Woody Harrelson
Part of the reason for Woody Harrelson's portrayal of the psychopathic celebrity serial murderer Mickey Knox is quite so jarring is that it was awfully difficult for audiences to believe that chirpy bartender Woody Boyd from the Boston bar where everybody knows your name was capable of such insane and evil crimes; Harrelson was beloved by fans of the television comedy Cheers which had first catapulted him to fame in 1985. However, after the series ended Harrelson made the tricky transition from small to big screen seamlessly, starring in White Men Can't Jump before making the character of Mickey Knox one of the signature performances of his career. His following performance was just as controversial; playing the title role in The People v Larry Flynt earned Harrelson his first Oscar nomination; he received two more, both in the category of Best Supporting Actor.
Julitte Lewis
Lewis has made a niche for herself by choosing to play characters who are edgy and have a distinctly dark view of the world. She won her first Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance opposite Robert de Niro in the chilling remake of the psycho-drama Cape Fear, In 1993 she starred in both Kalifornia, opposite David Duchovny, and also in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? with then-teen phenom Leonardo di Caprio; after making Natural Born Killers, she became far more famous for her private life than her professional one, largely because of her romance with Brad Pitt.
Lewis stepped away from acting for a while in the late 1990s to pursue a career in music, fronting the retro-rock band Juliette and the Licks, whose music was inspired by another strong, powerful frontwoman, Joan Jett.
Robert Downey Jr
Anyone whose career includes Brat Pack stardom, a turn as a televisual singing attorney, and an Oscar-worthy portrayal of Charlie Chaplin can definitely lay claim to having had both one of the most interesting and one of the most successful careers in Hollywood history; in fact, Downey Jr can lay claim to both, as he is the second highest grossing star in history in the domestic box office, and the the highest grossing box office star in history worldwide. Doubley impressive when you take into account the fact that his career after playing Charlie Chaplin in 1992 was almost de-railed by a very long and very public battle with substance abuse. After his release on drug charges from the California state prison, he joined the cast of the hit television series Ally McBeal as one of Ally's love interests, during which time he released a cover version of Joni Mitchell's River that appeared on the series Christmas album, and also became his most successful musical release to date.
In more recent years, Downey Jr has become synonymous with the Marvel Comics Cinematic Universe, first in Iron Man, and in nine subsequent movies in the franchise. Downey Jr was ranked as one of the one hundred most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
Tom Sizemore
Having worked with Oliver Stone previously on the highly controversial movie Born on the Fourth of July, Sizemore stepped into the controversial Stone universe a second time, playing sociopathic detective Jack Scagnetti in this movie. He is best known for Saving Private Ryan, and after the success of the movie went on to jon the voice cast of the Grand Theft Auto : Vice Series of video games, voicing the character Sonny Forelli. In 2017 he joined the cast of the reboot of Davd Lynch's Twin Peaks.
Tommy Lee Jones
In 1993, Tommy Lee Jones won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards for his portrayal of U.S. Marshall Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive; he has, in fact, been cast in a disproportionately large selection of law enforcement roles during his long and storied career, including Texas Ranger Woodrow F. Call in the television western mini-series Lonesome Dove, and Sheriff Ed Bell in No Country For Old Men; despite this propensity for playing characters on the right side of the law, he has also shown his more villainous side by playing the scourge of Gotham City, terrorist William Strannix in Under Siege, and as the Masked Crusader's nemesis Two Face in Batman Forever.
Hard to believe that a career comprising so many weighty roles actually began on daytime television in the soap opera One Life to Live.
Rodney Dangerfield
Dangerfield was better known as a stand up comedian for most of his career; he even had a catchphrase - "I can't get no respect!" a line around which most of his comic routines were based He managed to avoid dramtic roles for the majority of his career but surprised fans with his performance of Mallory Knox's abusive father in Natural Born Killers. His performance garnered both fan and critical acclaim but before he could venture further into the world of the thriller and the dramatic, he was struck by ill health, passing away ten years after hi portrayal of Wilson.
Balthazar Getty
Many a teen girls' locker has been adorned with pictures of Balthazar Getty, child star and member of the famously wealthy Getty dynasty. After a breakthrough performance as Ralph in the movie adaptation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies, he went on to become one of television's most popular young stars with roles on the drama series Charmed, Alias and Brothers and Sisters.
Like his Natural Born Thrillers co-star Juliette Lewis, Getty also fronts a band, and he also produces a rap duo that goes by the name The Wow.
Mark Harmon
Yes, N.C.I.S. Special Agent Jethro Gibbs was indeed once a part of the sensational crime spree of Mallory and Mickey Knox; although Harmon's role in the movie was uncredited he was easily recognizable as one of the actors participating in a televised reconstruction of the couple's monstrous crimes. Finding fame on the 1980s drama St. Elsewhere, Harmon eventually found his niche as a special agent, first on The West Wing, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination in 1992, and subsequently on the long-running drama series N.C.I.S.. also producing some episodes of the original series and the spin-off set in New Orleans.
Harmon was cast in the title role of serial murderer Ted Bundy; The Stranger Beside Me was an adaptation of crime writer Anne Rule's best-selling book, and the author became alarmed when she began to receive letters from women confessing to her that they had fallen in love with the mass murderer. She wrote back to every one of them, explaining that they were not in love with Ted Bundy, but with Mark Harmon, which was perfectly understandable; he was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 1986.
