You all know him.  It’s impossible not to recognize that bald head of his.  And you’ll never mistake the line “your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash” for anyone else.  It’s Commander Tom Jardian AKA “Stinger” from Top Gun.  His real name?  James Tolkan.  I almost went with Mr. Strickland from Back to the Future but come on.  You just can’t top that line.

And here’s another line you can’t top.  It’s very obscure but it’s hilarious.  In the last dog fight scene in Top Gun there’s a part where Slider and Ice realize that there are 5 Mig Fighters instead of 4.  The radar picks up on this and the assistant guy says to Stinger, “there’s 5 sir.”  And Stinger says “THAT’S FIVE?”

If you own Top Gun I implore you to watch this scene again and rewind “that’s five” at least 20 times.  It’s very funny.  In any event, here’s to James Tolkan, token bald mean badass guy.  You are the dude.

*Here’s something cool.  In 1996 he played a guy named Commander Hondo on some crappy Top Gun thing on TV.

Seinfeld as you guys probably know by now, was/is my favorite show on television. And in addition to the many quirks and observations the show has been responsible for, I also think that it’s responsible for being the catalyst to many acting careers.

Some of these actually surprised me, but there are 12 actors that stand out whose careers really seemed to blossom after appearing on the show. For the record, before we even start, I’m knocking off Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Kristen Davis, and Marcia Cross. Garrett was big in the 80’s with stand up. Hatcher had already been in Tango and Cash, and Davis and Cross were already on Melrose place.

These actors? You’d be hard pressed to know who they were before making their presence known on Seinfeld

Continue Reading »

Alright so this guy hasn’t been in that many movies. He actually hasn’t even been in that much television either. But if there’s one thing you can really appreciate Terry Chen for, it’s his role in the move Almost Famous.

” His supporting role as ‘Ben Fong Torres’ in the much-lauded film Almost Famous (2000), directed by Cameron Crowe, has been praised in reviews from Variety magazine to Ebert & Roeper at the Movies.”

That quote is an absolute understatement. If you haven’t seen this movie then you really just have to watch it solely for Chen’s role. Every single time he says “Ben Fong Torres” I laugh.

P.S. This guy is Canadian. Amazing. And if anyone can find any Ben Fong Torres clips from the movie I will post them immediately.

For all of you folks over the age of 30 or any who like the movie Animal House, Bruce McGill is the guy who played D-Day. And for all of you present day people he was the fight promoter in Cinderella Man. But all in all McGill has been in what appears to be over 50 movies, not to mention tons of television.

He’s an amazing character actor who I think does his best work when he has a mustache. I especially enjoyed him in Timecop and when he played golf legend Walter Hagen in The Legend of Bagger Vance.

He’s got a portly, charismatic way about him and the man just doesn’t ever seem to mess up a role. So the next time you see this guy, you’ll know it’s Bruce McGill.

Love this guy

We’ve all done it. We’ve all seen movies that have actors that we recognize from other movies and we wind up saying “I love that guy, what the hell is his name again?” Luckily I remember all of these guys.

It’s a really odd and disgusting talent I have. There are just so many actors that make movies that much better because of their presence. That is why I’ve created this little segment.

The first subject? Michael Paul Chan. You might recognize him from “The Closer” on TNT. But me? I’ll never forget him as Data’s dad in Goonies and when he uttered the line “Unbeatable!” in the movie Maverick. That line still remains one of my favorite all time obscure lines in any movie. He was also Mr. Chong in an episode of “The Wonder Years.”

I’m telling you right now, anything this guy is in turns to gold. Just watch the movie Quicksilver with Kevin Bacon. He plays a gangster. Incredible. Here’s to Michael Paul Chan. Guy is the man.