Home Featured Content

5 Underrated Actors Who Don’t Get Enough Credit

Sure, you've got your Brad Pitts, your Robert Downey Jr.s, your Johnny Depps. And yeah, there's that chameleon-woman Meryl Streep, the wonderful Helen Mirren, and the now-everywhere Jennifer Lawrence rounding it out on the female side. So what do all these players have in common? They're stars. They're the best of the best. They sell tickets. And though we appreciate the great performances they've given over the years, sometimes the big stars just get too much credit. I mean, yeah, these guys are brilliant, but what about the other people acting in the movies? The people who you just kind accept are just there time after time. So what's the big deal, you ask? That's their job, right? They're not supposed to overshadow the stars.

2) John Hawkes

Recommended Videos

John Hawkes has been popping up in movies since the eighties, usually employed to appropriately chew the scenery (From Dusk Till Dawn) or to play quiet, broody types – truly an actor who can work at both ends of the spectrum comfortably. But along the way, despite the fact that he remains little-known, Hawkes has proven himself something of a scene-stealer.

An intelligent, grateful and humble person in real life, Hawkes regularly incorporates those traits into his performances, granting every role a touch of class and honor (even when he’s playing the bad guy). Hawkes was recently nominated for an Oscar for his amazing work in Winters Bone, which may have done well to raise his profile. The Sessions, and Lincoln, two pictures which Hawkes has appeared in recently, might well make him a star.

Fingers crossed, John. You deserve it.

Continue reading on the next page…