Under rated, exposed or appreciated,
I believe Mary Louise Parker, and
Johnny Galeckie should be on the list.

I will add a film I believe was under rated...Salton Sea.

Jeffrey Combs - I consider him to be the Jim Carry of science fiction.

I loved him as Shran on Enterprise. Best. Andorian. Ever.

He was PERFECT in Reanimator. That, however, is the only movie I have ever seen him in.

Christopher Walken

The Frighteners? His role in that, and every role I seen him in after watching that, makes me see him as the Jim Carey of scifi. Every time I see him, I think back to Frighteners and have to laugh.

Vince Vaughn. (sp?)

the way he talks just gets me. he talks so fast, and says some great things.

also, Edward Norton. i love all his movies.

I want to ask the OP, what do you mean by under rated?

Because a bunch of these names here are fairly common, Vaughn, Walken, Norton, guys/girls that are common household names and movies. Ones like Paul Giamati (loved in Lady in the Water), John Cusack (Identity rocked), Jeremy Irons (... eh... Time Machine?), you know you've heard of them, just can place your finger on where or what they exactly looked like.

i'd say that jeff daniels is a great actor who's never been completely recognized as such

Vin Diesel

Yeah, I said it!

I have to think you're going the same place here as I was with Keanu Reeves, in that he's underrated in that he's not great, but he's not Jeff Goldblum either.

Bill Murray.

He's known far too much for all the idiotic roles he played when he's been killing it as of recently.

He was incredible in Lost In Translation as well as Broken Flowers. He made the terrible Life Aquatic tolerable and did the same with The Royal Tennenbaums. And while I haven't seen it yet, I hear he was awesome in The Darjeeling Limited....SNL anyone?

Someone give him an Oscar already.

john malkovich

ok so he's got a movie with hisname in the title..but i still think hes underated by most

JCVD and steven sea-gull have to be some of the worrst actors to hit the big screen. in saying that i still watch kickboxer with awe..the scene where he breaks the palm treewith his leg is awesome...

..but really.. neither JCVD for mr sea-gull cant act for shit

It has got to be Christin Bale. Sure people recognized him in batman but check out American Psycho or The Prestige. He is Legit.

I thought he had some acting chops in "Find Me Guilty".

You're right, in that he's not great, at least yet, but imo, he has the potential to be a serious actor.
Maybe not a leading man, though.

Ellen Page

My absolute #1 is Steve Buscemi. From "Resevoir Dog's" to "Charlotte's Web", he completely embodies the character he's portraying. He obviously imprints them with his own person, but that is unavoidable with any actor, and his "own person" is why no one else can play the roles he does.

My 2nd pick is Michael J. Pollard. Terrific character actor that disappears into most movies he's been in. "Roxanne" with Steve Martin is the most well known movie I can think of that he has been in.

I take just a "little" exception to Jeff Goldblum being scoffed at, in that one of my favorite movies stars him, "Mr. Frost". In fact, I just recieved a VHS copy via Amazon because I couldn't find it produced on DVD.

Bill Murray: Caddyshack is classic lowbrow (maybe the crowning achievement!). He completely transended that legacy with "Lost In Translation".

Nikilidstrom: Hey fellow Michigander/Red Wings/Lidstrom fan! I completely agree with Rutger Hauer. It so disappoints me when great actor's either can't get work or choose not to work. "The Hitcher" is the last movie (besides some awful sci-fi vampire flick) I saw Rutger in.

Although not quite the same, two other actor's (specifically the "acting" aspect) that have squandered their last good acting years (IMO) are Clint Eastwood not doing any western's since "The Unforgiven" and Harrison Ford eshewing the pure action roles that made him famous in favor of playing CIA/the President/some other "official". It's sad that he held out until this late date to play Indy again.

Jewels443 and Charlatan: Everytime I see Bill Paxton, I can't help but think of "Wierd Science".:lol: Love him in "Big Love" though!

Ali

1. Phillip Seymour Hoffman - The Sean Penn of his generation. Watch Love Liza and you will see.
2. Jeff Bridges - Already mentioned but The Fabulous Baker Boys is one of my alltime favorite movies
3. Sam Rockwell - He can do just about anything and do it well.

I'd pretty much go with the cast from Band of Brothers..

yes.. the CAST!

Damian Lewis (Winters)
Neal McDonough (Buck Compton)
Ron Livingston (Nixon)
and even Donnie Walberg (Lipton)

These 4 specifically, are exceptional actors in my opinion, even from their other work..

Office Space!
Dreamcatcher!
Saw 2, 4!
Annapolis!
and many more! =D

I think BoB probably had the best casting ever.. but thats just my opinion.

I can't stop thinking of him as Pvt. Hudson in "Aliens":
"Have you ever been accused of being a woman?" "No, have you?"
"You want some of this, ok. Oh, you want some too?"
(If you didn't see the movie, do yourself a favor and just buy it right now!)

I think he was also in the original "Terminator". I like him as a candidate! :)

I second Bale, awesome in everything he does. Can't wait to see how he does in Batman II and as Jon Conner in the new terminator.

Yeah I definitely agree with Philip Seymour Hoffman. He's in practically everything. Just see every Anderson film (boogie nights, magnolia, punch drunk love, and I can't remember if he's in hard eight) capote, patch adams, state and main, almost famous, etc etc. He's incredible and so versatile.

I have to agree 100%. He does not get enough credit for his work. He is flexible role-wise, witty, creative, and damn handsome. ;)
He's pretty picky about his roles too so I hear, which is why he hasn't done a huge pile of films that were anything like his previous films. I never saw Monkeybone, but I was a tween when I saw George of the Jungle and Bedazzled, and while they are pretty corny, they made me laugh. :P George of the Jungle still makes me laugh. :P
One other film I liked him in was Mrs. Winterbourne, where he played twins. :)
But I really liked him in The Mummy series, he fit the role perfectly I think.

Another actor who people don't take seriously (mostly his own fault for being such a goofball), but when he isn't being his loony self or playing someone similar, Ashton Kutcher is actually a pretty decent actor.

Christian Bale gets my vote. I thought he was great in American Psycho.

He's also right there with Michael Keaton for Best Batman. Might even be better. Hard to say. (Sort of the Connery/Brosnan thing. Each is better at a particular aspect of the character.)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's playing a very convincing politician.

Agreed, Batman Begins was excellent and I'm definitely looking forward to The Dark Knight. Such a shame about Heath too. :sad:

It's Connery/Craig now. :thumbsup:

No, It's Moore/Craig. Not that I didn't enjoy Casino, but he's definitely second tier. (At least it's not Lazenby/Dalton/Craig)

You equate Roger "I discovered it had a crush on me-type joke" Moore with Daniel "I just blew up a terrorist with what looks like a USB flash drive" Craig?

I'd go as far as saying that Craig's Bond is in a league with Bauer and Norris.

"Daniel Craig can kill two stones with one bird."
"Daniel Craig can slam a revolving door."
See what I mean?

I agree with you 100% that Daniel Craig is in the same league as Bauer and Norris (one of whom just got out of jail and the other of whom is stumping for Mike Huccabee, but that's neither here nor there). They are (and Craig is) a badass of the first water.

That Craig is capable of effortlessly dealing in metric tonnes of badassery, though, is also beside the point. This is a baseline for playing James Bond, a gating criterion, not a ranking one. You must be at least This Badass to play this role. (Where "This Badass" is Roger Moore on his best day - say blowing up Drax's Moon Base.)

So while Craig in his initial appearance is in the same league as Connery and Brosnan in the dealing of Smackdowns, he is more in the same leauge as Moore and Dalton in the Panache/Finesse department.

However, with only one film under his belt, it is unfair of me to compare him to anyone other than Lazenby and Niven, and, frankly, neither of them are really applicable, though Niven was Fleming's first choice for the role. Of all of them, Brosnan comes closest to Niven in style. What Craig's style will eventually evolve into is an open question, but he is likely to suffer from being written as a more "human" Bond. I wonder if it is even possible to truly play the character of James Bond in a world where women have begun to successfully demand their right to rise and fall on merit. Unless the Quantum of Solace solidifies the mysogynistic/emotionally detached Bond, I would not be surprised to outlive the series.

/ End threadjack

John Cusack is the man. High Fidelity is amazing! I'm also a big fan of Christian Bale. Everything I've ever seen him in, yes, including Newsies, has been outstanding. As far as actors that are great, but don't get much press, I'd have to say John Travolta. Yes, he's be in a ton of movies, but you never really hear anything about him. He's the shit. Seriously, Pulp Fiction? In my opinion that was Tarentino's masterpiece.

I would go with Daniel Day-Lewis. He was amazing in There Will Be Blood.

Gabriel Garcia Bernal. Everyone knows Motorcycle Diaries, but his Y Tu Mama, Tambien and Almodovar movies are also very good. I enjoyed his role in The Science of Sleep. Wasn't too impressed with his role in Babel, but I don't mind looking at him anyway. ;)

Tony Leung. Just watched the new Ang Lee movie, Lust, Caution, and was reminded of just how fantastic of an actor Tong Leung is. I last saw him in In the Mood for Love, which is just sexy as fuck... outstanding job in both films, but have never heard him recognized in common circles.

Gael Garcia Bernal, yes, amazing on the screen. I'm trying to get caught up on all his movies I've missed. Don't forget Dot The I and El Crimen del padre Amaro, both good.

I know a lot of people will disagree with this one, which is precisely why I feel I need to add him. After seeing I am Legend I think Will Smith has become a really good actor. There are movies he has done that I didnt care for and his acting didnt draw me in at all- but that really could have been his choice of parts to play.

I'm gonna put in for Edward James Olmos, Tony Shalhoub, Neil Patrick Harris (who knew he was a comic genius?!) Martin Sheen, and Steve Harris (from The Practice). And in the female category, I second Laura Dern, and will put in for Mary McDonnell, Uma Thurman, Allison Janney, and Linda Fiorentino.