Actors to Represent or Give Faces to Characters in a Story of Mine
by daniel-daves | created - 18 Sep 2021 | updated - 10 months ago | PublicThese are actors who are character actors (usually) and I think they might be suitable portrayals of Southern (Arkansan) characters in a crime story
1. Charles Halford
Actor | Constantine
Charles Halford was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is an actor, known for his work as the unsettling red herring Reggie Ledoux in season one of the HBO's award winning crime drama True Detective (2014), as Chas the hard-to-keep-down cabby, and wing-man to John Constantine (2014) on NBC's ...
2. Chris Browning
Actor | Bright
Tall and imposing, Nevada native Chris Browning initially intended to be a screenwriter but enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles without realizing it was a school for actors only. Taking to the craft, Browning received one of his first parts in a Dr. Pepper commercial ...
3. Fred Ward
Actor | Short Cuts
A marvelous character actor with intense eyes, a sly grin and somewhat grizzled appearance, Golden Globe-winner Fred Ward had nearly 90 appearances under his belt in many tremendous films and television programs. He first became interested in acting after serving three years in the US Air Force and...
4. Brad Carter
Actor | Yellowstone
Brad Carter was born on December 5, 1973 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Yellowstone (2018), True Detective (2014) and Sons of Anarchy (2008).
5. Sherilyn Fenn
Actress | Of Mice and Men
The sultry, versatile, petite (5' 4") beauty Sherilyn Fenn was born Sheryl Ann Fenn in Detroit, Michigan, into a family of musicians. The youngest of three children, her mother, Arlene Quatro, played keyboard in rock bands, her aunt is rock-star Suzi Quatro, and her grandfather, Art Quatro, was a ...
6. John Hawkes
Actor | The Sessions
John Hawkes is an award-winning actor known for crafting memorable performances across a wide range of styles and genres. He will next be seen in the upcoming fourth season of HBO's "True Detective" with Jodie Foster. Previous projects include the indie film "Roving Woman," "The Peanut Butter ...
7. Chris Ellis
Actor | Armageddon
Chris Ellis was born on April 14, 1956 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He is an actor, known for Armageddon (1998), The Island (2005) and Transformers (2007).
8. Rex Linn
Actor | Rush Hour
Rex Maynard Linn is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing the role of Frank Tripp in the television series CSI: Miami. Linn was born in Spearman, Texas, the third child, and second son, of Darlene (née Deere) and James Paul Linn. In August 1969, his parents relocated ...
9. Andrew Wilson
Actor | Whip It
Andrew Wilson was born on August 22, 1964 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Whip It (2009), Time Trap (2017) and Idiocracy (2006).
10. Tye Sheridan
Actor | Mud
Tye Sheridan was born on November 11, 1996 in Palestine, Texas as Tye Kayle Sheridan. Having been named 1 of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch, he has emerged as 1 of Hollywood's most sought after young talents. He has been seen in Ready Player One (2018) as the lead character Wade Watts. He also ...
11. Brad Leland
Actor | Deepwater Horizon
Brad Leland was born in Lubbock, Texas in 1954. After living in Japan he returned to the states where he first appeared onstage at Disneyland at 6 years old in a Wild West show. That began his dream of being an entertainer. He is most well-known as the beloved favorite and iconic character of Buddy...
12. Alexis Bledel
Actress | Gilmore Girls
Kimberly Alexis Bledel was born in Houston, Texas, to Nanette (Dozier) and Martin Bledel. Her parents are both Spanish-speakers (her mother was born in Arizona and raised in Mexico, and her father was born in Argentina), and Alexis's ancestry includes Danish, Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, and ...
13. Walton Goggins
Actor | Justified
Walton Goggins is an actor of considerable versatility and acclaim who has delivered provocative performances in a multitude of feature films and television series. He won a Critics' Choice Award for his performance in the HBO comedy series "Vice Principals" and landed an Emmy nomination for his ...
14. Ray McKinnon
Writer | Rectify
Ray McKinnon is a writer, actor, director and producer. He served from 2012 through 2016 as creator, showrunner, writer and director of the Peabody Award winning, Sundance TV series, "Rectify."
As an actor, McKinnon has created a canon of unforgettable, offbeat and richly textured characters. In a ...
15. Caleb Landry Jones
Actor | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Caleb Landry Jones is an American actor and musician, known for his roles as Banshee in X-Men: First Class, Jeremy Armitage in Get Out, Red Welby in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Ty Carter in The Outpost, Jeff in Finch, and Martin Bryant in Nitram. His accolades include a Cannes Film ...
16. Brett Cullen
Actor | Ghost Rider
Peter Brett Cullen is an American actor from Houston, Texas. He is known for playing Thomas Wayne from Joker, Barton Blaze from Ghost Rider, Eddie Martel in The Replacements, Walt Riggins in Friday Night Lights and a Congressman in The Dark Knight Rises. He also acted in Apollo 13, Monk, The Guilt ...
17. Margo Martindale
Actress | August: Osage County
Margo Martindale was born July 18, 1951 in Jacksonville, Texas, to Margaret (Pruitt) and William Everett Martindale, a lumber company owner and dog handler. She is the youngest of three children, and the only daughter. Margo attended Lon Marris College, and later transferred to University of ...
18. Richard Lineback
Actor | Speed
Richard Lineback was born on February 4, 1952 in Frankfurt, Germany. He is an actor, known for Speed (1994), Natural Born Killers (1994) and The Ring (2002).
19. Kris Kristofferson
Actor | Blade
Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson. His paternal grandparents were Swedish, and his father was a United States Air Force general who pushed his son to a military career. Kris was a Golden Gloves boxer and went to Pomona College in ...
20. Kevin Wiggins
Actor | Terminator Salvation
Kevin Wiggins is known for Terminator Salvation (2009), Sicario (2015) and The Lone Ranger (2013).
21. Garret Dillahunt
Actor | 12 Years a Slave
Garret studied journalism at the University of Washington and received an MFA from New York University's Graduate Acting Program. He performed on and off Broadway and in theaters around the country before he also began pursuing film and television roles. A self described workaholic, he enjoys a ...
22. Lucas Black
Actor | Sling Blade
Lucas York Black was born on November 29, 1982 in Decatur, Alabama to Jan (Keenum), an office worker, and Larry Black, a museum worker. With no formal acting lessons, Lucas made his film debut with a small part in the Kevin Costner film The War (1994) at age 11. This small role helped him land his ...
23. Paul Schneider
Actor | Lars and the Real Girl
Paul Schneider was born on March 16, 1976 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Lars and the Real Girl (2007), All the Real Girls (2003) and Elizabethtown (2005).
24. Tess Harper
Actress | No Country for Old Men
Tess Harper attended Southwest Missouri State University, now known as Missouri State University, in Springfield, MO. During the late 1960s, she did "street" acting in the theme parks, Dogpatch, USA, in Jasper, AR, and Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. She was discovered while doing theater work ...
25. Beth Grant
Actress | Donnie Darko
Beth Grant has the unique honor of having co-starred in three Academy Award winning Best Pictures - Barry Levinson's Rain Man, the Coen Brothers's No Country For Old Men and Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist. Furthering her reputation as an Oscar lucky charm was her work with Johnny Depp in Gore ...
26. Julia Garner
Actress | The Assistant
Julia Garner is an American actress and model. She has appeared in the films Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), and played leading roles in Electrick Children (2012), We Are What We Are (2013) and Grandma (2015). She also ...
27. Lisa Emery
Actress | Admission
Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress. Emery is best known for playing Darlene Snell on Netflix series Ozark. Emery was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of an aspiring actress from Charlottesville, Virginia and an advertising executive who worked in Valley ...
28. JD Evermore
Actor | Rectify
J.D. was born in the delta town of Greenville, Mississippi (also the birthplace of Muppets creator Jim Henson) on the same day Richard Nixon was elected president. He is of Irish-French-German-Cherokee-Choctaw decent, the oldest of 7 siblings, and attended 17 different schools (public and private) ...
29. Kevin Rankin
Actor | Dallas Buyers Club
Kevin Rankin was born on April 18, 1976 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Breaking Bad (2008) and Hell or High Water (2016). He has been married to Jill Farley since October 23, 2010. They have two children.
30. Louis Herthum
Actor | The Night Agent
After 35 years as a professional actor, Louis Herthum had a breakthrough year in 2017, a year that saw him upped to a series regular for season 2 of HBO's critically acclaimed "Westworld." Herthum made a big impact with his memorable turn on "Westworld," as Peter Abernathy, father to Dolores (Evan ...
31. Eric Ladin
Actor | Ozark
A character actor in the truest sense, Eric's roles have ranged from J. Edgar Hoover in Boardwalk Empire (2010) to Navy SEAL James Case in American Sniper (2014).
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Eric moved to Los Angeles to study theatre at The University of Southern California where he earned ...
32. Marc Menchaca
Actor | Ozark
Marc Menchaca was born on October 10, 1975 in San Angelo, Texas, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Ozark (2017), Homeland (2011) and She's Lost Control (2014). He has been married to Lena Headey since October 8, 2022.
33. Thomas Francis Murphy
Actor | Mindhunter
Thomas Francis Murphy was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1953. Early in his adult life he made his living in dairy barns and on factory floors. He has trained as a hard hat diver, worked as an EMT, as a social worker, and freelance theatre critic. For a great many years he made his living as a house ...
34. Peter Murnik
Actor | Mindhunter
Peter Murnik was born on December 14, 1965 in Concord, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Mindhunter (2017), Armageddon (1998) and Granite Flats (2013).
35. Holt McCallany
Actor | Mindhunter
In a career spanning over 30 years, Holt McCallany has worked with some of the world's best directors including David Fincher, Guillermo Del Toro, David O'Russell, Guy Ritchie, William Friedkin, Lawrence Kasdan, Walter Hill, Clint Eastwood, David Twohy, Brian De Palma, and Michael Mann among others.
...
36. Gene Jones
Actor | The Hateful Eight
Gene Jones is known for The Hateful Eight (2015), No Country for Old Men (2007) and The Sacrament (2013).
37. David Warshofsky
Actor | Running Scared
David was born David Warner in Letterman Army Hospital on the Presidio of San Francisco, CA to MAJ Phillip Warner and Gerry Lee Godley. His grandfather, EJ Warshofsky had immigrated from Kyiv, Ukraine (the Russian Empire) in 1908. He changed his last name professionally back to the original, ...
38. Billy Lush
Actor | Straw Dogs
Billy Lush was born in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He is an actor, known for Straw Dogs (2011), Dishonored (2012) and The Black Donnellys (2007). He has been married to Anne Clare Graham since April 9, 2011. They have two children.
39. Rich McDonald
Actor | God Bless America
Rich McDonald is known for God Bless America (2011), CSI: Miami (2002) and Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012).
40. Neal Jones
Actor | Dirty Dancing
Neal Jones was born on January 2, 1960 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He is an actor, known for Dirty Dancing (1987), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and Generation Kill (2008).
41. Tommy Lee Jones
Actor | The Fugitive
Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school ...
42. Bill Camp
Actor | Sound of Freedom
Bill Camp was born on October 22, 1964 in Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Sound of Freedom (2023), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017). He has been married to Elizabeth Marvel since September 4, 2004. They have one child.
43. Bruce McGill
Actor | Law Abiding Citizen
Bruce McGill grew up in San Antonio, Texas. His mother, Adriel Rose (Jacobs) is an artist, and his father, Woodrow Wilson McGill, is a real estate and insurance agent. He graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School San Antonio, where he acted in the department of theatre, and from The University ...
44. Tim Blake Nelson
Actor | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Tim Blake Nelson was born on May 11, 1964 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and Leaves of Grass (2009). He has been married to Lisa Benavides-Nelson since June 12, 1994. They have three children.
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