Matthew Modine

Physically striking and extremely talented, this tall, eccentric actor never became a big star, but he has remained active in a variety of projects, faring best when playing offbeat characters. He initially made his mark portraying military men in a trio of films set during the Vietnam War. Modine provided solid support in the ensemble film Streamers and soon landed the breakthrough title role in Birdy as an emotionally disturbed soldier. After appearing in some teen fluff (Vision Quest), he turned in another top-notch performance in Stanley Kubrick's brutal war-is-hell film Full Metal Jacket. Then his career stalled as mainstream Hollywood tried to figure out what to do with him. Some of his films were modest hits (the comedy Married to the Mob), but mostly he did time in flops (the medical drama Gross Anatomy, the sailing movie Wind), and had the dubious distinction of taking over the lead role from Michael Douglas in the notorious pirate megabomb Cutthroat Island. Modine aged gracefully as the '90s wore on and became a busy character actor (which is really what he always was anyway), often appearing in indie films or headlining TV-movies.