James McCaffrey on AllMovie

A gifted and prolific character actor noted for often essaying roughshod roles that set him apart by virtue of their quirky charm, James McCaffrey appeared onscreen from the late '80s onward. He did fine work as Roy in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), held his own (as Fred) opposite Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis in American Splendor (2003), and -- in a truly show-stopping bit -- kept the dead alive as the spirit of Tommy Gavin's (Denis Leary) dead firefighter cousin on the envelope-pushing, psychologically tinged comedy drama series Rescue Me. In 2007, McCaffrey appeared in two major theatrical releases that were (to say the least) very different from one another: the romantic comedy Broken English and the musical drama Feel the Noise.