I can agree with you that the way imdb ranks those “known for” works is wonky at times, but iirc you can click the heading and see a longer list and though the ranking is still weird, it usually does list the movies I would expect.

James Woods is one of those actors I’ve heard mentioned many times and seen in movies occasionally but I’ve not thought too much about him. In this case I saw movies in the list that I had heard of so it didn’t strike me as the wonkiest but I’ll take your word for it.