These are actors that are consistently put in roles that are henchmen/semi-villains, but will never be leading men, maybe they get a sympathetic role as a supporting actor later in their career.

So here's a list of a few that I like, add your favorites:

Al Leong:


Henchman roles: A-Team (TV), TJ Hooker (TV), Big Trouble in Little China, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Joshua Tree, Double Dragon, Escape from LA, Replacement Killers

Kim Coates:

Henchman roles: Last Man Standing, The Last Boyscout, Waterworld, Dead Before Dawn, Fallen Angels, Sons of Anarchy

Tom Savini:


Henchman Roles: Dawn of the Dead (78), Creepshow, Creepshow 2, The Boy who Loved Trolls, From Dusk till Dawn, Dawn of the Dead (04), Land of the Dead, Lost Boys 2: The Tribe, Machete

Richard Kiel:


Henchman Roles: 007's Jaws (2), Inspector Gadget, Wild Wild West (TV), Longest Yard (74), Simon & Simon (TV)

Tommy Flanagan:


Henchman Roles: Taggart, Braveheart, The Saint, Face/Off, Alien Versus Predator, Sin City, Smokin' Aces, Smokin' Aces 2, Sons of Anarchy.

****Addition****

Catch: Originally Trejo came to mind, then I was wondering if I would get flamed for calling him a henchmen when he did get a leading man. But he was still a "henchman" in Machete, no matter how Robert Rodriguez packaged it, Trejo was unsympathetic and a killer against anglo society. So I came to the decision that the actor is qualified as long as he isnt a household name. For example John Travolta, Samuel L, Harvey Kietel and Steve Buscemi are absolutely not qualified. But Joe Pantoliano (Matrix-Cypher, Goonies-Francis) would be a good candidate.


Henry Kingi

Henchman Roles: Batman Returns, Last Action Hero, Double Dragon, Under Siege 2, Predator, Predator 2, Road House, Lethal Weapon 3

Danny Trejo

Henchman Roles: Cage, Lockup, Wedlock, Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Anaconda, ConAir, Replacement Killers, Dusk/Dawn 2, Reindeer Games, Devil's Rejects, Burn Notice, Breaking Bad, Predators

Vinnie Jones

Henchman Roles: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Gone in 60 Secs, Swordfish, Tooth, X-Men3, The Condemned, Loaded, The Bleeding, Smokin Aces 2, Strength & Honour

Adam Baldwin, no relation. (His early career is mainly a clean-cut American Merc, SpecOps, or Clandestine Underling) (Hell even as Jayne, he is still a Henchmen.)

Henchman Roles: Bad guys, Full Metal Jacket, Predator 2, Wyatt Earp, Independence Day, X-Files, Firefly, Angel, SG-1, Double Bang (not porn), Drillbit Taylor

Eli Wallach

Henchman Roles: Seven Thieves, The Misfits, How the West Was Won, Magnificent Seven, Ghenghis Khan, Lord Jim, Batman (TV) (First Mr. Freeze, huh.), Tough Guys, The Salamander

(I dunno about The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, he plays a gang leader. But still not the main villain.)

[This message has been edited by BillOnCapitolHill (edited 11/14/2010 3:49p).]

sex machine

great thread idea!

Good idea.

It's funny the different types of henchmen you get too. You have the strong but dumb goon, the weaselly conniving second-in-command, the token martial arts guru, etc.

Ould Danny Trejo fit this bill? I mean, now that he's had a leading role in Machete and all, is he out of the typecast?

It is amazing going through IMDB and seeing the trend of the ethnic henchmen (even the Irish). Most were stuntmen for their entire career getting on film every once and a while and hitting big with a certain look.

A lot of these guys we see in some of the best action movies and franchises. Predator, Aliens, Lethal Weapon, The Rock, ConAir, Face/Off, Terminator, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket. This list is like The Expendables' Expendables.

Im kinda on the fence about John C McGinley he was a low-level thug until Scrubs. Platoon, Wall Street, Spenser: For Hire, Highlander II, Point Break, Se7en, The Rock, Nothing to Lose, Get Carter, The Boondocks (TV)

[This message has been edited by BillOnCapitolHill (edited 11/14/2010 4:05p).]

Michael Biehn, though not all of his main roles are villians, he did great work in The Abyss and Tombstone



Also Bolo Yeung. He seemed to be Van Damme's nemesis in a dozen or so movies.