Nine times out of ten, supporting characters are little more than window dressing to make the leads look good. Up until Captain America: The Winter Soldier, all Nick Fury really did was bring The Avengers together. Despite holding a position of power, Padmé is little more than a love interest for Anakin in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. And after The Curse of the Black Pearl, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley probably could have been dropped altogether and people still would have turned out to see Johnny Depps Captain Jack Sparrow. In that last ten per cent, though, some great characters have emerged over the years. They come from writers wanting to go above and beyond to make use of more of the cast, using their supporting stars for more than just moving the plot in a certain direction, nudging those more central onto the right path. The greatest among them outstrip their leading counterparts even when the film is named after them, and every now and then they get recognition in Best Actor or Actress categories, despite being better suited for the Supporting nods. And an even smaller fraction amongst them outshine their peers completely, fooling you into thinking the film revolves around them or leaving the strongest impression once the credits roll.
Honourable Mention: Andrew Lincoln Love Actually
Love Actually is a bit of a difficult one, because its basically an ensemble piece, hence the honourable mention. Type Love Actually into Google Images, and the first real non-poster image youll see will be Andrew Lincoln, who is of course now better known for his leading role in The Walking Dead, holding up a sign that reads, To me, you are perfect. Its an image that clearly literally has a very strong association to the film in peoples minds, proving that one snapshot to be amongst the most memorable scenes throughout the entire running time, in spite of the fact that Lincoln has only a handful of scenes.