To be labelled a 'character actor' is something of a double-edged sword. For while it acknowledges you've found a niche, it also implies a certain comfort at being typecast; a familiarity in filling the same shoes again and again. And while some will forever coast on a breakthrough role, others will snatch their chance to cement their place in cinema. The list below is comprised exclusively of the latter category. They stand in the shadows, swooping in to steal the scene. Far from relying on the scraps and scripts that fall from the top table, these are the very people for whom 'difficult' roles are written. They are the wild cards, the secret weapons; and these seven names in our rogues gallery, having honed their craft to perfection in playing the damaged, devious and downright disturbing, are clearly enjoying themselves in the process. From the second they step into the frame, these are the actors who send a shiver down our collective spine. You don't want to watch them and yet you just can't tear yourself away. If ever there were a reason to remake
The Usual Suspects, it'd surely be to sling these psychos together. Perhaps they even belong in a category of their own. Introducing the Mushroom Actors: they thrive in the dark...
7. Chris Cooper
Following a brilliant breakout performance as the homophobic and abusive Colonel Frank Fitts in 1999's
American Beauty, Cooper signed up for a series of sour-faced military or government officials (
The Bourne Identity,
Me, Myself & Irene,
TheKingdom,
Syriana,
Jarhead, Amigo) before turning to the other side of the law for
The Town. But he excels as the villain of the piece, with that snarl slowly growing from his solemn demeanour. Think back to his cackling, cartoonish oil tycoon Tex Richman in last year's
The Muppets; a man given to self-parody (''Maniacal laugh...maniacal laugh'') yet nevertheless brimming with menace. As the real-life orchid poacher John Laroche in Spike Jonze's
Adaptation, Cooper flips from cool-headed conversationalist to cold-eyed killer; skulking through the Florida swamps with a shotgun (and subsequently walking away with both a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and the wrath of the real Laroche ringing in his ears). And although the actor would make a helluva Grinch, the only way we'll see that grin turn green is when Cooper appears as Norman Osborn in next year's
The Amazing Spider-Man 2.