My Favorite Supporting Performances

1. Claire Trevor

Claire Trevor was born Claire Wemlinger in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Fifth Avenue merchant-tailor Noel Wemlinger, an immigrant Frenchman from Paris who lost his business during the Depression, and his Belfast-born wife, Benjamina, known as "Betty". Young ...

Francey (Dead End, 1937)

2. Ida Lupino

Actress | High Sierra

Ida was born in London to a show business family. In 1932, her mother brought Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was Her First Affaire (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, came to Hollywood in 1934 and played small and insignificant parts. Peter Ibbetson (...

Lana Carlsen (They Drive By Night, 1940)

3. Mary Astor

Actress | The Maltese Falcon

Mary Astor was born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke, on May 3, 1906 in Quincy, Illinois to a German immigrant father, Otto Ludwig Langhanke, and an American mother from Illinois, Helen Marie Vasconcellos, of Portuguese and Irish ancestry. Her parents were very ambitious for her as they recognized ...

The Princess Centimillia (The Palm Beach Story, 1942)

4. Claude Rains

Actor | Casablanca

William Claude Rains, born in the Clapham area of London, was the son of the British stage actor Frederick Rains. The younger Rains followed, making his stage debut at the age of eleven in "Nell of Old Drury." Growing up in the world of theater, he saw not only acting up close but the down-to-earth...

Captain Louis Rennault (Casablanca, 1942)

5. Jean Hagen

Actress | Singin' in the Rain

Jean Shirley Verhagen (later shortened to Hagen) was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 3, 1923. Her father was a Dutch immigrant. Hagen and her family moved to Elkhart, Indiana when she was twelve; she subsequently graduated from Elkhart High School. Afterwards, she graduated from Northwestern ...

Lina Lamont (Singin' in the Rain, 1952)

6. Grace Kelly

Actress | Dial M for Murder

On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace ...

Frances Stevens (To Catch a Thief, 1955)

7. Celeste Holm

Actress | All About Eve

Celeste Holm was an only child, born into a home where her mother was a painter and her father worked in insurance. She would study acting at the University of Chicago and make her stage debut in 1936. Her Broadway debut came when she was 19 in 'The Time of Your Life'. She appeared in many ...

Sylvia Crewes (The Tender Trap, 1955)

8. Karuna Bannerjee

Actress | Aparajito

Karuna Bannerjee was born on December 25, 1919 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India. She was an actress, known for Aparajito (1956), Pather Panchali (1955) and Mahakavi Kalidas (1942). She died on November 13, 2001 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Sarbojaya Ray (Aparajito, 1956)

9. Hermione Gingold

Actress | Gigi

One of stage, screen, radio and TV's most inimitable, irrepressible entertainers, Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold was born in London on December 9, 1897, the daughter of an upscale Austrian-Jewish financier and English homemaker. The blue-eyed blonde loved to perform in school plays and made her ...

Madame Alvarez (Gigi, 1958)

10. Piper Laurie

Actress | The Hustler

Piper Laurie is a three-time Oscar nominee, nominated by BAFTA as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for best performance by an actress in 'The Hustler' with Paul Newman.

Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, to Charlotte Sadie (Alperin) and Alfred Jacobs, a ...

Sarah Packard (The Hustler, 1961)

11. Rita Moreno

Actress | West Side Story

Rita Moreno is one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, thus becoming an EGOT. She was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in the hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico on December 11, 1931 (but raised in nearby, smaller Juncos, which had no hospital), to seamstress Rosa ...

Anita (West Side Story, 1961)

12. Timothy Dalton

Actor | The Living Daylights

At a consistently lean 6' 2", green-eyed Timothy Dalton may very well be one of the last of the dying breed of swashbuckling, classically trained Shakespearean actors who have forged simultaneous successful careers in theater, television and film. He has been comparison-shopped roundly for stepping...

Philip II (The Lion in Winter, 1968)

13. Jane Carr

Actress | 31

Since the late 1980s, American audiences have embraced the "veddy British" talents of character actress Jane Carr -- she with the close-set eyes, lilting voice, trowel jaw and bubbly disposition. It helps, of course, having natural comedic timing and the necessary vocal skills to be in constant ...

Mary McGregor (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1969)

14. James Caan

Actor | The Godfather

A masculine and enigmatic actor whose life and movie career have had more ups and downs than the average rollercoaster and whose selection of roles has arguably derailed him from achieving true superstar status, James Caan is New York-born and bred.

He was born in the Bronx, to Sophie (Falkenstein) ...

Sonny Corleone (The Godfather, 1972)

15. Robert Duvall

Actor | The Apostle

Veteran actor and director Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, CA, to Mildred Virginia (Hart), an amateur actress, and William Howard Duvall, a career military officer who later became an admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College (Elsah, IL), then served a ...

Tom Hagen (The Godfather, 1972)

16. Mackenzie Phillips

Actress | American Graffiti

Mackenzie Phillips was known for her role in the 1973 hit movie American Graffiti (1973). Two years later, she got the role that changed her life in the 1975 sitcom One Day at a Time (1975). The show was an instant success, and everything was going well until the third season was launched, when she...

Carol (American Graffiti, 1973)

17. Nastassja Kinski

Actress | Tess

Nastassja Kinski was born Nastassja Aglaia Nakszynski on January 24, 1961 in Berlin, Germany, the daughter of German actor Klaus Kinski. In 1976, she met director Roman Polanski, who urged her to study method acting with Lee Strasberg in the United States. Kinski starred in the Italian romantic ...

Jane Henderson (Paris, Texas, 1984)

18. Edie McClurg

Actress | Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Born on July 23, 1945 in Kansas City, Missouri, McClurg began her performing career at age five with the Kansas City Rhythm Kids. She retired when the dance teacher was arrested on a morals charge for "dating" the tall and lissome, yet underage, star dancer in the troupe. That girl's big number ...

Grace (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986)

19. Tom Berenger

Actor | Inception

Born in Chicago, Oscar nominee and Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Tom Berenger was born Thomas Michael Moore and raised in a working class Roman Catholic family of Irish descent. His father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Tom attended the University of Missouri to study journalism. ...

Sgt. Barnes (Platoon, 1986)

20. Alec Baldwin

Actor | The Departed

Alec Baldwin is the oldest, and best-known, of the four Baldwin brothers in the acting business (the others are Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin and Daniel Baldwin). Alexander Rae Baldwin III was born on April 3, 1958 in Massapequa, New York, the son of Carol Newcomb (Martineau) and Alexander Rae ...

Blake (Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992)

21. Anita Mui

Actress | Yim ji kau

With a career that began in her early childhood, Anita Mui is the queen of Hong Kong's pop-music industry. After she won a singing contest in 1982, her life in the limelight began. In the early stages of her career her image was a little bit tomboy-ish and sexy (which was the reason she was called ...

Ling (Legend of Drunken Master, 1994)

22. Christopher Walken

Actor | Hairspray

Nervous-looking lead and supporting actor of the American stage and films, with sandy colored hair, pale complexion and a somewhat nervous disposition. He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Deer Hunter (1978), and has been seen in mostly character roles, often ...

Captain Koons (Pulp Fiction, 1994)

23. Vince Vaughn

Producer | The Break-Up

Vincent Anthony Vaughn was born on March 28, 1970, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and was raised in Lake Forest, Illinois. His parents are Vernon Vaughn, a salesman and character actor, and Sharon Vaughn (née Sharon Eileen DePalmo), a real-estate agent and stockbroker. They divorced in 1991. He ...

Trent (Swingers, 1996)

24. Cuba Gooding Jr.

Actor | Jerry Maguire

Cuba Gooding Jr. was born on January 2, 1968, in The Bronx, New York. His mother, Shirley (Sullivan), was a backup singer for The Sweethearts. His father, Cuba Gooding, was the lead vocalist for the R&B group The Main Ingredient, which had a hit with the song "Everybody Plays The Fool". His ...

Rod Tidwell (Jerry Maguire, 1996)

25. Sophie Thompson

Actress | Gosford Park

Sophie Thompson was born on January 20, 1962 in London, England. She is an actress, known for Gosford Park (2001), Emma (1996) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). She has been married to Richard Lumsden since October 1995. They have two children.

Miss Bates (Emma, 1996)

26. Joan Cusack

Actress | In & Out

Actress Joan Cusack was born in New York City, New York, and is the daughter of Nancy (née Carolan) and Dick Cusack. Her father was an advertising executive, writer and actor, and her mother was a math teacher. Her siblings - Susie Cusack, John Cusack, Ann Cusack and Bill Cusack also act. Her ...

Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl (Toy Story 2, 1999)

27. Minnie Driver

Actress | Circle of Friends

Amelia Fiona J. Driver was born January 31, 1970 in Finsbury Park, London. Her mother, Gaynor Churchward (née Millington), was a designer and former couture model, and her father, Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Driver, was a businessman. She has a sister, Kate Driver, who is a model and a producer. ...

Jane (Tarzan, 1999)

28. Joaquin Phoenix

Actor | Walk the Line

Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Rafael Bottom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Arlyn (Dunetz) and John Bottom, and is the middle child in a brood of five. His parents, from the continental United States, were then serving as Children of God missionaries. His mother is from a Jewish family from New ...

Commodus (Gladiator, 2000)

29. Connie Nielsen

Actress | Gladiator

Danish beauty Connie Nielsen consistently lights up the screen with an eclectic bevy of film roles. She was born in Frederikshavn, Denmark, to a mother who worked as an insurance clerk, and a father, Bent Nielsen, who was a bus driver. Nielsen began her acting career working alongside her mother on...

Lucilla (Gladiator, 2000)

30. Franka Potente

Actress | Lola rennt

Franka Potente was born on 22 July 1974 in the German city of Münster, to Hildegard, a medical assistant, and Dieter Potente, a teacher, and raised in the nearby town of Dülmen. After her graduation in 1994, she went to the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule, a drama school in Munich, but soon broke off to ...

Marie (The Bourne Identity, 2002)

31. Amy Adams

Actress | Arrival

Amy Lou Adams was born in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy, to American parents, Kathryn (Hicken) and Richard Kent Adams, a U.S. serviceman who was stationed at Caserma Ederle in Italy at the time. She was raised in a Mormon family of seven children in Castle Rock, Colorado, and has English, as well as ...

Ashley (Junebug, 2005)

32. Don Cheadle

Actor | Crash

Donald Frank Cheadle was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 29, 1964. His childhood found him moving from city to city with his family: mother Bettye (née North), a teacher; father Donald Frank Cheadle Sr., a clinical psychologist; sister Cindy; and brother Colin. After graduating from high...

Basher Tarr (Ocean's Thirteen, 2007)

33. Chiwetel Ejiofor

Actor | 12 Years a Slave

English actor, writer and director Chiwetel Ejiofor is renowned for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He is also known for playing Okwe in Dirty Pretty Things...

The Operative (Serenity, 2007)

34. Susan Sarandon

Actress | Thelma & Louise

It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York for Joe (1970). Chris Sarandon, who ...

Mom Racer (Speed Racer, 2008)

35. Kristen Wiig

Actress | Bridesmaids

Kristen Carroll Wiig was born on August 22, 1973 in Canandaigua, New York, to Laurie J. (Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, a lake marina manager. She is of Norwegian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, English, and Scottish descent. The family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before ...

Surgeon (Ghost Town, 2008)

36. Louise Brealey

Actress | Containment

Louise Brealey, also credited as Loo Brealey, is an English actress, writer and journalist. Born in Bozeat, Northamptonshire, England. She attended Kimbolton School, proceeding to read History at Cambridge. She then trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City and with clown teacher ...

Molly Hooper (Sherlock, 2010-)

37. Anne Hathaway

Actress | Les Misérables

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Kate McCauley Hathaway, an actress, and Gerald T. Hathaway, a lawyer, both originally from Philadelphia. She is of mostly Irish descent, along with English, German, and French. Her first major role came in the short-lived television series ...

Fantine (Les Miserables, 2012)

38. Samantha Barks

Actress | Les Misérables

Samantha Barks was born in Laxey, Isle of Man (British Isles) in 1990. She is a British actress best known for the role of Éponine in Les Misérables. In 2008, Samantha competed in I'd Do Anything in which she was one of the finalists in a search for a new, unknown lead to play Nancy in a West End ...

Eponine (Les Miserables, 2012)

39. Josh Brolin

Actor | Avengers: Endgame

Rugged features and a natural charm have worked for Josh Brolin, the son of actor James Brolin. He has played roles as a policeman, a hunter, and the President of the United States.

Brolin was born February 12, 1968 in Santa Monica, California, to Jane Cameron (Agee), a Texas-born wildlife activist,...

Lt. Det. Christian F. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen (Inherent Vice, 2014)

40. Nicholas Hoult

Actor | Mad Max: Fury Road

Nicholas Hoult was born on December 7, 1989 in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, UK as Nicholas Caradoc Hoult. His parents are Glenis, a piano teacher and Roger Hoult, a pilot. He has three siblings, two sisters and one brother. His great-aunt was one of the most popular actresses of her time, Dame ...

Nux (Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015)

41. Stanley Tucci

Actor | Big Night

Actor Stanley Tucci was born on November 11, 1960, in Peekskill, New York. He is the son of Joan (Tropiano), a writer, and Stanley Tucci, an art teacher. His family is Italian-American, with origins in Calabria.

Tucci took an interest in acting while in high school, and went on to attend the State ...

Mitchell Garabedian (Spotlight, 2015)

42. Michelle Williams

Actress | My Week with Marilyn

A small-town girl born and raised in rural Kalispell, Montana, Michelle Ingrid Williams is the daughter of Carla Ingrid (Swenson), a homemaker, and Larry Richard Williams, a commodity trader and author. Her ancestry is Norwegian, as well as German, British Isles, and other Scandinavian. She was ...

Randi Chandler (Manchester by the Sea, 2016)