Think about guys like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, and Robert De Niro — or women such as Meryl Streep, Katherine Hepburn, Jennifer Lawrence, and Scarlett Johansson. The leaders of Hollywood, they all star in the best movies the industry can offer, and this list is going to shine light on the actors and actresses that have made their careers by following the coattails of those just named.
Several of these actors have also appeared in their fair share of starring roles. But for the money of most critics and award associations, they shined particularly bright in the background, and not under the spotlight. Some actors that just barely missed out on the list include guys and gals like Robert Duvall, Thelma Ritter, Glenn Close, and Don Cheadle. They unfortunately missed out, but all of that said: here are fifteen actors who shine in supporting roles.
15 Samuel L. Jackson
Throughout the 1990s, Samuel L. Jackson showed up in a series of lower-budget films from auteurs of the industry, such as in Jungle Fever (1991) by Spike Lee and Hard Eight (1996) by Paul Thomas Anderson. The most paramount role in this regard undoubtedly came with Pulp Fiction (1994) by Quentin Tarantino. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards for his role as Jules Winnfield, and won the BAFTA in the same category.
He would subsequently provide supporting roles in two other Tarantino films — Jackie Brown (1997) and Django Unchained (2012). But before then, Samuel L. Jackson made a name for himself unlike any thespian before him thanks to his roles as Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005) and Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2010-present). He’s now among the highest-grossing actors of all time, and it’s all thanks to his chops as a supporting actor.
14 Edward Norton
Thanks to his on-screen debut in Primal Fear (1996), Edward Norton was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. He played Aaron Stampler, also known as Roy — a 19-year-old stuttering altar boy who is on trial for capital murder. It’s perhaps the best debut of an actor in the 90s, and it kickstarted Norton’s Hollywood career.
He’d appear in two more supporting roles that same year — Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and The People vs Larry Flynt (1996) — before a couple of starring roles. After the nineties, though, his career went on a bit of a downward spiral until he appeared in two Wes Anderson films: Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Those led to another Supporting Actor nomination at the Oscars for Birdman (2014), and Norton even recently played second fiddle to Daniel Craig in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022).
13 Mahershala Ali
Two of the biggest, most award-winning movies of last decade — no matter the year, the genre, nor the association — Moonlight (2016) and Green Book (2018) featured Mahershala Ali in secondary parts. In fact, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both movies, becoming in just a few short years one of the most acclaimed actors alive.
Plus, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014), its Part 2 (2015) follow-up, and finally Hidden Figures (2016) cement Ali’s legacy as a perennial supporting star. He’s definitely no stranger to starring roles at this point, but when it’s all said and done and his career has finally ended, it’s clear which roles the community will look back on.
12 Viola Davis
She’s had a ton of starring roles as of late, like with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2021) and The Woman King (2022). And of course, her starring role in The Help (2011) could very well be the best performance of her career. However, there’s a strong argument that Viola Davis fits most appropriately within a given cast in a corroborative capacity.
She was nominated at the Oscars for both Doubt (2008) and Fences (2016), and while she won Best Supporting Actress for the latter, her role in the former was equally impressive due to her brief appearance. When accounting for roles in Prisoners (2013), Get On Up (2014), and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2015), her status as a supporting actress is just as illustrious as her stints in leading roles.
11 Dianne Wiest
In 1986, Dianne Wiest appeared in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), directed by Woody Allen. The acclaimed writer-directed won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Michael Caine won Best Supporting Actor, and of course, Dianne Wiest won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Hannah’s sister Holly.
She was then nominated again for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her efforts in Parenthood, and in 1994, she won the award again — this time for Bullets Over Broadway (1994), another Woody Allen film. These aren’t the most popular roles for modern audiences, but Wiest’s legacy is forever cemented in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
10 Ed Harris
Though he was nominated at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards for Best Actor in Pollock (2000), both associations have nominated Ed Harris on three occasions for Best Supporting Actor. It’s without a doubt the mold that suits him best. And if he never does achieve the goal, Harris will go down as one of the best actors to never win an Oscar.
His role in The Truman Show (1998), at least, should have won across the board, but it only did so at the Golden Globes. His portrayal of Gene Krantz in Apollo 13 (1995) is among the more famous of his career, and it was a solid showing in terms of talent. His most recent nomination in the category came with The Hours (2002), but his Oscar nominations don’t even scratch the surface of Ed Harris’ supporting career: A Beautiful Mind (2001), Gone Baby Gone (2007), and Snowpiercer (2013).
9 Amy Adams
Throughout Academy Award history, Amy Adams has garnered the second-most nods for Best Supporting Actress. Her first nomination came with Junebug (2006), then she reached true critical acclaim with a nomination in Doubt (2008), opposite Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
She received further nominations for films like The Fighter (2010) by David O. Russell, The Master (2012) by Paul Thomas Anderson, and Vice (2018) by Adam McKay. Five nominations for anyone in a single Oscar category puts that person among an esteemed few. But Academy Awards don’t mean everything, especially when accounting for supporting roles in titles like Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Charlie Wilson’s War (2007). Of course, Adams also showed up in the DC Extended Universe (2013-2017) as Lois Lane, the love interest of Superman. That only enhanced her status.
8 Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Before ever starring in Capote (2006), Philip Seymour Hoffman had long since established himself as a supporting man thanks to films like The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Almost Famous (2000), and 25th Hour (2002). He was subsequently nominated at the Academy on three occasions, all for Best Supporting Actor: first with Charlie’s Wilson War (2007), and again with Doubt (2008).
The final Oscar nomination of his career came with The Master (2012), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It was their fifth collaboration together, and their other four were also supporting roles: Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). The two provided audiences with some of the most memorable modern movie moments. Hoffman’s legacy is more solid than ever after his unfortunate death in 2014.
7 Joe Pesci
Perhaps the most prominent collaboration of a director and an actor in the twentieth century, of all time, even, was Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Then in the twenty-first century, Scorsese began a longstanding collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio. Every step along the way, though, the American director has also built an acclaimed partnership with Joe Pesci.
For acting in Scorsese films, Joe Pesci has been nominated three times at the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor — once for Raging Bull (1980), again for Goodfellas (1990), and finally for The Irishman (2019). He came out victorious once, and you can all guess for which one. His role as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas will forever be remembered as Pesci’s defining role, and one of the most impressive performances from any Scorsese movie ever.
6 Shelley Winters
In 1959, Shelley Winters delivered a stellar supporting performance as Petronella Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, which would be her first award in the category.
Her next Supporting Actress win came with A Patch of Blue (1965), and finally, she was nominated again in the category for The Poseidon Adventure (1972). While she came up short with the latter, the former was her second win in the category — and the only other person to receive that many wins for Best Supporting Actress was Dianne West.
5 Walter Brennan
At the Academy Awards, Walter Brennan was nominated four times for Best Supporting Actor, and he won three of them — making him the most winning actor in the history of the category. That’s a solid argument for a number one spot. However, the caliber of competition in Brennan’s day didn’t quite live up to the actors in higher spots.
Brennan’s first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor came with Come and Get It (1936), followed by Kentucky (1938). He would win once more with The Westerner (1940) — three wins in under five years — before receiving a final nomination for Sergeant York (1941). It’s been over eighty years, and Brennan still holds the win record for the Oscar category at hand. That’s all that needs to be said.
4 Octavia Spencer
With three nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, The Help (2011), Hidden Figures (2016), and The Shape of Water (2017) also garnered Octavia Spencer three nominations at the Golden Globes. And what’s more, she acquired the award from both associations for The Help.
But really, those are just Spencer’s mainstream successes. In the same year, she appeared in both Snowpiercer (2013) by South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho and Fruitvale Station (2013), the debut of powerhouse American director Ryan Coogler. No matter the genre or director, though — every film she’s in, Spencer stands out as a practiced thespian who’s always poised to hijack a scene.
3 Christoph Waltz
Two nominations, two wins. With Inglourious Basterds (2009), Christoph Waltz became the first person to win an Oscar for acting in a Tarantino movie. With Django Unchained (2012), he did it again. They’re two of the most interesting and well-portrayed characters that Tarantino’s filmography has to offer, and they will forever be the two definitive roles of Waltz’s career.
However, Waltz does have a few other supporting roles under his belt. He also played Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the arch nemesis of James Bond, in both Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021). Those are some fairly revered blockbusters that pushed Waltz only further into the spotlight.
2 Martin Landau
Perhaps a controversial pick at number two, Martin Landau is one of the more decorated actors of all time, with supporting roles dating back to Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959). He then ventured into popular television shows in the sixties and seventies like Mission: Impossible (1966-1973).
In the late eighties, however, Landau truly hit his stride — he was nominated back-to-back at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his roles in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Going into the next decade, Landau’s career had seen a resurgence, and it all culminated in 1994 with Ed Wood, directed by Tim Burton. The role of Bela Lugosi defined Landau’s career, and he will always be looked back on as one of the greatest supporting actors.
1 Brad Pitt
Troy (2004), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), and World War Z (2013) are among his more popular roles, and they’re all as the lead character, but they were hardly anything to rave about in terms of performance. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011) are among his more revered lead performances, but ultimately, neither hold a candle to the outstanding supporting performances that Brad Pitt has delivered.
12 Monkeys (1995), Fight Club (1999), Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) — these are the roles that supporting actors dream of. Snatch (2000) by Guy Ritchie is among Pitt’s more underrated performances, and his supporting role in Burn After Reading (2008) was the film’s highlight. Plus, his character Rusty Ryan in the Ocean’s trilogy (2001-2007) was of the supporting variety, rendering his placement this high on the list is undeniable.