Best Supporting Actor Goes To

I've always loved them. The actors that you see over and over again but never know who they are. You just mumble under your breath "there's that guy...what's he been in?" and whoever else is on the couch with you (the cat maybe) will mumble back "that guy has been in everything".

These are your go-to men. They turn up as heavies, dads, lawyers, psychos, vice presidents, cops, teachers. They are so familiar to you and it's always great when you see them.

They go a long way to support my One Film theory (my idea is it's all one story, that connections can be made with clever casting and creative thinking -more on that monster brainwave later).

Quite frankly they can make the stars of the film look better than they really are. Often (sadly) they become stars themselves which really drives me insane because I miss them popping up unannounced all over the place (I loved Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Twister - but can't be bothered with Capote for example).

Over the coming weeks I'd like to draw your attention to my Top 5 character actors. Lets give these guys the attention they deserve.

Number 5 on the list is James Rebhorn.
Ahh you're thinking...who?

I first noticed James Rebhorn in a not so great little movie called 'If Lucy Fell' in 1996. He had a small roll as Sarah Jessica Parker's father. Little did I realise that was a pretty big role for him. Nor did I realise that I had in fact seen him dozens of times before and that and I would continue to spot him all over the place.

He was the Secretary of Defence in Roland Emmerich's joyous sci fi flick Independence Day, The doctor in the appallingly overrated Cold Mountain, and also appeared in David Fincher's much underrated 'The Game' (1997). Other films include Basic Instinct, Lorenzo's Oil, Carlitos Way,The Talented Mr Ripley, JFK, and the Woody Allen black and white gem Shadows and Fog.

In 1992 he appeared in both My Cousin Vinny and And Scent of a Woman - both films had Oscar winning performances in them - not by James tho, I don't know if he's even been to the Academy Awards. I'm pretty sure he's at home in couchville just like the rest of us.

He's been in half a dozen episodes of Third Watch and Law and Order and he currently has five films in post production. Could he be busier? Something tells me he's making a great living despite not being on the cover of Premiere magazine.

I think he's a delight. All pointy and tall, great in a suit and always dependable. He delivers his lines crisply and neatly, never chewing up the scene - always leaving that to people like Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Bill Pullman.

So next time you see him (probably in the Susan Sarandon/Ralph Feinnes film 'Doris and Bernard' due out later this year) stay for the credits and applaud loudly when the name James Rebhorn scrolls by.