character actor
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcharacter actorˈcharacter ˌactor noun [countable] an actor who typically plays unusual characters, rather than the most important charactersExamples from the Corpuscharacter actor• In other words, he was still developing the characteristics that would eventually make him a character actor.• I never expected to be much more than a character actor.• The character actor has appeared in at least 50 motion pictures in a film career that dates to the 1950s.