5. Cliff Curtis
Though you might well recognise Cliff Curtis from one of his many diverse film roles, youd likely be hard pressed to guess where he actually hails from based on his best-known filmography. Though Curtis has played American, Hispanic and Middle Eastern characters, hes actually from New Zealand, where he started his career and formed his own production company, Whenua Films, which produced the comedy Eagle vs. Shark among others. Its quite strange watching several of Curtis films back to back, as hes so often put in incredibly disparate roles. In Training Day he plays a Hispanic gangbanger who rumbles with Ethan Hawke and possesses a thick mustache and an even thicker accent, but in Three Kings hes a clean-shaven, desperate Iraqi father and leader of a group of refugees wanting to escape Saddam Husseins oppressive regime. Curtis is a fine actor, and his performances are more often than not very convincing, but that may be more due to his relative anonymity to most audiences than anything and many viewers disposition to buy darker actors in most ethnically diverse roles.