a Slave, Public Enemies, Jason Bourne, Lincoln, News of the World, The Killing of a Sacred Deer\u00a0<\/p>\n

If I logged every movie and TV show I\u2019ve seen over the past decade, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if Bill Camp was my most-watched actor. A That Guy titan, Camp has shown up in damn near everything, but his specialty is historical dramas (see: 12 Years a Slave, Public Enemies, Lincoln, News of the World). That tracks\u2014Camp just has one of those faces you can imagine existing decades, or centuries, in the past. But it\u2019s one thing for Camp to look the part; time and again, he makes a supporting role feel lived-in, capturing the weariness of someone who\u2019s been through some shit. Along with his wife, noted That Gal Elizabeth Marvel, Camp is one half of a genuine character actor power couple<\/a>. In other words, they\u2019re That Couple.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Hawkes\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: Winter\u2019s Bone; Lincoln; Miami Vice; American Gangster; Martha Marcy May Marlene; The Perfect Storm; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just gonna say what we\u2019re all thinking: Steven Spielberg\u2019s Lincoln might\u2019ve had the best collection of That Guys in the history of cinema Anyway, John Hawkes is an interesting pick because he raises the question: Can you still be eligible for the That Guy Hall of Fame if you\u2019ve been nominated for an Oscar, which he earned for his supporting role in Winter\u2019s Bone? I\u2019m saying yes on account of Hawkes himself embracing his That Guy status. \u201cI think to kind of be thought of as that guy or \u2018I think I know you from somewhere\u2019 kind of guy is an asset for me,\u201d Hawkes told NPR in 2012<\/a>. \u201cI have no kind of desire to be a household name. \u2026 I\u2019d rather be a mystery.\u201d To that, I\u2019d say: mission accomplished. Hawkes always disappears into a role, making his characters feel like the fabric of the world they exist in. Hawkes shows up for only a few minutes in Miami Vice, but his death\u2014particularly the quiet resignation on his face as he walks into incoming traffic\u2014is hard to shake off.<\/p>\n

Oscar nom or not, Hawkes is a That Guy through and through.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lance Reddick\"\"Getty Images<\/p>\n

What you know him from: The John Wick franchise, White House Down, Angel Has Fallen, Jonah Hex, The Guest, Godzilla vs. Kong, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial\u00a0<\/p>\n

The late Lance Reddick had a commanding air about him, which explains why he played so many kinds of authority figures, including a general and a\u00a0Secret Service director in two different movies about a POTUS under attack by terrorists (White House Down and Angel Has Fallen). Thankfully, Hollywood also caught on to Reddick\u2019s sly sense of humor behind all that gravitas; if you can shock Eric Andr\u00e9<\/a>, you can do anything. It\u2019s only fitting, then, that Reddick\u2019s most enduring big-screen role was John Wick\u2019s Charon, a hotel concierge who always seemed to know more than he was letting on and whose mannerly dialogue was layered with meaning. (\u201cHow good to see you again so soon, Mr. Wick.\u201d<\/a>) That Charon meets his end<\/a> in John Wick: Chapter 4, which arrived in theaters just a week after Reddick\u2019s death, brings an added poignancy to the film, as well as to the legacy of an all-time-great character actor who had so much more to give. A That Guy for the history books.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Miles Surrey<\/p>\n

<\/a>Miles writes about television, film, and whatever your dad is interested in. He is based in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MoviesMovies You know them only as \u201cthat guy from that thing,\u201d but make no mistake: Their on-screen presence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-113807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}