It’s both a gift and a curse, the role of the supporting actor. Come on too strong and over-the-top and you detract from the main character’s story, looking like an attention seeker. Play it too quietly and you’re forgotten, left by the wayside by more interesting performances.
Supporting character’s can vary from the lead’s best friend, to the big bad villain to the girlfriend. Either way it takes a special skill to win the audience over whilst playing a supporting role. Whilst watching a movie the mind is automatically drawn to the story of the main character or protagonist, with the outcome of their endeavours proving to be the thing you care about most by the time the credits roll.
Over the years however, there have been a few who have stolen the limelight with performances playing off the lead role. Characters who’s screentime proved the most engaging and electrifying over the course of the movie, despite more important things going on around them.
Here, in no particular order, are 10 supporting characters that stole the spotlight and made themselves the most memorable thing over the course of a film.
10. Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) – The Departed
Martin Scorsese’s dark, action-packed thriller tracks the turbulent lives of double agent’s Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio as they try and bring down Jack Nicholson’s crime lord. It’s a gritty and tense affair, set in the violent streets of Boston, packed with stars in the shape of the aforementioned actors, as well as impressive turns from Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and Ray Winstone.
However none of these performances come close to the surprising turn from Mark Wahlberg, playing loudmouthed dedective sergeant Dignam.
Channelling his Boston roots, Wahlberg is snarling and scathing, rude and volatile as DiCaprio and Damon’s boss. Dignam is the kind of character you can’t help but love. Good with his fists but far more brutal with his mouth, Wahlberg steals absolutely every scene he features in, whether it be exchanging casual and bitter insults with his boss Baldwin, or verbally tearing his work colleagues a new one for any possible mistake they make.
He keeps up a remarkable intensity throughout every moment he spends on screen, exhibiting naked, unashamed rage at everybody who gets in his way. He’s rude, loud and violent, characterising Scorsese’s Boston brilliantly, and proves to be the highlight of an excellent movie.
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79 Comments
Agree about The Fighter,
Heath Ledger?? Jump off the band wagon please, he didn’t steal the movie, he was just as good as Bale and in my opinion not as good as Eckhart who was brilliant as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. And what makes Eckart better is that he played two roles, Harvey Dent and Two-Face and played them both brilliantly but no one ever mentions him because they’re too busy praising Ledger because he went 6 feet under.
I’m not saying he wasn’t good, Heath Ledger was brilliant in the film and is the best Joker on screen but most people forget about Aaron Eckhart who was just as good as him
you’re a fool, eckhart was miscast imo, the joker blew him off screen.
Um, I think you’re both slightly off. Ledger was beyond words and eckhart is the ideal Harvey dent. Why can’t we have our cake and eat it too, guys?
Dent was beautifully cast, as was Gary Oldman as Gordon. In my opinion that was the best performance in the film. That said, performances are not the only thing that leads a character to conquer the screen, and Ledger’s joker did do just that.
when i watched the dark knight for the first time, I didnt know that heath was dead… I still dont know if he was already dead when the movie came out! and I dont care about that, to be completely honest… Actually, I`m pretty pissed I didn`t get to se the joker in the TDKR… The Joker that Heath pulled off was my dream… as you can imagine by now, i`m fascinated with the characters of Batman and his biggest foe ever! Now, Heaths ledger wasn`t quite the Joker from the comics and the animated shows, he was like a 100 times better! And i really didn`t think taht was possible, and couldn`t have wished for more in my wildest dreams! He stole the show so much, that i thought it was a movie about the Joker, and Batman and all the others were just put in the movie, to make it more interesting! that was my opinion of Heaths take on the Joker ;)! if i misspeled something wrong, please forgive me, I`m form Croatia and English isn`t my first language…
I, for one, didn’t think Eckhart was particularly interesting as Harvey Dent, and even LESS so as Two-Face. The fault is not in the writing, as Two-Face is truly demented and terrifying, as far as the actions he takes and things he says. But whereas Ledger found an inspired and personal way to play The Joker, I never felt like Eckhart gave Two-Face or even Dent the gravitas that both characters needed, and was “playing at” being evil, instead of inhabiting a character that does reprehensible things for deeply personal reasons, which would have made him more compelling.
Whereas The Joker was seemingly playfully unhinged and treated chaos as a game (which made him more disturbing), Two-Face was driven by more relatable forces–he was vengeful, angry, and cruel. In the writing there are hints that Dent may have always had those qualities, but his innate goodness and devotion to justice help him subvert those qualities in a way that Bruce Wayne/Batman cannot. In that way, Dent could have been a great Yin to Wayne’s Yang.
I actually really like Eckhart as an actor, but I remember thinking he was miscast when I saw the film upon its original release.
wha wha wha WHAT?! No mention of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd?? In my opinion…the original ham.
Alan rickman, prince of thieves. How could you leave that one off?
Agreed. Also left out Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Totally stole the show from Orlando Bloom.
IN RESPONSE TO BEN: I think your opinion holds weight in its own light, as the other actors you mention played their roles exceptionally well. As for Heath Ledger, I agree with the many (including journalists) that said he (Heath Ledger) “stole the show” with his profound acting. Even you, sir, cannot disagree with that. Also, he isn’t praised more than every other cast member because he died. Heath Ledger is recognized more because his acting in that role alone was far more superior than any other cast member.
None forgets the other actors due to their importance in the film, but when someone is that profound in their role they are going to get their acknowledgement. Everyone has that one (if not more than one) movie that they go above and beyond for and are subsequently acknowledged for. Dark Knight was his.
I do have to disagree with you on one account and that is Bale’s acting…he is bad. Sorry everyone, but it is true. He plays the same character for every movie he has been in, including The Machinist were he dropped all of his weight and still talks in the monotonous voice used in all of his film premiers.
To the list I’d add Orson Welles in ‘The Third Man’ and Amy Adams in ‘Junebug’. Welles as Harry Lime is the textbook example of affably evil.
Gotta agree 100% about the number one spot on the list. Heath Ledgers performance for me stole the movie and i was gutted when he passed in such a tragic way.
The way he laughed sent chills down my spine, the facial expression and the voice was the joker i played in my head ever since i was a young kid reading the comics. It’s such a shame we’ll never see that level of perfection for the joker character again.
Great Points. Ledger is up there as one of the best performers ever to be seen in film. Something like that will never been seen in a movie again, most probably.
Maybe thinking Michael Clarke Duncan would be up there for The Green Mile, other than that, all good points.
Agree with Agent Smith in The Matrix. And I think his performance got more interesting and compelling on the sequels to the point that he was one of the few entertaining things about them. Also, if you want to talk about The Dark Knight films, then I’d add Caine, Ackhart, Oldman and Murphy (in Begins) to the list. Pretty much all of the main supporting players outshone Bale! And if I were to pick a supporting player who stole the spotlight in Star Wars then it’s definitely Han Solo. If you take the story the way Lucas wants it to be taken as a whole, then technically Anakin/Vader isn’t a supporting character, he’s the main character.
Good list, but I would have added Casey Afleck in “the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford” his acting was brilliant and I would say he was up there with brad pitt, I would even go as far as to say he was better than Pitt. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Brad Pitt in this film, but credit should be given where credit is due and Casey was amazing
Thanks for the comments guys. Casey Affleck was excellent in Jesse James and to be honest, didn’t quite cross my mind when writing the list, but would probably have been in contention if he did.
As for TDK, Caine, Eckhart and Oldman were all absolutely superb, but Ledger truly did steal the spotlight didn’t he? He’s the one everyone talks about when it comes to that film, and rightly so, even though it was a superb ensemble piece.
How could you forget Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter?
If You Retards Could Read.. It SAID “In No Particular Order”.. They Didn’t Say Heath Ledger Was #1 It’s Just The Spot He Was Given..
True enough, but really Ledger is implied as #1. The rest is up for debate, but not Ledger.
Also, I wouldn’t be calling people retards and pointing out their inability to read with that horrible sentence. Ellipses are not interchangeable with periods (in fact, ellipses are three periods in a row, not two periods and a space) or commas and not every word should be capitalized. Also, if you weren’t a retard and could read, Matt Volpi is one person, not “they.”
Sorry to turn into “that grammar guy,” but there’s a saying about throwing stones in glass houses that comes to mind.
While these are all terrific examples, I could think of a few more. Briefly:
1. Val Kilmer in Tombstone – He totally stole that movie & elevated it from being a good movie to one of the best of 1993.
2. Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny – “My biological clock is ticking like this!” plus she did I get the Oscar.
3. Billy Crystal in The Princess Bride – In a movie full of terrific actors, it takes him less than 10 minutes of screen time to steal that movie.
IMO You should have put Catwoman in TDKR, she stole the show there.
Same actress in Les Mis deserves even more acknowledgement. (+ Oscar).
Though, I just couldn’t disagree with you :))
Effie (Jennifer Hudson) -Dreamgirls
Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) –Independence Day
Private Trip (Denzel Washington) – Glory
Second Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise) – Forest Gump
Will Smith was the star of that movie, it was his real ‘coming out’ party (Bad Boys apparently didn’t count) and that’s straight from Roland Emmerich. Speaking of Will Smith though, Jamie Foxx’s character in Ali (Bundini) should have been on this list, he stole every scene.
Val Kilmer in Tombstone. He only has a handful of scenes, but all of them are quotable and was the reason everyone went to see the film. “I’m your huckleberry…”
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds completely stole the show from Brad Pitt and of course won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Was just waiting for someone to mention it! Agree completely
Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet!” No one wanted to get a love letter from him. Great performance – menacing and malicious. A nightmare wreaking havoc in a world of roses and blue skies.
Anthony Hopkins – Silence of the Lambs, this is missing from the list!
Alan rickman….prince of thieves…..stole the film so bad Costner demanded reedit because he stole the film….Still didnt work.
Sorry but no Rickman poor list.
What about jack nic as joker in tim burtons batman and sam jackson in everything and how was darth vader a supporting character
I agree with all these, but few have stolen a film like Rutger Hauer did in Blade Runner. I’d put him at number two with Ledger still at #1.
Nothing wrong with the actors here, but it’s a guy’s list. Not a single actress. Christian Bale was fantastic in “The Fighter,” but so was Melissa Leo. And one for the ages: Jo Van Fleet held her own–and then some–with James Dean in “East of Eden.”
Long before many of you were born, A great performance by Paul Newman and Piper Laurie, and George C. Scott, and Jackie Gleason comes in and and in a very short appearence gives the best supporting role ever! Scott and Gleason were nominated for supporting roles and neither won, but truely a great performace! One of the last beautiful B&W films, well worth seeing.
And for you comic book fans, find me a better villain than Scott as Bert Gordan!
Whit–I agree with you about Gleason, but you forgot to mention the name of the movie–”The Hustler.”
How about Brad Pitt in snatch? I thought he played the alcoholic freakishly strong gypsy perfectly.
No Robert Shaw from Jaws?
I guess women are pretty forgettable to you.
As apparently they are to you as well seeing as how you didn’t even name one. Anyway great list but definitely agree with other comments that Anthony Hopkins should be on this list. Great list keep them coming!
And again we see Heath Ledger on the top spot….sigh
Alan Rickman ??? Die hard and Robin Hood
I loved this article but I believe that you forgot one of the greates show stealers. Wich is bradd pitt’s Tyler Durden from fight club. And I might added Christopher Waltz from Inglorious Basterds thank you very much
Though just providing the voice, Robin Williams as Genie in Aladdin completely stole the spotlight. The entire cast also did a great job too, especially Gilbert Godfried and whoever voiced Jasmine, but Robin Williams was incredible
Hate to be the guy to pull Harry Potter into this, but the most memorable character in the series is played by Alan Rickman.
Also, literally anyone played by Ralph Fiennes… Schindler’s List is just too obvious as Amon Goethe.
Would have been nice if you’d done a little research, or even paid proper attention to the films you’ve mentioned. Ed Norton’s character in Primal Fear does not have schizophrenia, he’s portrayed as having multiple personality disorder/dissociative identity disorder, two very different things, and his ‘illness’ is always mentioned as such; and there’s no evidence of Joe Pesci being psychotic in Goodfellas, psychopathic maybe, but he’s not split from reality, psychosis is not a general term to be inserted every time someone is played as unhinged or violent.
I know these comments may seem anal, but it’s frustrating to constantly see inaccurate depictions and references of mental health in movies and tv shows which, as many people’s only exposure to mental illness, foster ignorance and prejudice in the general public, which people like me then have to live with. Movies are not often known for their exhaustive research or adherence to strict reality, but these are the kinds of mistakes you expect critics to pick up on, not perpetuate.
Not particularly fussed by Ledger’s joker, if I’m being honest. The fact that he died completely skews the performance. People built up this haunting narrative before the film was even released, which shouldn’t but does inform how you receive his performance. And also, above all else, the lip-smacking thing he does is ridiculously annoying. He was good, and probably did steal the film, but that’s only because Bale is a poor Batman (for me) and Oldman’s Gordan is so understated and well acted that he plays the role TOO well – thus not stealing the spotlight, which the character shouldn’t anyway.
Keyser Söze/ Verbal Kint(Kevin Spacey)-The Usual Suspects
No Gollum!? Really? You must have forgot about that one
What is this list’s major malfunction? Forgetting all about R. Lee Ermy in Full Metal Jacket!
Rupert Everett in My Best Friend’s Wedding
Emily Blunt in Devil Wears Prada
Gollum in Lord of the Rings
Joe Pesci in Casino
King Kong in King Kong
Donkey in Shrek
Haley Joel Osment in Sixth Sense
Sean Connery in The Untouchables
Jason Lee in Chasing Amy, blew Affleck and Lauren-Adams off the screen. Of course, that’s really not too hard to do in the case of Affleck.
Robert Shaw – Jaws
Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction (Not a show stealer, but one of the greatest performances of all time.)
Kevin Spacey – The Usual Suspects
Christopher Walken – The Deer Hunter
Michael Clarke Duncan- The Green Mile
The Alien – Alien
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glenross tops all of the above performances – 7 mins of sheer brilliance!!
Yes! Amazing shout! Whole film is a masterpiece but that scene trumps the lot. Love his alpha male stand off with Ed Harris!
I’d make the case for Benicio Del Toro in “The Usual Suspects.” Fred Fenster was killed early and originally a forgotten character, but Del Toro’s take on him made Fenster likable and memorable.
You need to revise your definition of “supporting character”; the antagonist of a movie does not fit this definition! Get an education before writing further, please.
This one goes back a few years, but Leonardo DiCaprio completely stole the movie ‘Gilbert Grape’ for me. More recently, he stole Django Unchained as well. Also, Charlize Theron in Snow White and the Huntsman.
R. LEE EMERY in “Full Metal Jacket”
How could anyone possibly miss that one?
That show was not nearly as watchable after his role was done!
If I had to replace anyone it’d Darth Vader or Tommy Lee Jones in the Figitive
Fully agree with Ledger, Pesci should’ve been second though. That was a remarkable performance.
i do have to say that christoph waltz as dr. king shultz in django unchained stole the show, despite jamie foxx’s character being the supposed main character.
on the topic of django, i might even have to add (god, i never thought i’d say this) leonardo dicaprio’s character, calvin candie, as another steal-the-spotlight character. as much as i hate dicaprio, his performance in django was unbelievable.
I have always had a soft spot for Max Pirkis in ‘Master & Commander.’ He was the young midshipman who lost his arm. It was the kid’s first movie and he darn near stole it from Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany.
Angelina Jolie in Girl Interrupted
Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Bastards
tell me please that at least you tought about JESUS from the Big Lebowski.
Right on!
What about William Hurt in A History Of Violence? He was only in it for about 9 minutes and he completely stole the show from great actors like Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. I would maybe add Johnny Depp in Once Upon A Time In Mexico too.
I would add Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in Sexy Beast. (Shudder shudder.) The fact that he didn’t win the best supporting actor Oscar is a shame.
I’d throw in Jeffrey Wright, Who played (Tony Montana-ish) drug pusher “Peoples Hernandez” in Shaft 2k. His acting, charisma and interaction with spoiled racist rich-brat “Walter Wade” (played by Christian Bale), really made you kinda forget about Samuel L. Jackson’s self righteous somewhat arrogant character “John Shaft.”
Drexl Spivey (Gary Oldman)from True Romance. He’s British, portraying a quirky pimp…and definitely not British. And he’s on screen for only like 7 minutes.
i think the joker character was very strong such that another actor wud have done justice to d role.
THINK OF MARK HAMILL’S JOKER (VOICE ONLY)!
To me, none of these people a supporting characters, they are main characters., and are all good.
The two that stuck out most in my mind that were left off the list:
Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York (completely overshadowed Leonardo and Diaz and deserved an Oscar for his role)
Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile
No davy jones ( Bill Nighy ) in pirates of the caribbean ???
How about Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in POTC-At world’s end?
Godfrey (Mark Strong) in Robin Hood
Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) in X-Men: First Class
I felt Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto was better than anyone else in the Bryan Singer’s first X-Men
How about Jules Winnfield (Samuel L Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
I was about to say. Almost no one here is mentioning Jules from PF. Talk about a performance that sends shivers down your spine…
Missing Jack Sparrow and Loki
What about Optimus Prime from The Transformers the Movie? His death scene alone completely stole the movie from Rodimus Prime. For that matter, Megatron and even Galvatron should be on here too. Since Rodimus Prime was the protagonist and Unicron the ultimate antagonist, it leaves the other three as supporting roles and thus eligible for this list.
I agree with a lot of you. Love bale and ledger. Funny donkey in Shrek. I like to add for discution Frank Langela in Ed Wood; Clifton Collins, Jr. in Capote (he dont stole the show but was electrifying) And if Brad Pitt was the leading actor in Se7en I nominate Morgan Freeman too!!!
Benicio Del Toro in the Usual Suspects. Steals every scene
Great blog you have got here.. It’s hard to find high quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! Take care!!