First, my thoughts on Hitchhiker’s here.

And now…

30. Yaphet Kotto

From Alien to Live and Let Die, Kotto is one motherfuker who don’t take no shit. He charges full on into the Xenomorph and James Bond (and gets killed by both – but that’s just the man keepin’ a brutha down) without hesitation. However, his finest role, on film anyway, may be FBI Agent Alonzo Mosley in Midnight Run. Only an actor of his caliber can be the butt of a joke for an entire movie (at the hands of DeNiro, no less) and still come out more memorable simply from the look on his face when he tells that guy from Ally McBeal, “Is this gonna upset me?” Really, though, there is only one Kotto role, and that is Lieutenant Al Giardello in Homicide: Life on the Street.

Check out: Alien, Midnight Run, Blue Collar, Homicide: Life on the Street, Live and Let Die, The Running Man

29. Tim Roth

Tim Roth is adept at being the best thing about some absolute crap films. His Thade in Planet of the Apes is as good a villain as you’d find in a movie that doesn’t suck. He also brings some life to The Musketeer. Fortunately, Mr. Roth has been lent some meatier roles. Everyone knows his Tarantino arc, from Mr. Orange to Pumpkin. But how about what some consider to be the meanest villain of all time, Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy?

Check out: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Rob Roy

28. Sam Rockwell

That Sam Rockwell is oh-so-good as the lead in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind should come as no surprise looking at the versatility of his supporting oeuvre. The day player in Galaxy Quest, the humiliated clerk in Made, the heavy in Charlie’s Angels, the partner in Matchstick Men, the President of the Galaxy in Hitchhiker’s. And he always manages to dance. And, lest we forget, the utter creep-out factor of his performance in The Green Mile.

Check out: The Green Mile, Matchstick Men, Galaxy Quest, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (yeah, I know it’s a lead, but it’s so good), Heist, Made, Charlie’s Angels (it’s worth it just to see him dance to “Simon Sez”).

27. Parker Posey

Bitchiness, thy name is Posey. Who else could belt out a convincing “All right, you little freshman bitches! AIIIRR RAAAIIIIDDD!!!” in Dazed and Confused? Or hold her own camping it up with Alan Cumming in (the underrated) Josie and the Pussycats? But her range extends beyond the pout. Check out, for example, her run as a member of the Christopher Guest players, displaying levels of real sorrow and desperation beyond the caricatures she inhabits.

Check out: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, Dazed and Confused, A Mighty Wind, The House of Yes, Personal Velocity, Josie and the Pussycats

26. Patricia Clarkson

Patricia Clarkson is devastating in Dogville, moving in The Station Agent, compelling in All the Real Girls, and heartbreaking in Pieces of April. And that’s just 2003. Never mind the complete turnaround she pulls in Far From Heaven, letting the world drop out from under Julianne Moore just when she needs her the most. Unforgettable.

Check out: Dogville, The Station Agent, All the Real Girls, Pieces of April, Far from Heaven, The Green Mile, The Untouchables, Miracle