A beautiful face can get you places in Hollywood, but how boring would it be if every actor populating the 2026 movie calendar looked like Sexiest Man Alive Jonathan Bailey or Michael B. Jordan? OK, maybe that was a bad example, but still, there are countless great character actors who may sport a more unique look, and fans are making their voices heard after a list went around claiming that guys like Gary Oldman, Walton Goggins and Alan Tudyk were “not hot enough to be a lead.”
There’s definitely more to being “hot” than having a chiseled jaw and rock-hard abs, and a good personality can be significantly more important (even Sydney Sweeney doesn’t want to date a jerk). So when stars like J.K. Simmons, David Dastmalchian, Steve Buscemi and Paul Dano showed up on a Reddit post asking for people’s “Favorite ugly bastard we call a ‘character actor’ as a nice way of saying they’re just not hot enough to be a lead?,” fanbases were activated. BabypintoJuniorLube responded with a timely comparison, writing:
Most women I know think Gary Oldman and Walter Goggins are peak sex symbols. Seriously Gary Oldman as Dracula was basically Jacob Elordi/ Frankenstein of the 90s.
Forget the fact that a lot of the men put forward by the original poster have been the lead in movies and on TV, because Redditors really took issue with the suggestion that these actors are ugly in the first place.
Gary Oldman seems to have gotten the lion’s share of responses, with fans imploring people to look past his flatulent-heavy role on Slow Horses to remember Sid and Nancy, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and even the Harry Potter movies. Comments included:
- Dude was sexy! Watched an older movie with him in it recently and my ex was like "wait is that.... sexy Gary Oldman??” – dragonflyzmaximize
- I’m (mostly) lesbian but Gary Oldman as Dracula at his first meeting of Mina WAS panty-dropping – Pan_Fluid_Boo
- Gary does not belong in that list. – idntknww
- As an Oldwoman myself, I can assure you that Sir Gary is still Hotasf--kman. – JessicaGriffin
- Seriously, we’re calling Gary Oldman ugly nowadays? – Hoppy-Poppy17
- I’m so confused, I thought he was super hot in Prisoner of Azkaban. – Late-Summer-1208
As for Walton Goggins, who blew up after his roles on The White Lotus and Fallout, plenty of fans said the Redditor was out of their mind for including him on the “not hot” list, writing:
- Women are drooling over Walton Goggins in the Fallout show and he doesn’t even have a nose in that one. – Misplacedwaffle
- Frankly that show [Fallout] is dare I say the hottest he’s ever been. He just oozes charisma – DowntownAd9720
- Goggins’ appeal is his confidence and energy, he’s got a whole vibe. Source: my wife – lefthandtrav
- Walton Goggins has always been objectively very good looking I don’t know what the hell he is doing here. – ValToolTime
Even Alan Tudyk’s inclusion got people fired up, inspiring comments like FigureUnusual4439’s “Would smash,” and catchyerselfon asking if the OP had even seen the Firefly actor’s “large semi-muscular physique.” One Redditor said the post was so misguided that others should have been consulted first:
I was gonna say someone should consult the female gaze for this. Steve Buscemi is an odd looking guy but widely considered a sexy little rat man.
Look, the sexy rat boyfriend is a real thing, guys. Timothée Chalamet is talking about marrying Kylie Jenner, and Pete Davidson just had a baby with model girlfriend Elsie Hewitt, for crying out loud.
There are a lot of classically beautiful men in Hollywood, and there’s definitely nothing wrong with that. But attractiveness is subjective, and the above fans know it goes much deeper than looks. Reddit user Impressive_Answer297 may have said it best:
Makes me want to see a movie with all character actors and no handsome lead.
If Gary Oldman, Walton Goggins, Paul Dano and the rest are involved, sign me up!
