This Dallas Actor Is Our Generation's 'That Guy'

This was a year in which well-known Texas actors continued to rise in prominence. Glen Powell struck gold with the box office phenomenon of Twisters and his charismatic turn in Hit Man, and new minted billionaire Selena Gomez earned two Golden Globe nominations for her roles in Only Murders in the Building and Emilia Perez. However, there may not have been a more versatile performer this year than Scoot McNairy, a Dallas-born actor who has been stealing scenes for well over a decade.

McNairy isn’t the type of actor like Leonardo DiCaprio or Daniel Day-Lewis, who chooses to do just one film every few years. In 2024 alone, he appeared in five films, and even managed to have a fun guest voice role on the Prime Video superhero series Invincible. How does one go between a bonkers horror remake, an awards-worthy music biopic, a scathing dark comedy and two small indies that practically no one has ever heard of? In McNairy’s case, it is because he is simply “That guy.”

The term “that guy” is often used to describe a character actor who works frequently but tends to appear in small roles with minimal screen time. Although it was once a phrase that was circulated only within niche groups of cinephiles, the concept of a “that guy” has gone mainstream thanks to the parodies of South Park and Family Guy. The arc of a “that guy” can often be challenging, as it means putting in hard work for years without any widespread recognition. However, McNairy’s incredible trajectory in the past few years demonstrates that he is far more than a supporting character actor. His ability to work in so many genres with such fluidity is merely an indication of his impressive range.

McNairy began popping up in shows like How I Met Your Mother, The Shield, Six Feet Under and Bones, in which he could always be counted on to bring pathos to “one-shot” roles that appeared only in single episodes. Eventually, he started appearing in larger projects. In addition to picking up roles in the back-to-back Best Picture winners Argo and 12 Years a Slave, McNairy snagged more substantial parts in acclaimed indie features, such as the arthouse crime epic Killing Them Softly and the neo-Western The Rover.

Being a “that guy” means that it is impossible to always strike gold. McNairy popped up in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which has become a modern classic that will be well remembered over the next few decades. But he also seemed forced to show up for a baffling role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film so rife with structural issues that not even McNairy’s charismatic performance was enough to salvage it.


It can often be a drag to put time and effort into what amounts to only a few minutes of screen time, but McNairy was eventually able to return to television once the medium was considered more “prestigious.” In an era when the budget of an average streaming show is far more significant than that of an indie feature, the idea of being a “television actor” no longer feels like a demotion. McNairy proved his merit as a leading man thanks to a few critical darlings: he chewed the scenery as a grizzled DEA agent in Narcos: Mexico, portrayed a sympathetic suspect in the underrated third season of True Detective and got to go full “John Wayne” mode with his role as a well-meaning deputy in the feminist western Godless.

Although McNairy has been quietly building up a solid resume, this year he began to pop in a series of mainstream releases. In a year that saw the release of many disappointing horror reboots, but the American remake of the cult thriller Speak No Evil earned solid reviews and became a word-of-mouth hit when it debuted in theaters a month before Halloween. James McAvoy’s terrifying role as a nightmarish vacation guest may have served as the film’s primary antagonist, but McNairy had what may have been a more challenging part as a hapless family man who watches his wife and children be terrified. Is it possible for a horror “final boy” to be sympathetic and cowardly at the same time? It’s a difficult task, but one that McNairy was able to pull off.

McNairy’s character in Speak No Evil may have been fairly spineless, but he managed to show greater depth in his role as another well-meaning (yet incompetent) husband in the dark comedy Nightbitch. He co-stars as the husband of a struggling mother, played by Amy Adams, who becomes so distraught with feelings of depression that she begins to transform into a literal monster. Granted, Adams’ physical transformation is what has earned the most attention, but it's McNairy’s hilarious work as a completely oblivious man-child that serves as the glue that keeps the film together.

Speak No Evil and Nighbitch are unlikely to factor into award season, but McNairy may have to keep his tuxedo pressed thanks to his role in the acclaimed biopic A Complete Unknown, which stars Timothee Chalamet as a young Bob Dylan during his journey from Minnesota to New York in the 1960s. The film features a real “who’s-who” of iconic musicians, including Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Boy Holbrook as Johnny Cash. However, McNairy is undeniably the heart of the film as Woody Guthrie, the folk icon behind “This Land Is Your Land.” Guthrie was riddled with diseases that made him inaudible in his final years, but he still provided inspiration to Dylan with his guidance about retaining artistic integrity. If any moments in A Complete Unknown could elicit tears, it's the bookending scenes of Dylan and Guthrie bonding.

This certainly doesn’t mean that McNairy has turned into Chris Evans or Dwayne Johnson overnight (even if Speak No Evil was a bigger success financially than the disastrous Christmas comedy Red One). Some of his projects have still fallen under the radar. Despite positive reviews, the crime thriller Blood for Dust was released in only a handful of theaters in early April; the same happened with the fraternity drama The Line, which has yet to expand beyond a limited release in New York. McNairy received significant acclaim for his performance in the coming-of-age drama Fairyland in 2023, but the film has yet to find an American distributor.

Being a “that guy” isn’t an easy task, but it does give anyone a strong rooting factor. It's evident that McNairy has been putting in the work, and the diversity of roles on his resume signifies he has done anything and everything to earn his place in the industry. McNairy’s star status peaked this year, but if there is any justice in Hollywood, it will be merely the beginning of a new phase.