There’s a line where an actor crosses over from “Hey, it’s that guy!” to “Why is this person not a household name?” Hollywood is filled with terrific performers, but not everyone becomes an A-list star, and much of that is due to luck. Perhaps they’re too distinctive. Perhaps they were great in a movie that wasn’t marketed well enough for box office success. Perhaps they gave an amazing performance but were overshadowed by another element. For whatever reason, some lesser-known actors continue to fly under the radar, and yet their appearances in films always come with the knowledge that they’re going to deliver.
Here are just 11 of the most underrated actors who deserve more love.
Judy Greer
How is Greer not one of the biggest stars in the world? Whether it’s in a comedy or a drama, she delivers every time, and it’s reasonable to be a little outraged when a movie doesn’t take full advantage of her skills. Thankfully, more than a few filmmakers know what a talent they have, even if only for a couple of scenes, such as her recent, heartbreaking turn in “The Long Walk.” But for a role that shows how much more value you get from Greer the more she’s featured, look to “13 Going on 30,” where she plays the deliciously duplicitous Lucy.
Stephen McKinley Henderson
You may recognize Henderson from the “they didn’t understand it” meme from “Lady Bird,” but Henderson has been a titan of stage and screen for decades. A two-time Tony nominee who made his film debut in 1979, Henderson is finally getting some of the best screen roles of his long career. Not only is he memorable in “Lady Bird,” but he also revived his Tony-nominated turn as Jim Bono in Denzel Washington’s film adaptation of “Fences” and gave a warm, thoughtful performance as a veteran journalist in Alex Garland’s “Civil War.”
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Garret Dillahunt
How good is Dillahunt? He plays two unrelated characters on two different seasons of “Deadwood,” and you have to remind yourself it’s the same actor. A chameleon of the highest order, Dillahunt sometimes gets tossed into disposable supporting roles, but even then he can make an impression, as he does in “No Country for Old Men” and “12 Years a Slave.” For a meatier role, check out “Braven,” where he plays the heavy going up against Jason Momoa’s title character.
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Zoey Deutch
When you’re not careful, Deutch will steal the whole movie from you. In some projects, such as “Vampire Academy” and “Set It Up,” it’s clear that she’s a leading powerhouse; but Deutch can hit from any part of the field, like when she breezily walked away with “Zombieland: Double Tap” playing a ditzy survivor of the zombie apocalypse. To get an idea of how much Deutch has grown in her relatively brief career, take a look at her thoughtful, textured performance as French New Wave icon Jean Seberg in Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague.”
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Dylan O’Brien
Is any actor today giving your film as much value as O’Brien? A performer who should be on the shortlist for any leading role, O’Brien continues to be one of the most exciting names working today, with films that deserve a much bigger audience. While he broke through with the “Teen Wolf” TV series and the “Maze Runner” franchise, he’s proved time and again that he will give an outstanding performance no matter the size of the role. Whether that’s a supporting part in “Saturday Night” and “Anniversary” or as the lead in “Twinless” and “Love and Monsters,” O’Brien proves he’s always reliable.
Dylan O’Brien Is Remarkable in ‘Twinless’—That Doesn’t Mean He’ll Talk Trash About ‘Teen Wolf’ John Carroll Lynch
Few other actors can shift so easily from absolute sweetheart to bone-chilling brute that it warps your sense of reality. The way Lynch can change his whole demeanor is uncanny. You may want to snuggle up with him when he’s playing Marge’s husband in “Fargo,” but you also want to get away from him as quickly as humanly possible when he’s playing Arthur Leigh Allen/probably-the-Zodiac-killer in “Zodiac.” But to see some of his best work just playing a guy, don’t miss his brief performance in Eva Victor’s outstanding debut feature, “Sorry, Baby.”
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Ben Foster
If you need a killer character actor, you call up Foster. Perhaps never meant for slick leading roles, Foster instead knows how to make the most of any opportunity. Starting out as a kid actor on the Disney show “Flash Forward,” Foster now frequently shows up as a dramatic powerhouse playing dark, twisted men who still manage to elicit our sympathy, as he does in “3:10 to Yuma” and “Christy.” He also has no problem holding his own against much bigger names, such as when he serves as the emotional core alongside Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges in the terrific “Hell or High Water.”
Yaphet Kotto
Despite playing a Bond villain in “Live and Let Die” and costarring in one of the greatest sci-fi films of all-time in “Alien,” not enough people know the name Yaphet Kotto. Similar to other actors on this list, Kotto knew how to charm and disturb his audience in equal measure, a gift that comes in handy in one of his greatest films, Larry Cohen’s home invasion thriller “Bone,” in which Kotto plays the title character. If you only know Kotto from his supporting work, you owe it to yourself to see him own the screen in this 1970s classic.
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John Hawkes
Another “Deadwood” alum (and honestly, this list could have just been the cast of “Deadwood”), the laconic Hawkes is a welcome contributor to any story, and it’s up to filmmakers to notice what a gift they have when he’s in the cast. Some movies make the most of this, as demonstrated by his Oscar-nominated turn in “Winter’s Bone.” But if you want to see Hawkes take the lead and knock it out of the park, check out Dennis Hauck’s excellent neo-noir “Too Late.”
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J.T. Walsh
Whenever Walsh showed up, you knew he was going to command the screen, and he didn’t always have to do it by playing a total bastard like he did in “Pleasantville” and “Red Rock West.” Arguably one of his greatest performances is as the tragic and doomed Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Markinson in Rob Reiner’s “A Few Good Men,” a soldier who can’t reconcile his sense of honor with the military hierarchy that seeks to cover up a murder.
Danielle Deadwyler
Deadwyler feels one movie away from being a massive star. She’s already racked up heaps of critical acclaim for her work in titles like “The Harder They Fall” and “The Piano Lesson.” Her devastating performance as Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie, in Chinonye Chukwu’s “Till” shows she can easily carry the emotional weight of an entire film. It already feels overdue for Hollywood to take greater notice of this incredible actor who is unforgettable every time she graces the screen.
