William H. Macy

A consummate character actor adept at playing loners and losers of all stripes, Macy owes his career in large part to one man: Oscar-nominated writer/director David Mamet. After meeting at college, the two moved to Chicago in the early '70s and founded the St. Nicholas Theater Company, where Macy starred in a number of early Mamet plays (American Buffalo, The Water Engine), brilliantly spitting out the author's signature, staccato dialogue. In the '80s, Macy relocated to New York where he occasionally landed TV guest spots. But he made his biggest impression off-Broadway, embodying a host of unhappy, hapless souls. He also continued his fruitful collaboration with Mamet: In addition to appearing in many of his plays (Bobby Gould in Hell, Oleanna), the two men cofounded the lauded Atlantic Acting School/Theater Company, where Macy performed, directed and taught drama. It's not surprising that Mamet gave Macy his first significant big-screen roles, including turns in House of Games, Homicide and the leading role in the 1994 film adaptation of Oleanna, as a professor accused of sexual harassment. But ironically, Macy's breakthrough had absolutely nothing to do with his buddy. As a desperate car salesman who ill-advisedly hires two thugs to kidnap his wife to get out of a financial jam, Macy used his hangdog persona to hilarious effect and deservedly earned an Oscar nod. Now that Hollywood recognized both his face and his name, the offers came pouring in and Macy popped up in so many projects, he seemed like the most employed man in show business. While he was rarely the leading man, he did tackle a variety of meaty parts, particularly on the small screen: He earned Emmy nods for his recurring roles on ER (as a cocky doc who loses his confidence) and Sports Night (opposite his real-life wife, Felicity Huffman, whom he met at the Atlantic). In the '00s, Macy was incredibly prolific, appearing in big-budget flicks (Seabiscuit), indies (The Cooler) and a number of critically acclaimed TV-movies, including Door to Door as a cerebral-palsy-stricken salesman, which earned him Emmys for both his acting and his writing. But he always made time for Mamet, even appearing as the president of the United States in the writer's hit action series The Unit in 2007.