Starring ... what’s his name again?

To be famous is a ridiculous way to live one’s life. The existence of Paris Hilton proves this. In fact, to be famous is also to invite unwanted scrutiny, ridicule and scorn from mean-spirited journalists like me. But fame is also the only means our culture has devised — besides being showered with gobs of cash — to appreciate the achievements of creative people. So we look at the famous and the not-so-famous and wonder who deserves more, or less, and why.

For example, why is it that Tilda Swinton is less well-known in this country than Rob and Amber? Why am I aware of Rob and Amber’s existence at all?  And I bet you just went, “Who’s Tilda Swinton?”

So I’m going to tell you who she is, and nine other actors just like her, all doing very cool work that deserves to be seen and appreciated, some occasionally winding up in big movies or being paid very well on regular TV gigs, but still living under the radar of name-recognition…

Carolyn Kaster / AP

Tilda Swinton
Where you’ve seen this person: “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “Constantine,” “Vanilla Sky,” “Adaptation” and lots of art-films only cinema snobbos have seen.
Cool points for: Satisfying her own art-jones. This striking Englishwoman wins tiny (usually), singe-your-memory roles in major productions so she can then go off and make oddball independent films or lie in a glass box in some installation at the Tate Modern. She’s played both genders simultaneously on more than one occasion (in “Orlando,” her biggest arthouse hit and as the Angel Gabriel who tells Keanu Reeves he’s going to Hell in “Constantine”), and her icy villianess was the sole reason to stay to the end of “Narnia.”

Matt Sayles / AP

Donald Faison
Where you’ve seen this person: “Scrubs,” “Clueless” and “Something New”
Cool points for: Knocking it out of the park every time. Faison was the whipped, not-quite-hip-hop boyfriend desperately trying to “keep it real” by shaving his head in “Clueless.” His comic timing is impeccable, his baby-face fixed in a state of devious, dare-me-to-do-it delight. And most recently his supporting turn as Sanaa Lathan’s snobbish brother in the smart “Something New” stole scenes by subverting the usual nose-in-the-air routine. If Woody Allen still made funny movies and ever decided to cast African-American actors in them, Faison would be his go-to guy.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Where you’ve seen this person: “Third Rock From The Sun”
Cool points for: Going there. The life of a former child star from a mediocre sitcom is one usually doomed to failure (see “Different Strokes”) or hermit status (“Family Matters’” Jaleel “Urkel” White seems to only now be resurfacing with a role in the upcoming “Dreamgirls”). But Gordon-Levitt’s grimy, heartbroken performance as an abused child-turned-prostitute in 2005’s acclaimed but not-widely-seen “Mysterious Skin” marked the beginning of a serious adult career, with the highly-anticipated “Brick” due in theaters any day now. He will make you feel dirty.

David Livingston / Getty Images

Vera Farmiga
Where you’ve seen this person: Almost nowhere unless you were really paying attention. Currently battling evil pedophiles in the hinges-off thriller “Running Scared” and basking in the tiny glow of her best actress win from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for her work in the barely-released indie “Down To The Bone.”
Cool points for: Making them all finally pay attention. I had no idea who Farmiga was until “Down,” where she played a deadpan drug mom, struggling to keep both food on the table and sober, only to lose her job by admitting that her performance at her grocery clerk’s job was enhanced by cocaine. And she’s got a clear-eyed resolve that Anthony Minghella and Martin Scorsese both must have noticed because she’s about to work with both of them.

Stuart Ramson / AP

Paul Schneider
Where you’ve seen this person: “Elizabethtown,” “The Family Stone.” Arthouse audiences know him from “All The Real Girls”
Cool points for: Single-handedly saving every scene he graced in the noxious, self-important “Elizabethtown.” As Orlando Bloom’s laid-back Skynyrd-ish cousin, he accidentally reminded you that Cameron Crowe movies could be charming and funny under the right circumstances. And check out director David Gordon Green’s strange, and strangely affecting, un-romantic comedy “All The Real Girls” for a full dose.

Evan Agostini / Getty Images

Zooey Deschanel
Where you’ve seen this person: “Failure to Launch,” “Elf.” Lots of indie films.
Cool points for: Pulling focus away from Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker and creating that most disconcerting of moments in a big dull Hollywood picture — the one where you realize that the supporting character is way more interesting than the leads and where you begin fantasizing about where the movie would go if she suddenly took the reins and galloped away with it. Was the female lead alongside Schneider in “All the Real Girls.” Yeah, I’m just going to keep banging the drum for that one.

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