Rockwell isn't more known because he's chosen a career path of quirky indie films or supporting roles (my favorite but less appreciated by the mainstream) in larger movies. He's a young actor with the mindset of a veteran character actor in that regard. He also isn't bashful about changing his appearance dramatically for a role by growing beards or mustaches (check out his great 'stache in the photo!). Rockwell is kind of old school you might say. Because of these things, Rockwell is going to be acting in films for decades.
I first noticed Rockwell in the oddball 1996 Tom DiCillo film Box of Moonlight. Rockwell plays an eccentric (the first of many eccentrics Rockwell has played) dressed in buckskins, who lives in a half-trailer in the woods, that befriends a stuffy man with no imagination. I liked this little film when I saw it but was struck by the energetic young actor perfectly trading dialogue with the excellent John Turturro.
Other Rockwell films or performances I've liked are Lawn Dogs (1997), Galaxy Quest (1999), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Frost/Nixon (2008) and the previously mentioned Moon.
(scroll down a little to see Rockwell's screen test for Confessions...)
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