10 Unknown Actors Who Kicked Serious Ass In Major Films

6. Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men

The Coen Brothers are not unknown for there unusual casting choices (Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading anyone?) There were no doubt a few eyebrows raised as to who exactly Javier Bardem was when he was announced as the antagonist for their 2007 film, No Country For Old Men. The single moment in No Country For Old Men that confirmed to me that this guy was the real McCoy was the coin toss in the gas station. Bardem coldly asks the clerk how much he'd ever lost on a coin toss and without knowing the stakes, the clerk calls tails on a flip that could end his life. You're fully expecting the innocent man to snuff it but the scene goes from good to great when he calls it correctly and Bardem lets him live. Bardem, somewhat of a sex-icon (and dating Penelope Cruz) in his native Spain, dons a dodgy haircut and a lethal serenity to play ice-cold killer Anton Chigurh. It came as third in a trilogy of typically 'unattractive' roles (period piece Goya's Ghosts and Spanish-language 'Mar Adentro' saw him play equally imperfect characters) and served to put him very much in the minds of English-speaking audiences. Well, that and the gas canister.