The B-Movie Star Monster List

Thomerson just might have been the original Bruce Campbell if it weren't for Campbell stepping into the horror/sci-fi B-Movies first. But what I do know is that while Campbell was getting recognition for a little horror film in the woods, Thomerson was already a loved dramatic actor and stand up comedian with the most awesome Charles Bronson impression ever. Thomerson is one of the best loved actors the world thinks it doesn't know but does!

Alongside Thomerson, Ward is a working class hero of Hollywood who cut his teeth on film long ago. Ward though is one of few actors who has received acclaim as a dramatic actor, yet has kept the freedom to work between mainstream film and B-Movies and a hell of a lot of comedies. You gotta be truly loved to have that freedom!

What is there not to be liked about The Chin? Campbell is such a charismatic actor that despite over two decades of terrible acting, this is what his fans love about him. While the Hollywood red carpet daahhhlings try to fool the world that they're at the top because of their achievements, Campbell has gained greater recognition and remained better loved for longer and he still has the salt to be in an awesome television show like Burn Notice, make his own b-movies on the side and still live on the ground floor with his fans. Pure ace!

Lance is one of those iconic movie stars that people respect as much as they would the great Ian McKellen or Robert DeNiro even. One of the most well travelled thespians on God's green (brown and blue) earth. His characters such as Frank Black embody pure charisma and depth limitlessly. Lance's heyday has never ended, despite the fact that he still likes to appear in the homemade low budget movies. It's what he loves. Jim Cameron isn't going to tell Lance Henriksen otherwise!

Once billed to be a megastar, Arizona raised Biehn was overshadowed by Schwarzenegger and somehow even after Aliens, he never made it. Yet throughout his career, nevermind his personal lows (publicly admitting to alcoholism) Biehn has helped to carry some of the greatest films made in the last three decades, if not spice up some of the damn worst or make a B-Movie credible. The Abyss, K2, Tombstone, Navy Seals, Deep Red, American Dragons, The Rock, The Art of War... After fighting his demons and spilling the dirt on Hollywood's biggest bastards, Biehn is now happy giving his all to acting in the non-mainstream, bringing back Grindhouse and playing the kind of characters that even Al Pacino would *beep* out of!

Every time our Reggie appears in a film it feels like some kind of reunion, ever since he played... well... Reggie... in Phantasm. Reggie is just good old Reggie, the reliable but just not so capable hero or pain in the ass of some of the most classic B-Movie horrors to date!

Defies time like no other. Ken Foree has been appearing in film and television since around the same era as Deniro and Keitel. He may not have had the same critical acclaim and I've heard him called some nasty names (bad actor, *beep* actor, boring actor) before telling people to eff off. Foree is a familiar face in so many old stomping grounds that he could be classed as an everyman or a classic actor. His appearances in old cop shows like Kojak, then his old appearances in the immortal Dawn of the Dead(s). He's cameod in The Wanderers and was in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel and then was a dad in a kids tv show. Foree surprised the hell out of me when he re-emerged in Rob Zombie's Devil's Rejects looking like he was nowhere over forty years old!

This is going to sound sad and racist but then I came from a sad and racist time. When I was a kid, I knew Keith David for Platoon, The Thing and They Live. He was so awesome that I wondered why people very close to me hated blacks. In my little uneducated white world of 80's North Liverpool (nowhere near race riot scarred Toxteth), Keith David was a better reason than Mr T in the A-Team to want to like black people. He is also one of the greatest actors in my mind, and he makes great B-Movie characters. George Romero should have used him!

A self made man who broke into Hollywood living in his car and then broke out with his soul intact. Jane is the epitome of retro cool, a strangely successful splicing of Clint Eastwood, Ryan O'Neal and Christopher Lambert. He doesn't give a *beep* about capitalising on mega success. He's doing it as a respectable businessman, for the love of the game and its fans!

What saddens me about Mark Hamill's career is the lack of respect he seems to have in the eyes of critics. He has never needed to work another day in his life since Star Wars and yet for the fun of it he went on to lend himself to shlocky little sci-fi's and horrors. Although he has also lent his personality to a lot of fun projects including The Simpsons and an awesome voice over of The Joker in the animated Batman series, he just loves to make little B-Movies and should be respected for the freedom he has. He is actually a very good actor!

Synonymous (spelt that right?) with the name John Carpenter, Peter Jason may have died in more films than Charlton Heston. Through his feature character roles playing lowlives, bullies, bar managers, right-hand men and all-out victims, Jason has worked his way into providing the same in a countless list of shows and movies. Likeable even when he's not so likeable, who said being typecast is bad for your career?

A man with an intense love for horror movies and science fiction, Tom got into acting for no other reason and it is this reason why you will never remember him for anything else (like Lethal Weapon... come on, honestly, did you forget that?). Atkins is a legend for his work on The Fog, Creepshow, Halloween 3, Night of the Creeps, Maniac Cop and lately Drive Angry. He is a loveable character and a very wide-ranged actor!

Another immortal, even if his career has waited years at a time to show just what he's made of, most of us remember him way back in Full Metal Jacket as one of the film's most prominent characters. But the same can be said ten times more for his turn as the man they call Jayne in the legendary 'Firefly.' A man in love with his westerns, Baldwin's influences show through in all of his characters but he brings with him a laid back mean streak whether he's a bully, a soldier or just an outright creep. Also popular for Independence Day, the X-Files and Chuck.

One of the most charismatic villains to ever step on screen, Divoff has never stepped away from the horror genre, only taken a few days out to portray violent criminals, psychopaths, Hell's Angels and sociopaths for film and television. Another 48 Hours, Graveyard Shift, Wishmaster, Toy Soldiers, you name it, he's sold it!

An admirable B-Movie actor from the days of exploitation cinema, Robert Forster used to be the rough and ready hero you never expected in the likes of Alligator and then became the cameo you didn't want to see murdered so comically in Maniac Cop 3. Working for a living has never bothered Forster, who has always been on the Red Carpet and especially after bringing so much character to the table in Jackie Brown that he stole thunder from both Sam Jackson and Robert Deniro. Just like with Hamill and Atkins, it all comes down to the love of the game.

He should be here just for the amount of B-Movies I saw him in as a kid after Highlander... those films, with the terrible dialogue and those explicit sex scenes... but Lambert has no shame, unlike his fans, which has put him in a number of really fun films from back in the day when there was so much worse and before Hollywood shoved out the shoestring budget action director and replaced him with a green screen!

I feel for the guy, having been through what he has, trying to outlive his uber-successful child career and yet never outgrowing his body or his surfer-dude accent. But Feldman, whether you like it or not, was everywhere you went and in everything you loved in the 80's. Friday the 13th, Gremlins, Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, The Goonies... who has that success today???

He was once the King of Psychopaths when his up and coming career consisted of playing immortal The Kurgan in Highlander or the killer in Deadly Pursuit or the Black Ops merc in Walter Hill's Extreme Prejudice. Clancy Brown, though, turned out to be a very fine actor and so the end came for all that. But he still loves a good voice over when it comes to animations etc

For a man who made his career entirely off poorly spoken, written, directed and produced B-Movies (after Bladerunner), Rutger Hauer is the epitome of success. With his own fine acting school, he still doesn't give a hoot about what people say, especially when Hobo With A Shotgun gets him more fans than his suavely menacing turn in Batman Begins. Hauer should have become a film company and given us all a job!

What can you ever say wrong about Michael Ironside? He was either the sadistic villain or the really mean and bitter good guy but he never lacked any skills... EVER! The shame is that they never make films like they used to when Ironside was kickin so much ass, because there are a lot of people who would have liked to follow in his footsteps.

A rent-a-vivtim or rent-a-baddie, much like Peter Jason, Marshall Bell could either be found doing the horror B-Movies in the 80's and 90's or in the same sci-fi's as Michael Ironside. Another solid actor that did it like just another day on the farm!

Is it because he was typecasted and short on offers or is it that he just didn't give a *beep* until he found a character he really wanted. The difference between his character Horace Pinker in Wes Craven's Shocker and Director Skinner in the X-Files is massive and Pileggi proved there alone that he had the range and the intensity to either literally jump through the screen or leave you simmering on a slow burner. His latest popular role was in Sons of Anarchy next to Henry Rollins and he proved once again that he never lost his touch!

It takes a certian kind of actor (a really good one) to turn a B-Movie into an infinite worldwide success 'Robocop' and to not only survive a lot of terrible films but to make terrible films appealing. Weller, also a fine actor in many respects, has devoted himself to playing against type for television, but has always brought us what we want when we catch him in a sci-fi horror!

Game over maaaan... probably not though. Bill Paxton was one of the hardest working support actors of the 80's and 90's for sci-fi's, horrors and action fests but his lead roles didn't do him any favours until he dropped the bitchy whiny typecast and manned up for Twister. From then on he delivered his best acting with Frailty and A Simple Plan and he is making a comeback yet again!

For those of you that will look at this man's face and know none the wiser, the Australian actor is stuff of legend for two reasons. One, for playing one of the most shouty screamy villains in sci-fi history (twice) in Mad Max 2 (and then the same character again in Weird Science). And then two for being the least likely mercenary villain opposite Schwarzenegger in Commando. You'll also find him in Fortress opposite Christopher Lambert.

For the young 'uns that just like Dr Cox in Scrubs for being the sarcastic sadist cynic grump with a heart of gold (cold and heavy), it's just any other day at the office for wide-ranged actor McGingley. He in fact became one of my favourite office pest variation rent-a-baddies after his awesome turn in Oliver Stone's Platoon before beginning to really exercise his acting chops in a brilliant but little remembered Dean Koontz miniseries - Intensity - as a psychopath child murderer. Before that you can see him in Point Break, Highlander 2, Surviving the Game and a host of many other films both well known and obscure. The man has no limits!

One of my favourite actors of all time, he's the guy you go to when you want to make a dream come true. You could say he's an older, bolder Forest Whittaker andd you wouldn't be wrong. Dutton has appeared in many creature features and horrors over the years and is a fellow Surviving the Game villain alongside John C. McGinley. You will also notably find him in Alien 3 and Mimic!

Kevin J. O'Connor is the type of geeky, weedy looking guy that you don't expect to be able to add weight to a horror, sci-fi or drama but you'd be dead wrong on that and O'Connor made a lot of average films great in his prime and then some great movies awesome. Most notably you will find him in Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions, Deep Rising and GI Joe, but look for any of his movies because he is a true entertainer and adds great comic relief too!

Wow, what do you say about the legend that is Tom Savini besides the fact that his sheer volume of movie work is a testament to his long and full life?! Vietnam veteran, combat photographer, stage actor, film actor, special effects artist, competitive fencer, painter, sculptor, writer, director, stuntman and gymnast Savini is a jack of all trades and even a master of most if not all. Savini was a huge part of George Romero's success in the 70's and 80's, created Jason for Friday 13th and played a host of characters in films you will never likely see, but he is also a B-Movie acting legend who can not speak a single word in his movie appearances and crowds will still cheer. Sex Machine from Dusk Til Dawn, Blade from Dawn of the Dead, the Sheriff in the remake ("put another round in that woman, she's a twitcher"), Deputy Tolo in Planet Terror and assassin for hire Osiris in Machete... everybody wants some!

Brad Dourif is the perfect example of a fine actor and even Oscar material giving the finger to the expectations of media darlings and critics for the sake of his art and his love of horror and sci-fi. Such an amazing actor is he that you can see the same character he plays over and over and it's a work of art each time. From One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest's Billy, Dourif then went on to appear in some of the most influential horrors of all time and even made some bad ones very worthy of a watch. Aside from playing Chucky in Childs Play, he has also appeared in Dario Argento's Trauma, Body Parts, Stephen King's Graveyard Shift as a psycho Vietnam vet turned rat exterminator, the Outer Limits and Alien Resurrection!

An ex-convicted criminal and amateur boxer turned working class legend, Danny Trejo has been killed so many times and so many different ways in low budget action films that they seem to have run out of ways for him to die, thus immortalising him the hard way over three decades. He has basically achieved Chuck Norris status by dying so much that he can't be killed. But now that Robert Rodriguez has cemented his place in movie history, he is getting the recognition he deserves as a true Mexican badass. Runaway Train, Death Wish 4, Marked for Death, Desperado, From Dusk Til Dawn, Once Upon A Time in Mexico, Machete, Bad Ass, Bubble Boy and now Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy. Legend!

Jeff Fahey is another man who owes Robert Rodriguez for his return to the genre that he works best in, or is it the other way around, because Fahey is a great actor that rarely gets the chance to be in a really good b-movie?! I remember him best, originally for his leading roles in forgotten movies Parker, Silverado and Body Parts but then he went onto a very unflattering career in direct to video actioners. Robert Rodriguez but him to great use as corrupt businessman and father to Lindsay Lohan in Machete and JT in Planet Terror. A great character actor that oozes personality and reminds you of the 70's and 80's eras of actors that doesn't exist anymore.

Treat Williams is the kind of actor you would expect to see in memorable dramas everywhere when you consider his earlier supporting roles in the likes of Once Upon A Time In America but aside (just kidding, I think his first film was Porky's) from the edited and well-behaved Mr Williams you expect, he is also a huge fan of playing untypical action heroes. From Dead Heat, where he plays a zombie cop looking for the man that murdered him and The Subsitute sequels where he plays a mercenary gone undercover as a school teacher to break drugs rings in the US, he has also appeared in excellent sci-fi horror Deep Rising while he hasn't been playing maniacs in the likes of Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead. An excellent actor that you have to love for his boyish charms and the reluctant everyman hero personality he brings to the screen. He did it his way and it worked for us!

It's always a shock for people to realise that Robert Englund can actually act without the appliance of makeup or prosthetics but why? He is a master of disguise and that is what made his career and god knows how full his career has been. The earliest film I have seen Englund in was as Jeff Bridges' pool hustler friend in Stay Hungry beside a young Arnold Schwarzenegger but it wasn't until a decade later when he brought Freddy Krueger to life. Aside from that, find him in Stephen King's The Mangler, 2001 Maniacs and erm... Zombie Strippers (lucky bastard)

British RAF Pilot, WWII veteran and Japanese POW Camp survivor Donald Pleasance (RIP and god rest his soul) never fully recovered from his experiences and this was what drove him to express the disposition of his tortured soul. However, he was also a hard working actor that devoted himself from post-war days until shortly before his death at a very ripe old age to appearing in just about every budget sci-fi and horror movie there was. John Carpenter made best use of him in the 80's as Dr Loomis in Halloween and as the priest in Prince of Darkness but despite his long foray into low budget commercial movies, he never stopped being loved for what he did and there I think is the answer as to why he loved doing it. Pleasance used film, in any way that he could, to work on laying his demons to rest!

It's okay that few people will know Joe Pilato. When you're made by George Romero and that gets you every b movie villain role for the next two decades as a result, you're an icon. But Pilato did have acting chops and he made for a pretty unconventional television actor well he is an unconventional human being after all, which you can see for yourself on youtube). Pilato played a cop in Dawn of the Dead and a travelling medieval biker in Knightriders with Ed Harris and Tom Savini before his piece de resistance arrived in the form of one of the baddest horror film villains of all time as Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead. His dialogue not only set the dark and threatening tone for the whole move but he was just about the best actor there, even next to Jarlath Conroy. You will also find Joe in some nifty little cameos in Pulp Fiction (Dean Martin next to Sammy Davis Jr at Slims), the Demolitionist and Wishmaster!

Robert Patrick is the go to guy when you need a cop, a soldier or a soldier turned cop. Despite his turn as the baddest villain next to Scharzenegger in the Terminator franchise, this didn't propel him into stardom and nothing ever really did. He is a cult favourite that has appeared in so many b-movies that I dont remember that I wont but he got onto the X-Files for a reason. Great actor, and one that reminds you a lot of...

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Nico, Cliffhanger, Mallrats, Shadowbuilder, Slither...

The man is so well ranged that it doesn't matter what he does, Rooker brings charm, character and experience to b-movies so often that they're the reason he gets the big jobs like Merle Dixon in Walking Dead!

Moseley takes up a huge branch on the horror family tree and it's not so difficult to see why. The man could be completely off his rocker but he lives to play those kinds of characters and his influence over the decades has seen him work on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, bring brother Johnny to life in Tom Savini's Night of the Living Dead remake and more recently played the deranged brother and alpha male of the Firefly Family in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses and the Devil's Rejects!

I think one of the greatest actors of his generation, Tony Todd went from playing a very solid part in Oliver Stone's Platoon to adding his skills immensely to the horror genre, notably as the Candyman, as Ben in Night of the Living Dead (Savini remake), as the evil henchman in The Crow and in a myriad of tv appearances such as the X Files. Tony Todd also enjoys commercial success as a result of his on-screen presence.

Tom Towles doesn't have a photo on IMDb??? C'mooonnnnn, you're *beep* me right? Night of the Living Dead (Savini remake), Stuart Gordon's Fortress and House of 1000 Corpses are not no-name b-movies!

James Hong has worked so hard as an actor over so many decades, yet because of his long lived rent-a-baddie status, he is a cult favourite. You can find him in Bladerunner but you'll see his bad guy roles in the likes of Tango & Cash and Big Trouble in Little China as David Lopan. He is also hilarious in Balls of Fury

Two words... Hellraiser (and) Pinhead

Three more words... The Killer Tongue

Three more... Great British Actor

If you don't know Chris Sarandon, let me introduce you. He is the ex husband of actress Susan Sarandon and also got her into acting. He is also a huge reason for the success of director Tom Holland, specifically for his excellent good guy and bad guy roles in Childs Play and Fright Night. He is also responsible for a lot of cack being watchable!

RIP, genius. Not only did Anthony Perkins make Norman Bates one of the most memorable serial killers in movie history, without Hitchcock, Perkins was the man responsible for the continuation of that success. The only problem being that he became the most typecasted actor to ever have lived as a result and didn't work much. But Perkins was a fantastic actor and his role as the Chaplain in Catch 22 was hilarious and so well played. Perkins continued to play villains and tortured souls in tv and b-movies throughout his life and regardless of how bad many of those films were, he added a flare that no other actors have ever managed to emulate.

Everything looks b-movie after you've played such a pivotal role in one of the biggest and greatest movie trilogies of all time (Gollum in Lord of the Rings). All else I can think of is Deathwatch but Serkis belongs in horror b-movies because he makes them great.

Planet of the Apes main monkey Roddy McDowall might as well be the US's answer to Donald Pleasance for all the performances his life consisted of but when Pleasance was starring in war movies, McDowall was doing westerns. That and PotA are the only real differences. Besides that, when Pleasance took on the role of Dr Loomis, Roddy McDowall later took on the immortal role of movie vampire hunter and broken old man in Tom Holland's Fright Night and it's sequel. McDowall had a gentle, frail and yet light-hearted side to him that could be switched to heart-sinking fear and villainy in a heartbeat. A fine, fun actor that is still missed to this day!

Brother of Sam, director of Evil Dead and Spider-man trilogies, Ted joined in the fun wherever Sam went and as a result of that and his friendship with ham actor and mischief maker, Ted Raimi can be seen everywhere from the 80's to the present. Maniac Cop, Darkman, John Woo's Hard Target and My Name Is Bruce included. The man plays great sleazebags and yuppies and he's a great practical joker which makes him a great character actor.

Martial Arts master Donnie Yen has gone wherever opportunity takes him over so many years and yet the man never seems to age. He is very fond of his comic book characters, hence his role as Snowman in Blade II and aside from his great roles in epic Chinese martial arts movies, he is a less dodgy alternative to Mark Dacascos.

Character actor extraordinaire, Ron Perlman has had such a colourful career that its almost impossible to separate the b-movies from the commercial successes. But starring opposite Linda Hamilton in the best adaptation ever made of Beauty and the Beast made Perlman and ever since he has gone from strength to strength playing monsters and madmen. Sleepwalkers, Blade II, Hellboy, Alien Resurrection, Dirty Laundry, Badass; you can't call most of these b-movies but he is an actor that likes to work for a living.

The late David Carradine was never particularly great but he was one of the best of the bunch when it came to the large family of male actors he headed as the oldest son. Carradine rose to prominence through winning the role of Cane from Kung Fu over Bruce Lee but when those days ended, he found himself short of work that was any better than made for television movies. The Long Riders by Walter Hill helped to change that some but his role opposide Chuck Norris in Lone Wolf McQuade set the tone for the rest of his career up until Tarantino added him to the top of the Kill Bill roster. After that, it was straight back to b-movies.

James Remar is not only a great actor but he is in such high demand for his charm and range. Remar rose to prominence through the influence he had on director Walter Hill. He found himself failing at an audition for a part on The Warriors, lost his temper and pulled Hill's desk off the ground in pure frustration. It was his temper that won him the role of Ajax. From there he went on to star as the lead villain in 48 Hours and began a long and hard working career before he found great success in the late 90's/early 2000's. You can find him in a lot of b-movies including Extreme Tenderness and the Tales from the Darkside movie

There is no denying that this man is a b-movie legend despite his success with the a-list efforts he was also made famous for. Check out the movie list, Hopper wasted absolute fame and fortune for drugs and alcohol and thus spent his life expressing the madness of the dark side of life that he had experienced. He was also director for a lot of titles. A true son of Hollywood, in all honesty!

Poor old MVP has had a wonderful career in film as an actor and director and yet he has paralleled this with a side dish of some stunningly bad features such as cyborg action movie Solo. From his promising early days of New Jack City along with some of the US's greatest black talent, Van Peebles milked it and gave us Posse about a black gang of outlaws. But wherever the success came to an end, he ended up being in a lot of b-movies but not all of them terrible. Gunmen with Christoper Lambert, Patrick Stewart and Denis Leary was very entertaining. He just deserved better!

Tiny is a fabled beast known for playing huge scary black men. Wherever you expect to find the stereotype, you will most likely find him. Love this guy!

Ever had a FESTEVEZ? You take all the films he's least remembered for and sit through them for like a whole day. You'll be really surprised how great an actor Estevez is but of course when he went out of flavour he moved onto producing and directing. His b-movies are probably some of the most enjoyable actually; Repo Man, Maximum Overdrive, Freejack, Dollar for the Dead?

Despite his massive history in film, Sid Haig is considered one of the new wave of horror actors since his work with Rob Zombie and now has a lot of fun starring in films like the new remake of Night of the Living Dead along with other old school comeback b-movie stars. Haig is an amazing character actor given the chance and yet he fills so many ordinary roles untypically.

The most annoying bad guy that ever lived (and got killed often if not always), Mr Kelly perfected the villain role practically at the beginning of his career as Luther in The Warriors. He worked for Walter Hill often but used typecasting to his advantage, the same as Brad Dourif. Dreamscape, Commando and also Last Man Standing are his better works!

He's the guy that would have been the T1000 in T2 if it weren't for his slghtly comical features and of course Robert Patrick. But Sadler came to prominence in Die Hard 2 before having a very fruitful career (Shawshank, Trespass, The Mist). He was the hero in Demon Knight and did a lot of horror and action b-movies also including Solo. This hasn't marred his career somehow and we are glad!

Best known for his unconventional lead and supporting roles, Pinon is better remembered for his works with French filmmaking duo Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro (City of Lost Children, Delicatessen) and as a result he got a part on Alien Resurrection as the wheechair bound but admirable good guy space pirate Vriess. He has been happy to work on independent b-movies since and yet still gets some pretty tasty film roles as though the cheap tacky *beep* never happened. I guess, though, essentially he is like the Robin Williams of horror and sci-fi.

The late great Brion James was not remembered for his substance when it came to movies. He was essentially a rent-a-henchman specifically for sci-fi, horror and action movies since his turn as a Replicant in Ridley Scott's immense Bladerunner but you could find him all over the place in the 80's. It's sad that he died before somebody gave him the chance to really show the young uns how it was done, but then he clearly loved what he did and by god he did it best.

Tobin Bell is best remembered for his role as the antihero/villain/antivillain in the SAW series but long before then he was one of the character actors most often hired alongside Brion James if not a substitute. The only difference was that Bell also got good guy roles.

Need a sullen, pasty faced 80's actor to play bullied school teens? Just dial 976-Evil. So sick of being bullied and misunderstood that you'd rather just become a werewolf? Have yourself a Fright Night. Can't find anymore movies to star in because you're so typcasted that people just think you're invading the set of every film you star in? There's always a job on Moon 44...

It's funny how the best movie villains of the 80's only seem to age by one decade for every two decades everybody else does. So when you look at Brian Thompson's movie career and how it went downhill so quickly, it's nice to see that the guy is still going and not looking like he's been through the meat grinder (he looked like that to begin with hahaha). Thompson went from lead gang member of the Terminator's opening scenes to the serial killer from Stallone's original comeback gig on Cobra to being a convicted criminal sent to Moon 44 and then about a decade later he was Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat Annihilation. I haven't seen him in anything noteworthy since then but the guy was a great b-movie actor and deserves some goddamn credit.

Another marvellous actor, Paul Winfield sticks in my mind for Terminator (the first was such a b-movie) and Serpent and the Rainbow. I think it's important to mention fine actors such as Winfield because they play such a pivotal role in the making of lower budget movies simply by adding weight and realism. Being the ordinary exposed to the extraordinary if you will.

Zakes Mokae wasn't the most inspirational actor around when he helped to make some films very awesome, yet he didn't need to be. Mokae relied on raw instinct as a natural actor and his origin made his films feel authentic. I will mostly remember Serpent and the Rainbow and Dust Devil, the latter I feel being his best film.

Burke has had something of a rough ride through his earlier career despite his charisma and stony appearance. In an industry where looks buy you popularity, he suffered an early case of career trenchfoot after falling into the ditch that was the b-movie disaster Robocop 3. Without Weller, it should never have happened. And with the 3rd attempting to be a kid movie following the explosion in popularity of the first two films and the comic books, it was just a bad idea that attracted little funding and a terrible plot and script. Burke however went on to redefine himself with two more low budget efforts. Firstly, Dust Devil, where he played the demonic titular character stalking a pregnant woman through the deserts of South Africa and then made for tv movie Stephen King's Thinner where he portrayed a morbidly obese man cursed to lose weight until he shrivels away to nothing. Robert John Burke went onto television success but his b-movie appearances have done him more good than harm all in all.

Is he the poor man's Brian Blessed or just so damn lucky to be so often mistaken for the larger than life thespian? No to both! John Rhys Davies has cut his teeth the hard way long before his godawful film choices in the likes of Cyborg Cop but that never ruined him, in fact far off. His films are so terrible that this is the reason we love him.

If Michael Dudikoff had a weedier little brother that didn't know martial arts, this is the life he would live. Thom Matthews was an enjoyable young actor from mid 80's to early 90's but unfortunately nobody quite knows where he went wrong. His early choices in movies beat the likes of actors that now enjoy great mainstream success but I get the feeling that he was in fact a limited actor whose popularity fizzled out quickly. Despite this, he made films like Return of the Living Dead 1 and 2, Friday 13th Part 6 and Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission... okay not the last one...

You put this guy in the Roddy McDowall and Donald Pleasance clique but for his own good reasons. William Hickey was always the male equivalent to Norman Bates' mother in his film and television appearances and despite the fact he couldn't do much at his later age, it never stopped him. He was notably a regular on horror shows and films such as The Outer Limits and Tales from the Darkside's movie.

Known to many as that squinty-eyed mexican that gets killed in every film he's ever been in, that is exactly Tommy Rosales. From Robocop 2 and Predator 2 to Vampires, Rosales has provided the familiar face to make up for complete lack of backstory and is always either shot dead as a vilain or killed off by a bigger villain. Spot the squinty-eyed mexican next time you want to watch a classic 80's or 90's action b-movie.

Despite the fact that Robert Davi is one of the finest actors on television today, he has added suave sophistication and then rude rough hilarity to a plethora of film history. The guy from Criminal Minds has added his flare to The Goonies, Maniac Cop 2 and 3 and a host of dodgy action and softcore porn movies and more lately Johnathan Hensleigh's cheap and cheerful Kill the Irishman.

John Carpenter's rent-a-hobo, Buck Flower provided the low brow laughs to so many films in the 80's and 90's that it's hard to look at so many of them as terrible movies. A John Carpenter mainstay, he was in The Fog, Escape from New York, They Live, Village of the Damned and had a hilarious cameo in Wishmaster as a hobo given his greatest wish for the price of his soul. Best remembered for his drunken, shabby, happy or terribly offended manner.

Angus Scrimm will always be the Tall Man from Don Coscarelli's Phantasm saga but little was it accepted outside of his b-movie career (also appearing in Bruce Campbell horror vehicle Mindwarp) that he was not just one of the most educated and polite gentlemen actors to ever live, he was also a classical actor that was such a joy to work with and he didn't care what the hell critics said.

Holby City doctor Hugh Quarshie may be known today for keeping his hospital together but a long time ago, he appeared in many a b-movie and added a touch of class as a young but professional actor. I'm only going to give you Clive Barker's Nightbreed, the rest you will have to surprise yourselves with.

Also a member of the Nightbreed cast, Sheffer was the rock and roll rebel looking kid that went on to star in more and more b-movies in a time when they were a booming industry. Quite literally, he was a b-movie poster boy. That's nothing to be ashamed of either!

From his more memorable role as Principal Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Jeffrey Jones became popular to play the wacky old grump, which he perfected in Howard the Duck. Come to think of it, I dont know why he's here really but I'm not taking him down.

Wes Studi is one of the rare cases of a very serious man hiding the biggest secret for a very long time only to later point out that he is indeed a very fun guy that likes to parody himself. If you saw him in Last of the Mohicans but not Deep Rising and Mystery Men, be prepared.

Aussie b-movie actor Trevor Goddard was once well known for playing villains and body count fodder. Despite people saying that he couldn't act, he did what he did well and he was not shy of the cameras. You may remember him as Kano from the terrible Mortal Kombat movie or as T-ray from Deep Rising.

Another rent-a-baddie, Cary Tagawa was lucky in the sense that his career started off terrible, carried on being terrible and ended up being terrible. Well it wasn't all luck, he portrayed a mean villain in the likes of Showdown in Little Tokyo, American Dragons and Mortal Kombat. But goddamn if i was this good at playing villains, I'd have assassinated my own agent if I were him.

Shame that such a lovable actor as late Victor Wong doesn't have a photo. Egg Shan from Big Trouble in Little China, Professor Birack fro m Prince of Darkness and i forget his name in Tremors, but Mr Wong was a great character in any film and he was always a great comedy actor.

Not to be mistaken for Thomas Ian Griffith by looks or movies, Michael Wincott was the villain, supporting character and occasionally the good guy in so many films through the 90's before he started to really gain recognition as the gravelly voiced villain of Brandon Lee's fateful final movie, The Crow. In fact possibly his most mainstream effort was the final Alien instalment but he is a fine actor nonetheless.

Von Bargen's is a strange story because the less impact his characters had in film, the more successful he became. Daniel Von Bargen enjoyed more colourful roles in the horror genre however and the pinnacle of this was in Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions. He is best loved for his *beep* roles playing stuck up businessmen or cops.

Son of Dr Who and Worzel Gummidge, Sean Pertwee has starred and died in just about every sci-fi and horror b-movie ever filmed on the English side of the Atlantic but he is brilliant in every single one of them. Soldier, Event Horizon, Dog Soldiers and Doomsday are amongst his most popular.

AAAAAAARGGGGHHHHHH!!! The face was made for cheap action, horror and sci-fi and it's been there too many times. Kidding, I think this guy's mentality is admirable.

Mark Boone Jr is not your typical support actor and never has been. A master of independent film, for every b-movie you saw him in as part of the body count (John Carpenter's Vampires and 30 Days of Night), you saw him in an indie film and witnessed reality. The shabby grump can now be seen on Sons of Anarchy but you want to catch up on his past movies before Batman Begins.

With a cockney accent and a face that could scowl you to death, Craig Fairbrass made the transition from British telly to American film quite quickly with the likes of Cliffhanger. But a future of sci fi and horror b-movies awaited, one of which I remember called Proteus. ow with the resurgence of indie British genre b-movies, Fairbrass is back in ganster mode and slaying vampires etc.

This guy made some b-movies so worthy of greatness, The first two Return of the Living Dead movies specifically. A great comic performance in both and yet also kinda creepy.

Clu Gulager went through every american movie trend that happened as he went and it was only a matter of time before he discovered that he was pretty damn good in a horror movie. My favourite? Again, Return of the Living Dead.

Alongside Thom Matthews, or not, the now popular television and film comedy actor Miguel Nunez appeared in a collection of 80's horrors before landing himself on cult tv show Tour of Duty. He was notably in Friday 13th Part 5 and Return of the Living Dead.

The Kiwi (wink-wink) actor had been around a while before Dead Calm came about but even though Neill has brought sophisticated and charismatic leads to many great A-Listers throughout Hollywood's last twenty years or so, he has also lent his suave acting skills to many a B-Movie and Hollywood Sleeper. In The Mouth Of Madness, Event Horizon and Daybreakers were but a few!

Being the one surviving star of the Tremors movies and series could be reason alone to call Michael Gross a B-Movie icon but he has provided some much needed dramatic competence and comic relief to many a feature. A popular face in 80's and 90's TV Movies, Gross was also probably the only actor to reoccur in the popular 'In The Line Of Duty' cop TV Movies, playing three different characters in all. Besides Tremors, Gross also took lead in the first sequel to 'Sometimes they come back... again!'

Thanks to cameronshay for also pointing out this diamond in the rough. As IMDb points out, whereas never gaining the recognition he deserved, Railsback has a skill to command attention no matter what films he was in, good or bad. Railsback has been something of a B-Movie legend since 'Turkey Shoot' back in the early 80's but thankfully went onto better things such as space vampire invasion thriller 'Lifeforce,' 'The Survivalist' ...cough... 'Alligator 2.' He was one of the X-Files' most memorable cases, Duane Barry and not only delivered the best ever portrayal of notorious historical psychopath Ed Gein in 'Light of the Moon,' but in my eyes, that was possibly his best performance to date!

When you look at the Crow movie and see Michael Massee, you don't see a future of b-movies, you see a man of intellect and great character improv destined for success. And both of those happened. Massee did go onto success, as the character actor that made cheap b-movies worth watching. Okay but his French accent was too much in Sahara, but hey-ho, I think they just told him to look and act like JCVD!

Such a fine and accomplished actor is Willem Dafoe that most will argue that he has never been a B-Movie actor, yet, if you look closely at his career list on IMDb, you will see that once every few years he has participated in a great A-List movie and then he will go on to make the obscure little movies that you love him for the most... or just the ones where he was good but the film was terrible... like Speed 2 or XXX2. Either way, he is one of the finest character actors around aside from his talents. He gives 100% no matter what he does and that is why Hollywood still comes calling!

South African Native Arnold Vosloo is now enjoying plenty success but little do many of his modern fans know his roots and those reach firmly into B-Movie soil (see what I did there? Visual interpretation). Vosloo can be seen in the terribly *beep* Patrik Swayze sci-fi actioner Steel Dawn, the Dark Man sequels and even after the Mummy made a star of him, he still continued to star in direct to video B-Movies. Dedication!

RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Any clues? ...okay. His entire career is like one big B-Movie!

Strike Commando, Space Mutiny, Cage, Sssssnake, The Howling 2, Sword and the Sorcerer, Robowar, Mercenary Fighters, White Ghost, Street Hunter, Flight of the Intruder, Night Claws...

And yes, he can be found on the red carpet just like anyone else and he is actually very much appreciated, thank you.

RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Diamond began his career pretty much as his middle name would imply, without much of a flaw. Then the peak of his early success came with the Young Guns film and its sequel but much like most other Bratpack members, he seemed to fall from grace with a string of no-name B-Movies but with the odd redeeming feature. However, things seemed to get much worse. Aside from becoming typecast and slotted into some of the most clicheed films you can imagine, he just wasn't reaching his audience at all. Television saved him, dropping the lead role saved him and then television has continued to ruin him instead with films that make B-Movies look expensive. Please LDP. Go back to what you're best at. Give Walter Hill a call and go talk turkey!

Back in the day, there weren't many actors that could become so loved for portraying Class-A Douchebags and Miguel Ferrer (son of Jose and cousin of George Clooney) did just that with a string of B-Movies and a career as a rent-a-baddie afterwards. Most notable are Robocop and Deep Star Six. Ferrer however also went on to take the lead with his prime douchebaggery skills and you can see just how a commanding performer he was in Stephen King's 'The Night Flier'

Beginning his acting career in the 80's probably sealed Daly's career as a B-Movie actor but Daly has always been a natural, which is why we accept him for what he has become accustomed to. The experience also led him to give his finer work in television later on. He was in Spellbinder and strange horror comedy Dr Jekyll and Miss Hyde and is now best known as long serving Superman voice actor after portraying the Man of Steel in the 90's (not to be mistaken for Dean Cain).