Reply #34: I second Paul Giamatti as great character actor.

[Aristus]

One of his best roles, in my mind, is one that people scarcely remember. His turn as a sergeant in the 101st Airborne in "Saving Private Ryan". As far as I'm concerned, HIS character was the everyman they were trying to pass Tom Hanks off as. The character of Captain Miller was saddled with the job of carrying the nobility of the story, so he couldn't just be the everyman 'small-town-English-teacher' the screenwriter apparantly wanted him to bed.

Paul Giamatti's character, OTOH, was a wonderful everyman. He's not interested in being noble; he's cold, wet, tired, hungry, frustrated, afraid, and he just wants to go home. I thought he did a terrific job conveying all of that.