“That Guy” Actor of the Week: James Tolkan

Since many of you seem to like our feature on obscure characters that we love, I figured it was high time to come up with a new segment that was equally as awesome.  And here we introduce you to “That Guy.”  “That Guy” is the actor or actress who you see in multiple movies and always say to yourself “I love that guy” but you never seem to remember his name.  Well, who better to start with than the guy up top?

You all know him.  It’s impossible not to recognize that bald head of his.  And you’ll never mistake the line “your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash” for anyone else.  It’s Commander Tom Jardian AKA “Stinger” from Top Gun.  His real name?  James Tolkan.

P.S. I almost went with Mr. Strickland from Back to the Future but come on, Top Gun is his claim to fame.

And here’s another line you can’t top.  It’s very obscure but it’s hilarious.  In the last dog fight scene in Top Gun there’s a part where Slider and Ice realize that there are 5 Mig Fighters instead of 4.  The radar picks up on this and the assistant guy says to Stinger, “there’s 5 sir.”  And Stinger says “THAT’S FIVE?”

If you own Top Gun I implore you to watch this scene again and rewind “that’s five” at least 20 times.  It’s very funny.  In any event, here’s to James Tolkan, token bald mean badass guy.  You are the dude.

*Here’s something cool.  In 1996 he played a guy named Commander Hondo on some crappy Top Gun thing on TV.