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One of the attributes that makes the great directors great (or the great movie stars), is that they know when they have something good and they take advantage of it. In Oliver Stone’s case, he always finds a way to use John C. McGinley in his films if the role fits. Sylvester Stallone knew he could rely on Frank McRae and Joe Spinell for supporting roles. Charles Bronson films aren’t complete without Ed Lauter, nor is an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie right without Sven Thorsen.

And for James Cameron, there was always Lance Henriksen. After the two worked together on the unknown 1981 film Piranha 2, Cameron knew he had something good in Henriksen and brought him back for major roles in both Aliens and The Terminator, two of the most successful and revered action films of all time.

Henriksen would follow up his work as Bishop in Aliens by reprising his role (or playing related ones) in Alien 3 and Alien vs. Predator.

He cut his teeth with a small role opposite Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, and other early film appearances included Network, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Damien: Omen II, The Right Stuff, Jagged Edge and Johnny Handsome. Over these films, he began to show his chameleon-like ability to take on any role.

He would guest star on several major television shows on his way up, from The A-Team and Cagney and Lacey to Beauty and the Beast, before ultimately landing his own series-lead in the cult favorite Millennium. Following the end of the show, he would reprise his Millennium role with a guest appearance on The X-Files.

The list of significant film roles is long and varied, from a Wild West villain in The Quick and the Dead to salt-of-the-earth cops in Jennifer 8 and Powder to the sadistic patriarch of a violent motorcycle gang in Stone Cold. He plays a different kind of patriarch, a reformed felon bringing peace to an abandoned penal colony in No Escape and, along with Sven Thorsen, takes his best shot at killing Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target.

BACK TO: The Wall of Underappreciated Actors

It’s a unique situation where you have starred in three of the definitive and highest-grossing action films of a decade – check that, of all time – and virtually nobody knows you by name.

Yes, it is true that Michael Biehn was the protagonist, villain or key player in The Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss, three of the key action films of modern times and also three of the hallmark pictures by writer-director James Cameron. The fact that Cameron kept turning to Biehn for a spectrum of roles from hero to villain also says something about his faith in this under-recognized actor.

In fact, the general public is far more likely to recognize and name…Lorenzo Lamas, Kevin Sorbo, Adrian Paul or all manner of straight-to-video or TV action stars. They’re more likely to recognize Ian Ziering, the sixth lead on 90210 than the star of The Terminator. Go figure. All the while, Biehn has racked up notable credits on both sides of the good-versus-evil spectrum, in some of the more notable big-screen films to emerge over the last three decades.

Biehn stood out particularly as Ringo, the villain cast across from Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell in the underappreciated-actor-filled western Tombstone. He parlayed this successful turn in westerns into a leading role in the short-lived TV series The Magnificent Seven, also starring Ron Perlman.

Biehn was one of a wide array of unsung silver screen heroes in the all-time toughest movie platoon in Aliens, sharing the screen with underappreciated comrades Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and Mark Rolston. He also continued to display his mastery of the “elite military guy” typecast in The Rock, as the ill-fated SEAL commander who leads Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery into Alcatraz to battle Ed Harris (renewing the rivalry they had established in The Abyss several years earlier).

Biehn has also made big-screen contributions to other noteworthy films such as Grindhouse: Planet Terror, Art of War, Mojave Moon and Navy Seals. He also reprised his role as Kyle Reese in the special edition of Terminator 2 and any critical viewing of the film Highlander will reveal that Christopher Lambert’s hallmark role and most successful acting performance was based heavily on Biehn’s characterization of Reese in the original Terminator film.

BACK TO: The Wall of Underappreciated Actors

This particular underappreciated actor is a woman who has proven herself so capable that she is turned to with regularity by James Cameron to fill notable female roles in his films.

Jenette Goldstein first rose to prominence in the 1986 action classic Aliens, in a cast that also included Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Paul Reiser and Mark Rolston, several of these names also fellow underappreciated actors.

While this group made up quite possibly the single toughest military platoon in movie history, it was Goldstein who would set the James Cameron mold for the muscular military-trained female ultrasoldier, an archetype that would he would revisit with a buffed-up Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. Of course, the movie would not have been complete without Goldstein, who was cast as John Connor’s stepmother.

Cameron would again turn to Goldstein in the Best Picture winner Titanic, and across these three roles, Goldstein would prove herself to be a true character actor. Addition or subtraction of a tan and an accent and she could convincingly cross the divide between Mexican marine and white trash ginger stepmom. If you weren’t watching closely or checking the credits, you would never think it was the same person, and that is what solid acting is all about.

Like virtually all great underappreciated actors, Goldstein would on a Star Trek uniform. It’s almost a requirement to be part of this exclusive club. Like several others in the club she would also guest star on 24 and Alias. Other notable film and TV appearances include ER, L.A. Law, The Presidio and Lethal Weapon 2.

BACK TO: The Wall of Underappreciated Actors