14 Actors You Forgot Played Henchmen And Side Villains In Action Movies

Sam Rockwell's third appearance in a movie was short, but it was in a gigantic hit. He played "Head Thug" in 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His character grabs things out of April O'Neil's TV station truck, peddles cigarettes, and eventually provides information to a police officer. It was a self-described "big break." The actor told The Hollywood Reporter, "I was 19 years old. I was working in restaurants, trying to put some food on the table. And they called me in and asked if I could audition for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

Two years later, just as the modern independent film scene was about to explode, Rockwell got a role in Alexander Rockwell's In the Soup, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. That important exposure led to increasingly bigger parts in dramas (The Green Mile), comedies (Galaxy Quest), and science-fiction (Moon). Those performances and others helped him establish a reputation as one of the most reliable actors around. In 2018, Rockwell won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Hollywood Homicide is a 2003 action-comedy about two mismatched cops (Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett) investigating the mass slaying of a popular rap group. They uncover evidence that the group's manager may be behind the act. Anthony Mackie has a small role as "Killer Joker," one of the goons who carry out the manager's dirty work. 

The movie marked Mackie's second cinematic appearance, following a small role in the Eminem drama 8 Mile. His talent quickly captured the attention of major directors. The following year, Spike Lee gave him the lead role in She Hate Me and Clint Eastwood cast him in a supporting part in Million Dollar Baby. A full-on co-starring role in The Hurt Locker a few years later solidified Mackie's status as a significant name, and getting cast as Falcon in the Marvel movies made him a full-fledged star.

Outside of the MCU, Mackie often chooses to make independent movies, like The Banker and Synchronic, for which he earned rave reviews.

It's hard to believe now, but Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton once made a movie with Steven Seagal. Two years before Sling Blade brought him awards glory and instant fame, the actor appeared in Seagal's On Deadly Ground. In the picture, the martial arts star takes on an evil oil corporation whose head honcho, Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), is okay wreaking ecological destruction in order to maximize profits. Thornton plays Homer Carlton, one of a crew of mercenaries Jennings brings in to eliminate Seagal's character after he begins to expose the truth of what the oil company is up to. Homer expires after shooting an explosive device inside an elevator.

Once Sling Blade hit, Thornton no longer had to play henchmen in low-rent action fare. He suddenly became an in-demand actor who got prominent roles in films from major directors, such as Mike Nichols (Primary Colors), Michael Bay (Armageddon), Joel and Ethan Coen (The Man Who Wasn't There), and Richard Linklater (Bad News Bears). Bad Santa, meanwhile, gave him an all-time cult classic to add to his list of successes.

Thornton continues to work regularly in film and television, with a well-received stint on the FX series Fargo among his most acclaimed projects.

Benicio del Toro really came to the public's attention with a scene-stealing role in 1995's The Usual Suspects. Before that breakout performance, he faced off against none other than James Bond (as played by Timothy Dalton). License to Kill, released in 1989, was del Toro's second film, following the Pee-Wee Herman comedy Big Top Pee-Wee.

He wasn't the "Bond villain" in this installment. That would be Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez, the guy who maims Bond friend/colleague Felix Leiter and slays his wife. Instead, del Toro is Dario, Sanchez's right-hand man. He meets a gruesome end when 007 pulls him into a gigantic shredder. 

After The Usual Suspects, the actor became highly in-demand. Among his most notable post-Bond credits are Sicario, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, for which he won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor.

Die Hard 2 finds Bruce Willis's cop John McClane attempting to foil a terrorist who has taken control of Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. He's played by William Stuart (William Sadler), a former military colonel with an ax to grind. Stuart has a team of henchmen helping to carry out his nefarious plan. John Leguizamo plays one of them, Burke. Perhaps needless to say, McClane thwarts their plans.

At the time of Die Hard 2's release, Leguizamo was a stand-up comedian who'd landed a small part in Brian De Palma's Casualties of War, as well as a few episodes of Miami Vice. In 1993, he got what was supposed to be his breakthrough role, as the famous video game plumber Luigi in the movie adaptation of Super Mario Bros. That one turned out to be a colossal flop. 

More successful big-screen efforts followed, giving Leguizamo the chance to show his range. Carlito's Way, Romeo + Juliet, Summer of Sam, and To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar established that he could do comedy and drama equally well. He continues to work regularly in a variety of genres.

These days, we think of Adam Scott as a comedic actor. He made us laugh as Ben Wyatt on Parks & Recreation and appeared in many big-screen comedies, including Step Brothers and Hot Tub Time Machine 2. In 2004, he was an up-and-comer who primarily worked in drama, having done a few episodes of Party of Five and playing a role in Hellraiser: Bloodline. 

That was the year he appeared in Torque, an action flop that tried to do for motorcycles what The Fast and the Furious did for cars. To be fair, it did start to highlight his comedic skills. Scott plays FBI Agent Jay McPherson who, in the early scenes, has a humorously ironic way of commenting on the world of underground motorcycle racing he's investigating. In the end, it turns out McPherson is a double agent working in cahoots with an underworld gang known as the Hellions. Because he's kind of funny in the early going, the audience is not supposed to suspect he's a double agent.

Torque went nowhere at the box office, but Scott's career maintained an upward trajectory once he began landing more explicitly comedic roles.