Are you like me? Well, probably not, but do you dislike college basketball during the season but become really interested when March Madness comes around? Well, probably not.

Anyway, that's the same kind of feeling I get when I watch movies and I see the name of a well-established character actor. This is a subtle way of letting me know that I'll be in good hands for at least a couple of scenes, even if the movie itself is pretty bad.

That's the effect that character actors have. They give you that moment of joy when you see them and you think to yourself, "Hey, I know them. I like them." Just another piece of that show or movie to get you more interested and invested.

So, what my brother and I have done is compiled a list of what we consider to be among the 68--I hate to use the word "best" because it's so subjective--character actors. Your job will be to vote for the ones you consider to be the best.

Ground rules:

There will be a poll attached to each post to make it easier for me to keep track of everyone, however, a vote is only valid if you write down a choice in your post. This rules out tampering.
Have fun with it. Explain your choices and see if you can get other people to see things the way you do. Of course, you don't have to, but don't you think it might get a little boring to just see one person's name in every post?
Enjoy yourselves.

Additional notes:

My brother and I worked off a shortlist of about 200 names. I doubt we thought of everyone of value, but I think we got as close as we could.
You're going to eventually notice that there are no actresses on this list. In an early version of the tournament, I was going to add them in, but only 11 specifically stood out and only three would have made the list. Rather than having the actresses be that unfairly outnumbered, I plan to do another one of these in the future for the actresses.
There are a couple controversial names on this list. My brother and I went back and forth on them. In the end, he disagreed with my decision to add them. Full disclosure.

What a beautifully worked out idea. Some very difficult match-ups. A few "that guy" names I don't know, but fewer than expected.

Henry

Oh thank God, I thought it was gonna be an actual March Madness bracket.

If I want to watch basketballs clang harmlessly off the rim or airball entirely, I can just go to the gym and practice my free throws.

Fun idea here. I know more of these by name than I expected. Will need to put faces to names for some though.

Interesting lists. You did miss many great ones:

William Macy
John Goodman
Seymour Hoffman
Jason Robards
Benicio Del Toro
Jack Warden
etc.

And included some odd ones (Hartman, Moranis - really?)

Anyway - can't make everyone happy.

Quoted from eldave1 And included some odd ones (Hartman, Moranis - really?) Anyway - can't make everyone happy.

Hartman is one of the very few that I recognize here and he's one of my favorite actors of all. He was in News Radio and that one is priceless. He was priceless in it. Just love love love Phil Hartman.

Quoted from khamanna Hartman is one of the very few that I recognize here and he's one of my favorite actors of all. He was in News Radio and that one is priceless. He was priceless in it. Just love love love Phil Hartman.

A fan of Phil as well as I thought he was a brilliant sketch comic. Just don't put him in the same league as some of the ones I listed above

Cool, some great names in here, love it.

You could only have been snowed in to go to all this trouble.

Look forward to it.

Quoted from eldave1 A fan of Phil as well as I thought he was a brilliant sketch comic. Just don't put him in the same league as some of the ones I listed above

I don't think they included many movie openers. Chrisopher Walken and Paul Giamatti. Many are pretty recognizable but not sure they can carry a movie. Maybe it's the thought here - not to include the ones that are too big or something.

Some I never saw - ever in my life. For example: Robert Forster. And he's a songwriter google says:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ROBERT+FORSTER&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

Quoted from khamanna I don't think they included many movie openers. Chrisopher Walken and Paul Giamatti. Many are pretty recognizable but not sure they can carry a movie. Maybe it's the thought here - not to include the ones that are too big or something. Some I never saw - every in my life. For example: Robert Forster. And he's a songwriter google says: https://www.google.com/search?q=ROBERT+FORSTER&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

- Sean mentioned they focused on character actors. That is why some might seem a little obscure. Robert Forster is best known to new-ish audiences from Jackie Brown. He was also in a great film from the 60s called Medium Cool. I haven't seen him in much else. I think he was originally known as a TV actor from the 60s/70s.

Quoted from Colkurtz8 - Sean mentioned they focused on character actors. That is why some might seem a little obscure. Robert Forster is best known to new-ish audiences from Jackie Brown. He was also in a great film from the 60s called Medium Cool. I haven't seen him in much else. I think he was originally known as a TV actor from the 60s/70s.

He also says there are a couple of controversial names on the list.
But mine would be the worst judgement. I'm really poorly versed in the land of TV.

Quoted from eldave1 Interesting lists. You did miss many great ones: William Macy John Goodman Seymour Hoffman Jason Robards Benicio Del Toro Jack Warden etc. And included some odd ones (Hartman, Moranis - really?)

I didn't miss them. As I said, the shortlist was about 200 names. Macy and Hoffman were removed. Del Toro was considered but dropped (we had a couple reasons to remove names from the list) and Warden and Robards missed the list. Goodman wasn't considered.

Sean, what are we choosing here, a pair of actors or one of the divisions?

Actors. Working on setting up round 1 as we speak.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde I didn't miss them. As I said, the shortlist was about 200 names. Macy and Hoffman were removed. Del Toro was considered but dropped (we had a couple reasons to remove names from the list) and Warden and Robards missed the list. Goodman wasn't considered.

But ya did - didn't say you didn't consider them - point was I believe they should have made it to the brackets and didn't (i.e., a miss). Expected as much like the NCAA bracket most of the hub-bub is about who didn't make it. All good.

When I read "missed", it implies, in my mind, forgotten about. So, I'll rephrase: disqualified (on Macy and PSH). Others were in contention but were beaten out.