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Mar 19, 2009

Familiar Face - Unknown Name #12 - Adam Scott

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Call them what you want - character actors, "That Guy(s)," scene stealers - I don't care. This is a regular feature where I spotlight one performer, whether they be longtime veterans like J.K. Simmons or Barry Corbin, or a fresher face just making their way up the stardom ranks. For previous FF-UNs, click here.

Today's Familiar Face-Unknown Name:

Adam Scott

Where You've Seen Him (high profile): Adam's first big break was four episodes as a 21-year old on the tween-teen show Boy Meets World. I can only hope he wasn't playing a high schooler. After that came a six-episode stint on the excellent (and underseen) drama Murder One. He continued to bounce around TV and never-seen movies until landing a large role as the villain in the 2004 motorcycle action flick Torque, starring Martin Henderson (which is, not coincidentally, the first thing I really noticed him in, though I'm sure I'd seen him in some of his earlier TV work, such as Murder One and Six Feet Under). Since Torque, he's still been bouncing around TV and film, but it's been mostly film, and not only have the roles been bigger, but the films have been much bigger (The Aviator, Step Brothers, Monster-in-Law, The Matador).

Where You've Seen Him (not-so-high profile): Where to start? Though I haven't seen everything, I'm generally aware of most first-run wide releases (and many limited releases as well). But Off the Lip? Two Days? Seven and a Match? Ronnie (in which he starred, no less)?

Character Specialties: Smarmy jerks, plain and simple. Think roles that Matt Damon might have passed on.

My favorite role: Though I was no fan of the film as a whole, he practically stole Step Brothers right from under stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. Playing the successful yuppie (jerk) to their unfulfilled slackers, he was given the chance to shine, even leading his family in an a capella singing routine.

Little Known Facts: Has co-starred with Brian Austin Green in two projects (Bleach, Ronnie).

Is good friends with Paul Rudd, who he more than a little resembles, and has been involved in three projects with him, one of which is Scott's latest gig, Party Down, a Starz channel series that Rudd is a writer and producer of.

And is it just me, or does he also resemble Karl Urban a bit?

Shares his name with an Australian golfer.

On Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Scott_%28actor%29
On IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004395/


13 people have chosen wisely: on "Familiar Face - Unknown Name #12 - Adam Scott"

Nick said...

I see the resemblance to Karl Urban, but not Paul Rudd...

Anonymous said...

He had a funny jackass role to him in Step Brothers. Don't see the Rudd thing though. Think he will have more roles coming out soon, maybe he'll get his chance.

Patricia Perry said...

I see this guy in movies all the time, but can never think of his name (and, obviously never bother to look him up on IMDB). Thanks for putting a name with the familiar face.

Anonymous said...

I love Adam Scott! He's so underappreciated. I will always fondly remember him as 'Coffee Boy' on the little seen TV show Wasteland.

And I think he did play a high schooler on Boy Meets World. I think he was a bully.

Anonymous said...

This is completely off topic from your Adam Scott post but I just saw that Roger Ebert gave Nicolas Cage's new movie, Knowing, 4 stars. Interesting.

Fletch said...

Ok, so maybe the Rudd resemblance isn't so strong. You know all those 30-something white guys look the same, though, right? I mean, they both look like me, too, escept for my glasses.

Pat - my pleasure - that's the exact purpose of this, right? Seriously, he's not the prototypical character actor that I'd choose for this, but he's definitely a guy that I see a lot and never really could remember his name. Hopefully this will help.

Gwen - I must ask - does he share any credits with your site's inspiration? I can't think of any...

Figures that he played a high schooler - ain't Hollywood great? Also figures that he played a bully. I'll bet he pulled it off great. :D

Shane - anti-Cage news (or even bizarre pro-Cage news) is always welcome here. I really can't tell you how much pride I get that I'm known as the Cage Hater in this little corner of the internets. Every time someone sends me something, it puts a big, big smile on my face.

I'll have to check out the Ebert review. I'm surprised, but not WILDLY surprised - after all, Alex Proyas has shown himself to be a solid director at times. He's certainly capable of making a decent flick, even in spite of Cage's presence.

Nick said...

Fletch: lol, you made me think of Role Models.

"I'm not Ben Affleck!"
"You white... you Ben Affleck."
"He's right, you are white."
"I am white."
"Alright then."

Anonymous said...

No, only in some six degrees of Kevin Bacon way. ;)

Daniel said...

Wow, great timing - I just saw this kid in The Great Buck Howard this week and knew I'd seen him before! Must have been Step Brothers.

I love Roger Ebert but I have to step in here for the good of humanity and say knowing is horrendously awful and the worst movie I've seen in the last 8 months. As a brother-in-arms with Fletch against Cage, I can tell him this is our worst nightmare come true or it's a must-see for a reload of anti-Cage ammunition. It's like a bad M. Night Shyamalan movie, but Shyamalan doesn't play the hero and the special effects are better. More details in my "review" if you don't mind spoilers.

Anonymous said...

I recognize Adam Scott as the male nurse from "Knocked Up," but you're right -- he has one of those faces that you see just about everywhere.

Fletch said...

Daniel - your saying "this kid" made me lol. Pretty sure he's older than you (and I - I believe we're around the same age, iirc).

Somehow I skipped over that he was in The Great Buck Howard. I hadn't heard of that until two days ago, but boy, does it have a great cast or what?

Sarah - indeed. He's been working steadily for about 15 years now, so you've likely seem him in a number of projects.

Daniel said...

Hehe, I've been know to throw the term "kid" around for people probably into their mid-30's, but he gets an extension for looking at least 15 years younger than his actual age.

The cast of Howard is great (eh, Colin Hanks...), but they don't have much to work with. It's harmless, though, and Malkovich is fantastic as usual.

Nick said...

THAT'S where I've seen him before! I knew I recognized the guy. But it was as the male nurse in Knocked Up where I've seen him.