Barry Pepper
He’s known for playing soldiers, sleazebags and surly cowboys, and he can do each of these personas with equal aplomb. He’s also played two of the 1960s’ most famous men – as Yankee Roger Maris in the HBO movie 61* and Robert Kennedy in the mini-series The Kennedys – and won critical acclaim for doing so. Yet, his success on those small-screen ventures has never catapulted the intense B.C. actor to book a series of his own.
Instead, Barry Pepper insists on stealing films from A-list actors and looking good while doing it, whether it’s from Tom Hanks (in Saving Private Ryan and The Green Mile), Jeff Bridges (True Grit) or Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack). Barry Pepper is an actor that rarely fails to make an impression, and although he dedicates himself to the many rough and raw performances he’s been handed in large ensembles, he often shines above many of his co-stars.
One could easily see the actor in Damien Lewis’s role on Homeland or in Matthew Rhys’s place on The Americans. He easily adjusts to playing a variety of sly schemers, and since cable shows love to focus on tough, grizzled anti-heroes, why is the beloved character actor left out of these series? Networks, take notice: this is a superb actor in contention for leading man status.
