Don Cheadle: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

3. Buck Swope - Boogie Nights (1997)

If it wasn't for Samuel L Jackson, Don Cheadle would never have even played Buck Swope. The infamous shouter was apparently sent the script initially and dismissed it outright, leaving the road open for Cheadle to swoop in (after Juliann Moore vouched for Paul Thomas Anderson).

His reward was one of Boogie Nights' most stable characters: Buck is aspirational, despite his long and illustrious porn career. He's the antithesis of Dirk Diggler (again, Cheadle plays a character offering balance), seeking a way out of porn and into his dream of a simple life. And while he could have been painted as a naive fool, there is some self-awareness and some sadness to Cheadle's performance that gives Swope surprising complexity and depth.

The scene when he is denied a loan because of his professional past is startlingly good, and the idea that Swope is never able to exist comfortably in his own skin is basically the entire premise of the film. The fact that he gets a happy ending is great, but you do still get the sense that he's still just playing a part: it's only when his child is born and in that exchange with the banker that you get a real, pure sense of who he is.