20 Most Underrated Actors Working Today

4. Shea Whigham

Shea Whigham's filmography is an absolute treasure trove: Boardwalk Empire, Silver Linings Playbook, Bad Lieutenant,  Kong: Skull Island, First Man, Bad Times at the El Royale, Joker, Mission: Impossible, F1... the list goes on and on. 

A prolific veteran of TV and film, Whigham has never landed himself a lead role, but such is his power; he's a character actor best found in the periphery, portraying complex, often bitter men whose stories and worldviews give extra depth to the difficult men in their immediate orbit. 

In Boardwalk Empire, for example, he plays the corrupt police captain brother to Steve Buscemi's domineering crime boss, a role that contains so much murky moral uncertainty it seems unlikely that anyone should be able to keep hold of it before it becomes too much. Whigham, true to form, makes the character sing, makes his vices and pain and conflicts feel so real. 

Content to be out of the spotlight, Whigham is often a tragic figure, but he can also be wryly amusing, tough as nails, even tender. He can do it all, and we're lucky he can.