Well I agree with IMDb's Biography
Deemed more of a "character actor" than a "leading man", he stayed on the periphery in his next few films, but attracted attention for his turn as beady-eyed villain "Mel Profitt" on the TV series "Wiseguy" (1987). Profitt was the first in a long line of dark, manipulative characters that would eventually make Kevin Spacey a household name: he went on to play a sinister office manager in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a sadistic Hollywood exec in Swimming with Sharks (1994), and, most famously, creepy, smooth-talking eyewitness Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (1994).
Maybe you could add
The Big Kahuna (1999) to that list. I didn't care much for
Se7en (1995) and
The Negotiator (1998), I liked his effort on
Albino Alligator (1996) and
Beyond the Sea (2004), but thought
L.A. Confidential (1997) was fantastic. I missed
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997); I understood the buzz for both
American Beauty (1999) and
The Life of David Gale (2003), and
The United States of Leland (2003) was a powerful film. On second viewing
The Shipping News (2001),
K-PAX (2001) and
Pay It Forward (2000) lost some of its initial impact. Didn't care to go see the Superman film, and his Famous Dr. Evil ('Austinpussy") was funny.
Top 3? Hard... I'm no expert (what is yours!) I think maybe:
1.
Swimming with Sharks (1994);
2.
L.A. Confidential (1997), and
3.
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) (because it was written by David Mamet and the fact that he was with his idol Jack Lemmon) over
The Big Kahuna (1999) (I hated his co-star's constant chuckling...).
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