The Bad Guys is an animated comedy that deconstructs the typical tropes we’ve come to associate with villains by telling a heist story that goes so wrong, it tears a successful band of robbers apart and makes them question their nature and purpose in life. Like other animated films, it’s nothing more than a fast-paced, cartoon extravaganza on the surface, with plenty of jokes and spectacle to keep anyone entertained, but the heart underneath it was what drove everything and is the reason so many people have enjoyed it.

Big animated movies like this usually enlist a cast of celebrity names that audiences are familiar with, but it isn’t always easy to identify who the actor is. Every now and then, you encounter a voice in a cartoon that sounds so familiar, but you just can’t pinpoint where you know the person from. So, in anticipation of the 2023 holiday special that’s on the way, and to honor the great work done by The Bad Guys cast, we’re breaking down the resumes of the main cast, so you can identify the other roles you’ve seen them in before.

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Sam Rockwell

     Marvel Studios/Paramount Pictures

The ringleader of our band of thieves is a charm machine named Wolf. Of course, he is better known as the Big, Bad Wolf thanks to the stories in history that have depicted him as a villain and the fact that he likes to rob people. He looks good in a suit and finds it easy to make people see things his way, hence the casting of Sam Rockwell. You may not immediately recognize his name, but you certainly know his work since he has appeared in a ton of movies over his long career, and he always steals the show. Depending on your age, you might remember him as the horrific antagonist “Wild Bill” Wharton in Frank Darabont’s adaptation of The Green Mile. That same year, he played Guy, the “plucky comic relief,” in the sci-fi comedy classic Galaxy Quest. In 2017, he played Dixon in the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri for which he won an Academy Award. That doesn’t even mention all the quirky parts he’s taken in Charlie’s Angels, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Iron Man 2 (where he played Justin Hammer). Most recently, he played Inspector Stoppard in the mystery comedy See How They Run.

Marc Maron

     Netflix

Snake is the safecracker of the group in The Bad Guys. Wolf describes him as Houdini, “but with no arms,” thanks to his incredible ability to break a lock without human appendages. He’s a bit of a curmudgeon with an unhealthy obsession with devouring Guinea Pigs (what he calls “the Rolls Royce of rodents”) and one Marc Maron provides his gravelly voice. Chances are, if you know Maron at all, it’s probably from his incredibly successful podcast WTF with Marc Maron. Aside from conducting fascinating interviews with all kinds of interesting people, he’s also a legendary stand-up comedian. Although he’s been acting for years, he really started to come into his own onscreen fairly recently with roles in the Netflix original series Glow, where he played Sam Sylvia, Joker as Gene Ufland, and the series Maron, which he created, starred in, and occasionally directed.

Awkwafina

     ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks

Every crew needs a tech person to make sure alarms are disabled, streetlights do exactly what you want, and it’s virtually impossible to be tracked by any technological means. For our titular bad guys, Tarantula (aka Webs) is that expert. She’s voiced by Awkwafina, who rose to prominence thanks to her comedy songs going viral on YouTube. Without wasting any time, Awkwafina made the jump to film in 2016 when she played Christine in the comedy sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. From there, she appeared in Future Man, Ocean’s Eight, Crazy Rich Asians, Jumanji: The Next Level, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and her own comedy series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens. In terms of voice work, you might also remember her as Sisu, the eponymous dragon from Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon.

Craig Robinson

     NBC

When you need someone to infiltrate a highly secure location, it’s good to have Mr. Shark on your team because nobody does disguises better than him. As Wolf points out when introducing his crew, Shark is so great at disguising his identity that he stole the Mona Lisa while disguised as the Mona Lisa. He’s voiced by Craig Robinson, whom the vast majority of readers would likely best know as Darryl Philbin on The Office. In fact, there’s a small reference to The Office when Snake calls Shark “Big Tuna,” an annoying nickname given to Jim (John Krasinski) by Andy (Ed Helms) in the iconic series. However, Robinson has a resume so long, it’s virtually impossible that you haven’t encountered his work before. Be it big-screen comedies like Hot Tub Time Machine, Zack and Miri Make A Porno, This Is the End, or on television in Reno 911!, Eastbound & Down, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and his own series Mr. Robinson, you must have seen him before.

Anthony Ramos

     Warner Bros. Pictures

He may be small, but Piranha doesn’t back down from a fight, regardless of how big his opponent (or opponents) may be, making him ideal for when a big group of thugs is standing in your way, and he is voiced by Anthony Ramos. Although his credits on IMDb only go back as far as 2014, he’s done some really impressive work in a bunch of incredible titles during that time. In terms of television, he’s been in episodes of Younger, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Will & Grace. By far, though, most people probably recognize him for his collaborations with Lin-Manuel Miranda as he appeared in both Hamilton as John Lauren and Philip Hamilton as well as In the Heights as Usnavi.

Zazie Beetz

     20th Century Fox

The Governor with a lot of opinions on what makes an impressive criminal (thanks to her past as the criminal The Crimson Paw) is voiced by Zazie Beetz. TV fans will likely recognize her as Van from the offbeat and surreal FX comedy series Atlanta, where she plays the on-again-off-again significant other of Donald Glover’s Earn. You may also recognize her as the mutant Domino in the action comedy sequel Deadpool 2, or as Arthur’s friend (in his mind) Sophie in Joker, alongside her Bad Guys costar Marc Maron.

Richard Ayoade

     Channel 4

A brilliant mind who has convinced the whole world that he actually a good guy (as opposed to a dastardly villain), the guinea pig Professor Marmalade is voiced by the world’s greatest nerd in amazing clothing: Richard Ayoade. Along with Matthew Holness, Alice Lowe, and Matt Berry, Ayoade helped bring us the 80s horror spoof Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace in 2004. From there, he went on to appear in The IT Crowd as Moss, the funniest example of a stereotypical nerd you’ve ever seen. In 2017, he could be seen in the modern classic Paddington 2 as a Forensic Investigator. While he’s certainly been seen in plenty of on-camera roles, he might be most recognizable for his voice work in things like Soul and The Mandalorian.