Arye Gross

Arye Gross—yeah, that guy whose face you definitely know, but his name’s probably just out of reach. He’s one of those actors who seems to pop up everywhere, turning bit parts into something you actually remember. Born March 17, 1960, in sunny LA, he studied at UC Irvine, then got serious about acting at the South Coast Repertory Conservatory. He even stuck around as part of their resident company for three years before diving into a wild year with El Teatro Campesino, working under Luis Valdez. After that, Gross bounced around the LA theater scene like it was his own backyard—LATC, Pasadena Playhouse, Odyssey Theater Ensemble, you name it, he’s probably played there. His stage credits? Kind of a laundry list: "La Bete," "Room Service," "Three Sisters," plus a bunch of Shakespeare—"Taming of the Shrew," "Much Ado About Nothing," "Troilus and Cressida"—and a couple of originals at South Coast Rep. Film-wise, the guy knows how to steal a scene without looking like he’s trying. In "For the Boys" (1991), he played the lackey who goes to fetch Bette Midler’s character, Dixie Leonard, and somehow his character arc ends up being the emotional spine of the whole movie. He starts as a nobody, and by the end, he’s found his backbone, thanks to a surprisingly sweet heart-to-heart. And hey, in "Minority Report" (2002), Gross flips from doting dad to full-blown rage in the blink of an eye—seriously, he makes it look easy. Honestly, in another time, he’d be an even bigger deal.