They SHOULD be Household Names...

Before beginning this list, I guess I should offer my definition of a household name. For me, a household name is an actor or actress who, even if people aren't familiar with their work, every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the street has at least heard of them....everyone knows names like Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy, Fred Astaire, and Bette Davis. Everyone knows who these people are, they are household names. This is my list of actors I think have the talent and longevity in this business to be household names, but are not...everyone on this list has been in the business at least 20 years and has worked consistently in the business...their faces are probably very familiar to people, but connecting their names to a face would be a challenge for most people. Though they have the talent to be household names, they are not...the following is my list of actors who should be household names, but are not:

125.

Beth Grant



You may remember her as the bitchy pageant judge in Little Miss Sunshine or the frightened bus passenger who tries to get off the bus in Speed or the frightened housewife in To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, or her current role on FOX's The Mindy Project or any of the other hundreds of guest appearances she's made on television, everyone knows Grant's face, well now maybe you can put and keep a name to it.

124.

Barry Corbin



You may not know the name, but you've been living under a rock for the last 30 years or so if you've never seen this face. This richly talented character actor has effortlessly floated from movies to television for years. You might remember his movie roles in The Man Who Loved Women, War Games, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, or Stir Crazy. TV fanatics might remember his recurring roles on Dallas, Boone, the CBS mini-series Lonesome Dove and probably his most famous TV role, Maurice Minnifield on Northern Exposure. He is currently juggling two recurring TV roles on ABC: Clinton Lundegan on Blood and Oil and the father of Cam Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) on Modern Family...good guys, bad guys, this guy has done it all and has been doing it for decades.

123.

Esai Morales



This highly underrated actor first caught our attention, as Paco Moreno, the sworn enemy of one Mick O'Brien (Sean Penn) in the 1983 underground classic Bad Boys and also gave an explosive performance as Lou Diamond Phillips' brother in the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba. He did experience a resurgence in his career when TV discovered him and gave him recurring roles on NYPD Blue, Vanished, Criminal Minds, and The Brink...a quietly intense actor who always brings a little more to the role than what's in the script.

Beth Grant.....



That's Kitty Farmer, the crazy teacher from Donnie Darko.

I like the idea of this countdown a lot. However, I think that sometimes the appeal of these people... is the fact that they're not well known. Then they become the people that -- when you spot them in different movies -- you say "HEY! That's so and so from (insert movie here)."

Sometimes these people turn into your own personal movie stalker. Has anyone else ever had this happen -- you watch one movie, then you watch another movie soon after, and someone from the other movie that had a small part in it is in the next movie in another small part. Then you watch a third movie and so and so and they keep appearing. Personally, this has happened to me a lot.

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122.

Patricia Clarkson



This richly talented character actress with a voice like honey has had major roles in
The Untouchables, The Dead Pool, Everybody's All American, Far From Heaven, and Friends with Benefits. Television audiences might recognize her from ABC's Murder One and Davis Rules. A richly talented actress who has been on the cusp of stardom way too long.

121.

Chris D'elia



This guy was easily the best thing about NBC's Whitney, as well as Undateable and deserves to have a show built completely around him...this guy has the comic timing and charisma to become a household name if given the opportunity.

120.

Christopher Meloni



This handsome and talented actor got on the map thanks to his roles as Chris Keller on the HBO series OZ and Detective Elliott Stabler on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit. He even held his own opposite Julia Roberts in a supporting role in Runaway Bride and I think he definitely has the chops to achieve household name status if the right role came along.

119.

Alfre Woodard



This actress received an Oscar nomination for Cross Creek and has been featured in Passion Fish, Blue Chips, Primal Fear, How to Make an American Quilt, and Love & Basketball yet most joe q publics on the street would have no idea who this woman is if you showed them a picture of her.

118.

Fred Ward



This actor, who oozes machismo and sex appeal from every pore, first caught my attention in the cult classic Tremors and has also appeared in films like Miami Blues, Henry and June, Big Business, The Player, Short Cuts, Sweet Home Alabama, Road Trip, Silkwood, and Swing Shift. This is a very talented actor with surprisingly solid comic timing that should have helped put him over the top by now.

117.

Christopher McDonald



"Oh, that's his name!" Yeah, that very funny and talented and very versatile actor who we've all seen in dozens of films and television shows deserves household name status merely for his classic performance as Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore.

Some great choices so far. I loved Barry Corbin in WarGames, Christopher Meloni in "Law & Order: SVU", and Fred Ward in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.

I have to confess that Remo Williams is one of the few Fred Wards films I have never seen.

116.

Michelle Stafford



Relax, this will be my only entry from the world of daytime drama. Stafford won two Emmys for her work as Phyllis Newman Abbott on The Young and the Restless and is currently playing Nina Clay on General Hospital. In addition to being drop dead gorgeous, Stafford is a powerhouse actress who makes bold and gutsy acting choices that make it impossible for the viewer to take their eyes off her and makes it very difficult for co-stars not to fade into the woodwork...every performance this actress turns in is a one woman acting class and she definitely deserves household name status.

115.

Billy Zane



This severely underrated actor has brought some real electricity to the screen over the years but the two performances that, for me, earn him household name status were Dead Calm and Titanic.

114.

Alan Ruck



Though he has an impressive resume, Ruck earned his place on this list with his performance as Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

You should watch Remo Williams. It's a very underrated movie.

113.

Christopher Guest



This extremely versatile actor, writer, and director first caught my attention when he pretty much stole This is Spinal Tap from a talented all-star cast as lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel. He then actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand up playing a bad ass villain in The Princess Bride. These performances earned him the juice to serve as writer, director and actor on Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, For Your Consideration, and A Mighty Wind. Guest is a creative force in Hollywood to be reckoned with and more than worthy of household name status.

112.

William Devane



This talented actor first caught my eye playing John F. Kennedy in the TV movie The Missiles of October. He has appeared in films like Marathon Man and Payback, but made his biggest impression as an actor playing the enigmatic Gregory Sumner on the CBS prime time drama Knots Landing, one of the few TV characters who has literally brought tears to my eyes.

I thought William Devane was already a "household name".