Just as there are many levels of television and movie stardom, so are there rankings of nonstardom: the character actors. Many ultimately achieve status as a household name. Chris Cooper, Alison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and John C. Reilly are some of the true character actors who were simply too good to keep from stardom. But for every Cooper and Janney there are 10 actors who never become household names, even though we welcome their presence every time they show up. None of them is famous and none is even rich. Below are four of my favorites, though the list could be much longer.

Margo Martindale (Courtesy photo)

Margo Martindale

This heavy-set actress from Texas first became a familiar face as the “foot tickler” in a series of Downy fabric softener ads in the late ’70s. Starting in the late ’80s, she began perfecting her two most common roles: harried blue collar mother (Million Dollar Baby, Walk Hard) and stern administrator (Marvin’s Room, 28 Days). Martindale seldom gets the showy roles, except maybe her wonderfully oversexed floozy in the otherwise forgettable Twilight (1998). But she brings an honesty to even the most mundane characters and she’s never afraid to find the most vulnerable and ugly sides of a person. Martindale has been cast in more than 60 films in less than 20 years. Like many great character actors, she has a healthy stage life as well, having recently been nominated for a Best Actress Tony for her work as Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. And she’s clearly respected by her peers, having been directed by fellow performers Clint Eastwood, Tim Robbins, and Rob Reiner, to name a few.

Celia Weston

Born and raised in South Carolina, Weston first gained recognition when she took over for Diane Ladd in the final years of the sitcom Alice. But her career didn’t really hit stride until 1995, when she played one of Ben Stiller’s potential mothers in the great Flirting with Disaster. From that point on, Weston has appeared in nearly 40 films and TV shows, peaking with her pitch-perfect turn in the 2005 film Junebug. Amy Adams deservedly received an Oscar nomination for her role as a bubbly pregnant woman, but Weston was every bit as good as her sour mother-in-law. Most of Weston’s women are from the south, whether upper class (Far From Heaven, The Talented Mr. Ripley) or lower class (Runaway Jury, Dead Man Walking). Weston is apparently a delightful person with whom actors love working, yet few are better at portraying cold disapproval. The always-understated Weston is possibly one of the best actresses working in film, and her stage career is arguably even more impressive.

Phil Reeves

Alexander Payne’s 1999 film Election is filled with terrific performances. But one in particular was so delightfully offbeat I had to look it up. It’s the platitude-spouting school principal and the actor is Phil Reeves. The 62-year-old Reeves didn’t even get his first film role until he was 42, and still takes more “under-five” parts (ones with less than five lines of dialogue) than major supporting roles. But in true character-actor style he always makes the most of his time on screen. Besides appearing in most of Payne’s movies (About Schmidt, Sideways), Reeves also saw his screenplay Happy, Texas made into a mild but amusing film. For the past decade he has become a go-to man when a small role calls for loud, confident, and clueless.

Ian Roberts

Roberts is best known as the notorious Sparky Polastri, fake cheerleading guru in Bring It On (2000). Others may remember him as the doctor who took everything literally on Arrested Development. One of the founding members of the great, influential improv company The Upright Citizens Brigade (along with Amy Poehler), Roberts also appears in most of Will Ferrell’s comedies, where he usually plies his specialty: the pouting bully. It’s probably only a matter of time before Roberts gets the kind of showy role that propels him into the next level of character-actor stardom.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.