Top Five Actors That Everyone Seems To Love.

I know plenty of actors whose measure of success is simply getting regular work. It ain’t me, babe. I want to be proud of my projects, and make films that make a difference. It’s an effort certain to give me the stomach lining of a 60-year-old air-traffic controller.

But I’ll go one further. I want to be a likeable actor. You know the type. You can’t mention to a friend that David Strathairn was in a film without your friend immediately mentioning how much he loves David Strathairn. Text somebody right now and try it. I’ll wait.

Off the top of my head, here are five actors that fit this category:

David Strathairn
Tom Skerritt
Chris Cooper
Don Cheadle
Sam Rockwell

They may be likeable for personal reasons. When his son was born with cerebral palsy in 1987, Chris Cooper searched the country for the best school for him, and moved his family to Massachusetts, where they still live today. Along with George Clooney, Don Cheadle was presented with the Summit Peace Award by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates for his work in Darfur. Plus he was super nice to my friend Jeff during a softball game in Santa Monica. Take your pick which is cooler.

You may dig them for professional reasons. David Strathairn owns the “nice guy” role, most recently as the kindly old Dean in We Are Marshall. Tom Skerritt as the concerned Top Gun officer (featuring one of my favorite movie clichés – the “your dad was the best I ever saw” bit.) And Roger Ebert called Sam Rockwell “the latter-day version of Christopher Walken.” That’s kickass.

So I’ve got my work cut out for me. Hey they don’t give Summit Peace Awards for snarky blog entries, do they? I’ll clear a shelf.