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A bit late, I was in a field for a while there.

10. Jack Black – High Fidelity

Every so often, an actor is said to have been born to play a certain role. For a Mr. J Black of Hollywood (presumably, my depth of research is invariably linked to how bothered I am on the day) this role was Barry, the air guitar wielding prat from High Fidelity. This role was made for Black so much he inexorably portrayed it in everyone of his films to date. Ho ho, such wit. When I watch High Fidelity I romanticize the notion and believe being friends with Barry would be fun. The truth is it would probably be tiresome, as I imagine a friendship with Black would be. Again with the wit…

9. Steve Carrell – Anchorman

Quoted by everyone, everywhere. Even the Queen dropped one of Brick’s lines in her annual Christmas speech: “I am sure that we have all been affected by events in Afghanistan and saddened by the casualties suffered by our forces serving there. Our thoughts go out to their relations and friends who have shown immense dignity in the face of great personal loss. I ate a big red candle!”. Every character in the film has great lines, but Carrell’s comic timing and delivery – awkward and incongruous for the entire film allows him to take the mantle of Anchorman’s most memorable character.

8. Ralph Brown – Withnail and I

The curiously accented drug dealer Danny- perhaps the most endearing proprietor of hard drugs that’s ever been committed to film. In an unusual turn of intertextual writing, Mike Myers deployed Ralph Brown as a suspiciously similar character in Wayne’s World 2, the road-worn roadie Del Preston. He did a good job stealing the scenes in that film too – particularly when he regales a group of teens about having to beat a man to death with his own shoe so Ozzy could play on stage that night. A unique character and direct inspiration for the character in this next entry…

7. Matt King – (Super hans) Peep Show

Super Hans, the Danny/Del Preston of the Noughties. A proclivity for hard drugs in casual situations, in his head Super Hans is perpetually sticking it to the man. If it’s by smoking his crack pipe at a wedding or demanding his band are named ‘Free The Paedo’s', he is the last bastion of anarchy in a sea of the mundane. Hans, I salute ye.

6. Chloë Grace Moretz – (500) days of summer & Kick-Ass

So good she stoles it twice so she done- her turn as Tom’s little sister was hilarious and understated. Subversive relationships have been done a lot; sitcoms rely on the shtick so much so that it can feel tiresome and dated but Moretz’s stoical interactions with the melancholic Gordon-Levitt are natural and endearing. These scenes make a quirky film that bit more charming. Then she goes and drops the c-word as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. A natural, methinks.

5. Rhys Darby – Flight of the Conchords

In a show littered with bit part scene-stealer’s Darby’s portrayal of Murray Hewitt ‘of the New Zealand Consulate’ beats off tough competition from ‘Mel the Stalker’ or Dave ‘The Best Friend’ in Flight of the Conchords’ quirky world of prosaic nonsense. His minuscule knowledge of music, the music industry and indeed modern technology in general serves to project him as a millstone around the necks of Bret and Jemaine – the comedy arises from his lack of self awareness, and the belief that if the Conchords didn’t have him as a manager they’d be nobodies (which as it happens, they still are). Enjoy this improvised scene were Murray displays his limited knowledge of musical instruments.

4. Mark Wahlberg- The Departed

Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam – Wahlberg’s character is so obnoxious, unwilling and obstinate that it should be impossible to be excited when his character appears on screen, but his sporadic bursts of foul mouthed screen time act as comic relief (not in an overt or crass way) in a film that otherwise would begin feel weighted down with the outlandish plot. His delivery is so self-assured it makes me want to punch him, which I reckon was precisely the intended desire.

3. Jeff Goldblum- Jurassic Park

Dr Ian Malcolm- Tall, swarthy, nonchalant, chaos theorist and suffering from extreme excess of personality. How Jeff steals a film that has Dinosaurs losing the plot and generally being class is beyond me, but he does. Sam Neil is from Omagh, which is cool, but not as cool Goldblum’s charismatic scientist. His shirt’s open for most of the film, as was the style at the time.

2. Robert Carlyle – Trainspotting

Carlyle’s depiction of Begbie is terrifyingly unstable. It’s hard to choose a particular scene because he’s enthralling throughout – so much so that someone has uploaded ‘The best of Begbie’ moments on Youtube. Here’s a sample. Shit yourself at your leisure.

1. Alec Baldwin – Glengarry Glen Ross

For Alec Baldwin to occupy the best 7 minutes of a film that lists Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon among its ensemble cast is no small feat. His character Blake was created specifically for Baldwin and didn’t exist in David Mamet’s original stage production. Baldwin’s character measures virility through his capitalist successes and berates the rest of the cast for not having the balls (his words not mine) to close their prospective deals. His interaction with Ed Harris in this scene is a particular highlight.

Honourable mention: Christopher Walken, in everything.