Rachel Ticotin

In Total Recall (1990), Rachel Ticotin makes the fighting look like something Melina is equipped to do. Her athleticism gives the action conviction, and she is persuasive as someone who can handle a difficult situation. We value that credibility, especially when the surrounding film is getting carried away. Paul Verhoeven's science-fiction thriller makes good use of her physical assurance alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, though its violence sometimes crowds out the questions that make it interesting.

Her breakthrough was Isabella, opposite Paul Newman in Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981), before supporting roles in action films and dramas became the pattern. In Falling Down (1993), her detective Sandra benefits from the same ability to make professional competence convincing. We were glad of her steadiness here, because a credible professional is welcome amid the resentment and violence driving Michael Douglas's character. Joel Schumacher's thriller remains gripping, but Ebbe Roe Smith's script becomes less persuasive when it tries to explain society; Ticotin's conviction cannot mend that.

The limitation is how often competence becomes the whole assignment. Sandra is a detective; Sally Bishop, her part in Con Air (1997), is a prison guard. These are sensible uses of her authority, but the repetition suggests casting directors know rather too quickly what they want from her. We would welcome more parts in which being capable was the beginning of a character, with time left to discover something else about her.

Later films include Man on Fire (2004) and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), alongside television work in Lost and Law & Order: LA. Her ability to make a supporting character believable is useful across ensembles, though it can leave us wishing a film would spend longer with her. Start with Total Recall for the physical assurance, then Falling Down for a quieter performance that remains convincing when the script does not.