Harvey Keitel

To pigeonhole Harvey Keitel as a master of edgy degenerates and killers would have dismissed the actor's many successes with surly husbands, benign cops and intrepid detectives. His prolific but slow-to-ignite career began with memorably unlikable supporting roles in Martin Scorsese character studies "Taxi Driver" (1976) and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974), though he turned to European films shortly thereafter when he failed to find a suitable place in mainstream films. An Academy-Award nominated supporting role in "Bugsy" (1991) heralded a new beginning for Keitel on American soil, and he became a favorite on the indie film scene of the 1990s through his association with Quentin Tarantino cult classics "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Keitel had several successes when he chose to tap his inner soft side, like in Jane Campion's "The Piano" (1993), but by far, he was the go-to guy for potentially explosive everymen, grizzled police force veterans and G-men in both subtle indies and gun-blazing big budget adventures alike.