But guess what? He’s still star enough to have appeared in a loooot of movies, and that in a relatively short period of time. Big actor or not Michael Rapaport has got a very, very nice filmography, especially considering he’s only been working on it since 1992. Have a look. (Oh, and his star IS on the rise, so expect him to become more and more recognizable as time goes on. Given the guy’s talent it’s practically inevitable. (Note: some of his prominent television roles are included as well. Blame Wikipedia.)

* Zebrahead (1992)
* Point of No Return (1993)
* Poetic Justice (1993)
* True Romance (1993)
* Money for Nothing (1993)
* The Scout (1994)
* Hand Gun (1994)
* The Foot Shooting Party (1994)
* Higher Learning (1995)
* Kiss of Death (1995)
* The Basketball Diaries (1995)
* Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
* Don’t Quit Your Day Job (1996)
* Beautiful Girls (1996)
* The Pallbearer (1996)
* Illtown (1996)
* Metro (1997)
* A Brother’s Kiss (1997)
* Kicked in the Head (1997)
* Cop Land (1997)
* Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground (1997)
* Palmetto (1998)
* Some Girl (1998)
* The Naked Man (1998)
* Rescuers: Stories of Courage (1998)
* Deep Blue Sea (1999)
* Kiss Toledo Goodbye (1999)
* Small Time Crooks (2000)
* Next Friday (2000)
* The 6th Day (2000)
* Bamboozled (2000)
* Men of Honor (2000)
* Chain of Fools (2000)
* King of the Jungle (2000)
* Lucky Numbers (2000)
* Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)
* Boston Public (2000–2004)
* Comic Book Villains (2002)
* Paper Soldiers (2002)
* Triggermen (2002)
* 29 Palms (2002)
* A Good Night To Die (2003)
* Death of a Dynasty (2003)
* This Girl’s Life (2003)
* American Brown (2004)
* Scrambled Eggs (2004)
* Tom 51 (2005)
* Hitch (2005)
* The War at Home (2005–2007)
* Live Free or Die (2006)
* Special (2006)
* Push (2006)
* Grilled (2006)
* A Day in the Life (2007)
* My Name is Earl (2007–)
* Only in New York (2008)
* Prison Break (2008-)

And he did just that in several episodes in the middle of the show’s run. He played the part of Gary, a boyfriend to Phoebe and dedicated cop. Gary seems to be an overall good guy - he’s nice, polite, courteous, romantic and even gets along with Phoebe’s friends. In one memorable episode he even takes Joey and Ross along with him on a ride in his patrol car, one that sees Joey saving his sandwich when he thinks a gun has gone off.

By the end of his tenure on the show Gary and Phoebe have moved in together. But their co-inhabitance is only brief: in a complete flip of character, Gary, noting a group of birds outside their morning window that Phoebe is happy to hear, takes a potshot at the avians with his gun. They either scatter or die.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaat’s pretty much the end of Gary, as you may imagine.

Special tells the story of Les Franken, a mere meter maid who has very little to look forward to in life. He lives along, eats alone, travels to and from work alone and has friends only in the form of a pair of druggies who run a comic book store and deal his a daily dose of comics. Franken takes solace in his comics, wishing he could be exceptional like the characters he so often reads about.

Eventually, hoping for a change in his life, Franken enrolls in an experimental test group administered with anti-depressant pills. They work - so well, in fact, that Franken becomes convinced that he has super powers, despite the doctor’s claims to the contrary. Franken then sets out to do good in the world with his placebo-powers, generally resulting in wreaking havoc on himself.

Though it received little press and few reviews, Special is also among the elite: it is one of very few movies on the movie rating site Rotten Tomatoes to have a 100 per cent “Fresh” rating, with good reviews from critics across the board. Well done, Rapaport.

Rapaport appeared in a bit part in the Eddie Murphy hit movie Dr. Dolittle 2. Rapaport plays Joey, a raccoon with an attitude who is tasked with bringing Dolittle to meet with his boss, the God Beaver. The God Beaver reveals to Dolittle that the forest is being cut down, rapdily, by the humans. Dolittle realizes that doing so will probably kill off the endangered Pacific Western Bear, and he decides he must save the species by pairing a male with a female.

But things don’t go well when the only male available is a maladjusted bear from the circus, and it’s up to Dolittle - along with a crew full of forest friends, Joey included - to help the bear get used to being a real bear again. Joey himself gets a big chance to help in the end by cornering Mr. Potter, the owner of the logging companies responsible for destroying the forest.