Charlie Sheen
Before he was infamous for his sexually charged Twitter rants, Sheen was considered one if the better actors if the Brat Pack generation, appearing in a blink and you might miss it role in the hit comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off (cast, ironically, as a teenage dug dealer) before starting as Chris Taylor, and then teaming up with Oliver Stone a second time in quick succession, and appearing opposite his father in the film drama Wall Street. Some of Sheen's most successful roles have been played alongside either his father, Martin Sheen, or his brother, Emilio Estevez, another Brat Packer who became far ore famous than his brother after his performance in John Hughes' The Breakfast Club. Both brothers won awards for their performances in the ensemble piece Young Guns.
Television beckoned when Sheen was cast in the hit comedy series Two and a Half Men, a role which was both written for him and inspired by him. The role of Charlie, and the real life actor playing him, we're virtually interchangeable as Sheen became increasingly famous for his antics and offensive bad boy behavior.
Tom Berenger
Berenger was nominated for an Academic Award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance as Staff Sergeant Barnes, a role for which he was also awarded a Golden Globe in the same category. He began his acting life in the theater but found that roles were so sporadic that he had to supplement his theatrical earnings with a job as a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines. After breaking through to television soap operas, Berenger made his way into the big screen, working steadily through the 1970s before really making the eighties his own. He became best known for his role in the Sniper franchise, appearing as the lead in four out if the five movies released.
Willem Dafoe
One if the movie's most nominated stars, Dafoe also had the dubious honor of being voted the actor who would make the best Charles Manson in a poll by readers of Heat magazine. He received his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance as Elias and followed up his work on this controversial movie with three further highly polarizing films; he played the role of Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, then worked alongside Gene Hackman on the racially charged Mississippi Burning
Another film with Oliver Stone followed a Dafoe had a smaller role in born on the Fourth of July. Fellow Platoon alum Charlie Sheen had also been offered a role in the movie but the offer was withdrawn at the last minute and the role ultimately given to Tom Cruise.
Dafoe experienced his first box office bomb with his performance in the pseudo-erotic critically panned Body of Evidence in which he started opposite Madonna who had recently released her erotic photo book Erotica.
Forrest Whitaker
For his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Whitaker swept the Awards Season board, winning Academy, Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards as well as the Screen Actors' Guild Award and a multitude if if regional and national honors. It remains his best known role, unless of course you count the role of Arnold's Bully opposite Gary Colenab in the beloved long-running comedy Diff'rent Strokes.
Following the success of his performance of Amin, Whitaker went on To star in The Great Debaters, winning an Image Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category.
Kevin Dillon
Best known for his role in the drams-comedy Entourage, for which performance he was nominated four times at the Prime Time Emmy Awards, Dillon's performance as the psychopathic soldier Bunny was one if the film's most critically acclaimed. He went on to play the role of drummer John Densmore in the movie biopic The Doors.
Francesco Quinn
Like co-star Charlie Sheen, Quinn came from impressive acting stock; his father, Anthony Quinn, was an acclaimed movie actor with an Oscar role his name. The role if Rhah was considered to be Quinn Junior's break-out role but his first leading actor role turned out to be on the smaller screen in the television adaptation of Quo Vadis. He passed away in 2011 after having a heart attack whilst out running with his children.
Keith David
Character actor David is well known for his performance as King and equally recognized for the role of Childs in The thing. In fact, his movie career has involved predominantly cult movies; more recently he has appeared as a regular cast member on the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Greenleaf.
Johnny Depp
Depp appeared in a small, peripheral role in this movie because he was "un-cast" from the skating movie he had signed on to star in. He role as the Vietnamese speaking member of the platoon nonetheless reached critics' notice although it remains one if his lesser known roles.
Depp began his working life as a teen heart-throb but found that did not necessarily bring him the roles he was looking for. Very occasionally he would find that a role would provide both the desired output for his gaggle of screaming young girls but also provided him with the necessary artistic challenge that he was looking for; one such movie, in which he appeared alongside fellow teen idol Leonardo di Caprio, was What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
Depp worked often with director Tim Burton, a collaboration that led to both a surprise hit movie, Edward Scissorhands, and a much- publicized romance with co-star Winning Ryder whom he eventually left when he became acquainted a little too well with supermodel du jour Kate Moss.
Depp's most recent big screen blockbusters have come within the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, in which he plays the role of pirate Jack Sparrow. Depp claims to have based his performance on Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.
