Can you name the character actors by 'you know, that character they played, in that one movie'?

You know, they played...	Actor
The T-1000 in 'Terminator 2'
Long Duk Dong in 'Sixteens Candles'
Roxie Hart's husband in 'Chicago'
Animal Mother in 'Full Metal Jacket'
Richter in 'Total Recall'
Howard Hughes in 'The Rocketeer'
Carmine Falcone in 'Batman Begins'
Stifler's Mom in 'American Pie'
Stands With a Fist in 'Dances With Wolves'
Leon the hitman in 'The Professional'
Ray Liotta's coked up mistress in 'Goodfellas'
Bill Lumbergh in 'Office Space'
The bartender in 'Anchorman'

You know, they played...	Actor
Crooked D.A. in 'L.A. Confidential'
Crooked police chief in 'Fletch'
Mayor of Whoville in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
Steve Carell's manager in '40 Year Old Virgin'
Sleazy reporter in 'Die Hard'
Juno's dad in 'Juno'
John Goodman's partner in crime in 'Raising Arizona'
The prosecuting lawyer in 'My Cousin Vinny'
Principal in 'Breakfast Club'
Alicia Silverstone's dad in 'Clueless'
Deputy in 'Mississippi Burning'
Ned Ryerson in 'Groundhog Day'

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Character Actors Quiz

Rating:	Report a mistake
Created by: ironsij0287 -
Contributed: November 20th, 2009
Published: December 6th, 2009
Category: Movies
Plays: 27,366

Tags: Actor Quizzes, played, Movie Characters, character

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	JohnJF:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 04:41 GMT	7 points
	Thumbs up to any quiz where the top answer is gotten by less than half.

	king21:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 04:42 GMT	14 points
	i think terry o'quinn's portrayal of John Locke in Lost pushed him past the character actor moniker. Same with O'Reilly, they are now a lot more famous beyond the roles listed here.

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	brianc:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 04:50 GMT	24 points
	One of the hardest Sporcle quizzes ever, without being silly or ridiculous

	JohnJF:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 04:52 GMT	8 points
	@HollywoodLeo: The difference is that with character actors, the intent is to pick actors who aren't really celebrities and are generally known for playing small roles in big films. It's just a colloquial way of saying it. I personally could go either way on the wording, but I would hardly make a big issue out of it.

	itisofmyopinion:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 04:54 GMT	23 points
	I like this. My only problem is that most character actors have played many roles, but this limits them each to one role. Quite a few of these people I may have known but have not seen the one movie chosen to represent them.

	jawa88:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 04:57 GMT	7 points
	I like the column heading, b/c that's exactly how I would describe most of these actors and I think it ties in completely with the purpose of the quiz =)

	LinuxLinus:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 05:09 GMT	23 points
	Ned? Ned Ryerson? punch

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	DirtyKash:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 05:12 GMT	5 points
	I'm laughing at Leo being voted down. Huzzah!

	danzam:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 05:17 GMT	5 points
	Great quiz, only minor complaints that John C. Reilly is far more famous now for his comedies with Will Ferrell than his role in Chicago. And J.K. Simmons is far more famous as J. Jonah Jameson in the Spiderman trilogy than as Juno's dad.

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	ske_kc:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 05:18 GMT	14 points
	@HollywoodLeo, because that's how people usually have to describe "character actors" to someone. People generally don't know/remember their names, they only know them for the roles they play. As in, "you know.. the guy who plays Sheldon in Big Bang Theory." Get it?

	ianmez:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 05:29 GMT	17 points
	What about including more than one role for each actor, given that they're known for having small parts in heaps of movies?

	GrooGruxKing:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 05:56 GMT	9 points
	When I refer to Terry O'Quinn I say "John Locke from LOST" or Elisha Cuthbert's dad in Old School.

	pancakes188:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 05:58 GMT	16 points
	I don't understand how you can have a that guy quiz and not have Clint Howard.

	conradmcmasters:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 06:03 GMT	9 points
	I really think J.T. Walsh needs to be included somehow...

	JohnJF:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 06:17 GMT	23 points
	One last attempt to clarify it: The reason nobody would say "You know, the guy who played Tyler Durden in Fight Club?" or "You know, the woman who played the boss in Devil Wears Prada?" is because everyone under God's green Earth knows who Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep are. If I wanted to convince somebody to check out Best in Show, my description would not include "Yeah, it has Jennifer Coolidge in it," because a vast majority of people do not know who she is by name. My description might be more to the tune of, "You know, the woman who played Stifler's mom in American Pie was in it."

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	jgizow44:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 06:30 GMT	5 points
	see you at the paaaaahty richtah.

	Shades703:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 06:50 GMT	4 points
	Just want to second ianmez's suggestion. Character actors are known for playing multiple rolls, so let's at least acknowledge that. And where is Luis Guzman on this list? Or Paul Giamatti?

	santosaurus:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 07:13 GMT	2 points
	I knew watching Clueless multiple times when I was younger would eventually help me some way in life. Thank you, Dan Hedaya.

	Absentia:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 07:38 GMT	-4 points
	Yeah there are several of these I would have gotten if it included the roles they're actually famous for. On the other hand I've seen Groundhog Day at least a dozen times and I had never heard of Stephen Tobolowsky.

	Oru:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 09:22 GMT	-4 points
	I got 0. Why am I not represented on the graph?

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	foyherald:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 11:26 GMT	1 point
	@absentia: Stephen Tobolowsky has appeared in many films both good and bad as well notable TV shows. I know him from 'Groundhog Day' which is an easy way of identifying him to other people but I remember him in 'Mississippi Burning' and for some odd reason 'Sneakers' my son however, recognises him from 'Garfield'.

	danzam:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 11:44 GMT	1 point
	Tobolowsky also had a memorable stint on one episode of the HBO series Entourage where he played the Mayor of Beverly Hills and ended up leaving a bar with a tranny.

	dudemanbearpig:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 12:53 GMT	8 points
	Stephen Root isn't in this quiz? Oh well, I guess the quiz maker only wanted to have one actor best known for being in Office Space.

	joewhitey:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 12:56 GMT	3 points
	John C. Reilly really doesn't fit with the rest of these people.

	Bretzky:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 13:28 GMT	5 points
	While I remembered the faces of 12 of them, I only remembered two names right off the top of my head. Another excellent character actor is J.T. Walsh; he always seemed to be in Kurt Russell's movies.

	johnnyd:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 13:38 GMT	1 point
	and he forgets the king of the character actors JOHN CAZALE only 5 movies but 5 oscar nominations for best picture for movies in which he had small but memorable roles

	alkeiper:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 13:38 GMT	5 points
	No William H. Macy? Steve Buscemi?

	Pootah:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 14:22 GMT	-3 points
	I have seen 4 of these films. ever.

	WalterSobchak:	Dec 6th, 2009 at 14:23 GMT	4 points
	Awesome quiz, though John C. Reilly has probably graduated to something closer to star status, he was even nominated for an Oscar and is in a ton of cult classics, from Boogie Nights to Gangs of New York to Stepbrothers. Also, anyone from Christopher Guest's acting crew (Ed Begley Jr., Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Parker Posey, John Michael Higgins, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Dooley, Guest himself, etc.) could be on this list, in addition to Coolidge and Lynch, because we all know their faces but not their names. The only real question, though, is where is Robert Loggia?!