If you’re the type of person who has trouble getting through the Naked Gun movies because of O.J. Simpson, we’ve got some potentially upsetting news for you: He’s not the only guy accused of a horrible crime who’s lurking in otherwise feel-good flicks.
As a matter of fact, if you start digging into some of the minor actors featured in your favorite comedies, you might be shocked at what you find out. Allow us to taint a few of them for you by telling you a little bit about…
1. RYAN GRANTHAM
In 2010’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Ryan Grantham played the role of Rodney James, who is shown playing his Nintendo DS during rehearsals for a school play in one scene. Ten years after the movie was released, Grantham walked up to his mother while she was playing the piano in their home and shot her in the back of the head.
He also filmed her corpse with his GoPro camera. Grantham was reportedly plotting to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well, but decided to turn himself in to the police instead. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
2. SHELLEY MALIL
Indian actor Shelley Malil is perhaps best known for playing Haziz in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. In case you forgot, he’s the one who confronts Jay about not being invited to a party and angrily asks, “What are we, al-Qaeda?” In 2008, Malil approached his girlfriend in her home, as her children were asleep upstairs, and stabbed her 23 times. She survived, but suffered a severe cut to her chin and two collapsed lungs, in addition to losing half of the blood in her body.
Malil testified that he stabbed her by mistake, though he was found guilty of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He received a life sentence with the possibility of parole and was released in 2018.
1. JOE SON
Dr. Evil’s South Korean assassin, Random Task, from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, was played by actor and former UFC fighter Joe Son. In October 2008, Son was charged with multiple felony counts of sexual offenses after DNA linked him to a 1990 gang rape case in California. Because the statute of limitations on most of those charges had expired by the time he was caught, Son was only found guilty of felony torture.
He was said to have raped the 19-year-old victim several times along with another man and threatened to kill the woman before turning her loose. While serving his life sentence in 2011, Son beat his cellmate to death and received an additional 27 years for voluntary manslaughter.
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