When I first learned that Ben Affleck had directed a movie, I was skeptical. Despite his work with Good Will Hunting and other films like Changing Lanes and Dogma, I always think of Affleck as the guy in Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and Daredevil. But with his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, Affleck has returned to his role as storyteller and left behind his blockbuster celebrity. More than that though, he’s told a story that speaks to the lives of people who are working to get by in the day to day, and perhaps not doing so well.

The story revolves around Patrick Kenzie, played by Affleck’s brother Casey, a private eye with young looks and connections to the people on the street. When a young girl in town goes missing, her aunt hires Patrick and his partner Angie to use their ability to work on the street to help find her. From here the film travels downward into worlds of drug dealers, missing children and the personal responsibility of the actions we all take:

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We all remember the Cary Grants, George Clooneys, Al Pacinos, Robert DeNiros and Brad Pitts - and as wonderful as they all are, a great film they do not make - at least not on their own. Likewise, when it comes to making a difference, or working on an action, not everyone can get the glory. And a solid team is always stronger than one person working alone.

In honor of this, I give you - the Top 10 Actors Consistently in Supporting Roles. Often called character actors, the men below all did their part in smaller roles to make many films much more memorable.

Of course there a ton I didn’t mention - contribute to the discussion and leave your vote in the comments section. And if you want to learn how you can be a team player and TakePart, and sign up here at TakePart.com to join actions and meet folks you can work with and support in making the world a better place.

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1. Ned Beatty : His first role, in Deliverance (1972), set the stage for Ned Beatty to become someone that would entertain us quite frequently. With smaller roles in films that include Network, Superman, All the President’s Men, He Got Game and most recently Charlie Wilson’s War, Ned Beatty is one of the best examples of how being a team player can make the team (in this case “the movie”) something truly amazing. Below is a clip from his great performance in Network.

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The series finale of “The Wire” was last night - and as exhilarating as it was, it was also a bit sad - not just because of what happens to some characters, but because our journey with them is over. I will put all information specific to the finale and Season 5 below the fold - so as not to spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t seen the episode yet - or is still catching up on past seasons (hurry - there is so much good stuff to get to!).

But before I do that, I want to post a video of the first scene of the show (I think it’s good to watch it again) and also quote creator David Simon from an interview he gave, which I think speaks to the importance of The Wire:

You know it’s funny, we’re trying to tell a story that we think is more universal than that, but at the same time it always made sense that somebody where their credibility rested on their proximity to the game, to the street world, would be interested is some of what The Wire had to say. We always sort of knew that we might hook into that a little bit. What I love is when you get some 50-year-old white guy with a two car garage who’s watching what D’Angelo Barksdale is going through and how squeezed he is by his bosses, and he goes, “Shit, that’s my job.” That to me is subversive. [The FADER]

On to the finale :

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This Sunday marks the end of HBO’s “The Wire” - one of, it not the best TV shows to come out in some time, has it’s series finale on March 9th.

I should start this off by saying that I am 2 episodes behind this season (so don’t reveal any spoilers to me!). But that being said, I am sad to think that I won’t get to hang out with Bubs, Kima, Carver, Omar and the rest of the gang (as I write this, any of those folks could already be dead…eeek!)

More than entertainment, “The Wire” gave us a window into worlds that we often see misrepresented or not represented in the movies, on TV or in the mainstream media.

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I love HBO’s The Wire, and if you come to the TakePart Blog now and then, you probably already knew. But what I want to share with you all is not another recommendation for The Wire, but instead for the mini-series and book that inspired the show.

Before he started work on The Wire, creator David Simon wrote a book and made a mini-series for HBO, both entitled The Corner. Like The Wire, The Corner takes place in Baltimore, but where The Corner differs is that it doesn’t look at the police and political side of things, instead it focuses on a family, on three people struggling to overcome drugs. It’s a personal take on the streets that is extremely powerful and very moving.

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One of the reason’s that HBO’s The Wire (my latest obsession) stands out from other television shows (beyond relevant plot and the best character development I’ve ever seen) is the way they really place the viewer in Baltimore (where the show is set). They work hard to make the dialogue “Baltimore dialogue”, using slang that is native to the city - like calling the young kids that are starting to sell drugs “hoppers”.

NPR has some great interviews with two of my favorite characters from the show, Dukie, a 9th grader trying to overcome a school system that doesn’t care and an awful home life, and Omar, an entrepreneur of sorts who makes his money holding up drug dealers while presenting a very nuanced portrait of homosexuality (if you haven’t started watching The Wire yet, click on those links with caution - spoilers are in the character descriptions).

Actor Jermaine Crawford (Dukie) talks with NPR specifically about how the creators of the show work hard to make the show as real as possible:

“It’s not filmed on a set. It’s filmed right on the streets of Baltimore. As it’s filmed, they [street kids and drug dealers] are on the streets watching,” he says. “You just try to reflect what you see. Not mimicking, but envisioning what you see and trying to do your best.”

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If you have been reading the blog regularly as of late, you may have noticed that I keep bringing up HBO’s The Wire. One reason for this, beyond the fact that it is utterly amazing, is that the underlying theme of the show for the 4th season is Education - and as the resident “Learn” correspondent for Takepart, I keep making connections from the show to education news.Twice in this season, issues of advancement in the school system have come up, both times with students being pushed ahead into grades that they aren’t ready for academically, but are ready for socially. Both incidents of social promotion have been somewhat heartbreaking, as it is clear that the students best interests are not at heart.Today, the New York Times reported that Michael Bloomberg has some different ideas on the subject:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Thursday unveiled strict new criteria for promotion to high school that could, if current testing patterns hold, put nearly a quarter of New York City’s eighth graders in danger of spending an extra year in middle school.

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I’m currently in the middle of Season 4 of The Wire… it is amazing and has rendered me completely unproductive in my free time as all I want to do is hang out with Omar, Bubbles, Bunk, Prez and the gang. In the episode I watched last night, Bunny Colvin told a classroom of troubled students that if they completed a challenge they would get rewarded with a fancy dinner. The allure of a prize got the students to participate and work hard at their task.Bunny Colvin isn’t alone in his thoughts that rewards inspire students:

Published last month on the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute’s Web site, the study found that when students and teachers in disadvantaged Texas public schools were offered up to $500 for each passing Advanced Placement score, AP participation and scores rose.

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Last night marked the premiere of Season 5 of HBO’s The Wire. I just recently dove into the revolutionary show and just finished Season 3 (and am trying to get done with 4 so I can watch on TV).For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Wire, it was created by David Simon, a journalist/writer/producer who wrote the original text that inspired both Homicide Life on the Street and The Corner (an HBO miniseries):

This season, like all the others, “Ëœ”ËœThe Wire” taps into a cold, cold place with many losses and few gains, a sub-zero-sum game.The show’s gloomy fatalism is echoed in the real-life fate of a series that this week picks up where it left off: The drug trade changes hands, but never stops, and “Ëœ”ËœThe Wire,” which is unquestionably one of the best and most original series on television in decades, has never received an Emmy Award in a universe where “Boston Legal” has five and “Desperate Housewives” has six.

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