Summary

• Dastmalchian has over 90 credits & excels in horror, drama, & comedy genres, with notable roles in The Dark Knight & Dune.
• Dastmalchian impresses with versatile performances in roles such as Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad & Kurt in the Ant-Man series.
• Collaborations with renowned directors like Denis Villeneuve in films like The Last Voyage of The Demeter showcase his talent & range.

David Dastmalchian is one of the most recognizable and prolific actors currently working in Hollywood with an impressive list of credits to his name. Despite his first acting gigs being as early as 2000, he largely remained a background and supporting character for many years. His first big break came in 2008, when he was given a small but important role in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. Since then, he has continued to appear prominently, but his biggest successes have been in just the past few years.

Dastmalchian currently has almost 90 credits to his name at the time of writing, and a further seven projects which are in different stages of development. Of the total currently released credits, 25 of them are from the last five years. This commitment and dedication to his craft is paying off well for Dastmalchian as many of his greatest works have also been released in that same time period.

13 Dune: Part One

Piter de Vries

First up, Dastmalchian is clearly a well liked and pleasant person to work with in Hollywood, as he has made firm friendships with several filmmakers who choose to repeatedly work alongside him. One of these directors is Denis Villeneuve, who has collaborated with Dastmalchian on three separate projects. Potentially the most popular of these is Dune: Part One, where Dastmalchian plays Piter de Vries.

Despite the movie's huge success, Dastmalchian's role is fairly small among a large and varied cast. However, in that short period of time, he manages to make an intense impression as the demented tormentor who is employed by House Harkonnen to exploit weaknesses in House Atreides. Dastmalchian's role may be brief, but he is a pivotal part of the wider story, leading to destruction in House Atreides ahead of his untimely death.

12 The Boogeyman

Lester Billings

While he proves his ability to play a dark and sinister villain in Dune, Dastmalchian has a much broader range, which is reflected in the variety of roles and genres he tackles in his work. The horror film, The Boogeyman is based on a short story by the legendary Stephen King. Dastmalchian joins the cast here as a man in the midst of a crisis as Lester Billings.

Thanks to his performance, and the rest of the talented cast and crew, the movie was chosen to have a theatrical release, despite initially only being set to release directly to streaming on Hulu (via Radio Times). However, the positive test screenings meant the studio opted to make it a bigger release. Dastmalchian once again has a brief role in the film, but his impact is distinctly felt long after he disappears.

11 The Dark Knight

Joker's henchman

Despite Dastmalchian first appearing on TV in 2000, his next performance was when he appeared as Thomas Schiff in The Dark Knight, the role that jump started his career. His appearance was minor once again, but it did introduce some pivotal parts of the story. For example, one of the first times when Harvey Dent used his coin to wager for someone's life. Schiff is a lunatic who is employed by the Joker, and a former resident of Arkham Asylum.

When he appears in The Dark Knight, Dastmalchian is able to convincingly play a character who is socially inept and appears to indulge in the chaos and danger of his precarious situation. Dent threatens his life in order to get information about Rachel's whereabouts, as he is sporting a name tag with her name on it, but when Batman intervenes, he reveals it was simply a tactic to scare Schiff into revealing information.

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9 The Last Voyage Of The Demeter

Wojchek