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Best actors thread

 
 
 
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Jimmy Higgins

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I wanted to expand on this but didn't want to create my 100th derail in the movie review thread. I was pondering, who are the best actors. Actors as in, you don't see the actor, you see the character. I'm hardly a movie expert, but from my limited experience, the best were Peter Sellers and Meryl Streep.

Denzel Washington, Bette Davis (yes, she actually did play other roles than bitter old woman), Jodie Foster, Daniel Day Lewis, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Frances McDormand, Kevin Spacey (yeah, I know), Charles Laughton.

Then there are the character actors such as Chris Cooper and especially Karl Urban. To me Urban's ability to use even just his presence to act is out of this world.
 
I would include Tom Hanks on the list. I was absolutely blown away by his performance in Captain Phillips.
 
Christian Bale is very good. I've seen him play a few different roles really well. John Malkovich is always good.
 
Jack Black (High Fidelity)

Denzel Washington (Much Ado About Nothing)

Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda)*

Dustin Hoffman (Hero)

Colin Firth (Love, Actually)

Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan)

Hugh Grant (Notting Hill)

Vigo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings)

Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings)

Julia Roberts (Notting Hill)

Meril Streep

Jane Fonda

Patrick Stewart (A Christmas Carol, a one-man show)

Paul Giamatti (My Best Friend's Wedding and The Stunt Man)**

Hugh Jackman (Greatest Showman)

Kiera Knightly (Pride and Prejudice)

Donald Sutherland (Pride and Prejudice)

Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock)










**Paul Giamatti was just a bit part in My Best Friend's Wedding, but he blew me away nonetheless. Hard to do that in a bit part. He had more lines in The Stunt Man, but I don't see that IMDB credits him for being in that movie. "Was she supposed to be a virgin? ... I had a virgin once. I had to fly to Guatemala for her. She was blind in one eye and had a stuffed alligator that said, 'Welcome to Miami Beach.'"

*Anecdote: Kevin one time asked John Cleese what he was up to lately, and Cleese answered, "I'm writing a movie. You get to eat a lot of fish."
 
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First time I saw Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, I thought I was watching actual footage of the real guy.

Philip Seymour Hoffman lost himself in Capote so completely it was eerie.

Joaquin Phoenix. Where do I start? There's this movie on Amazon Prime called "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot" that's just...he makes Daniel Day Lewis look mundane.

Oh, and Daniel Day Lewis. He kind of set the bar for actors of his generation losing themselves in roles.

Charlize Theron. The easy answer is Monster, but she's also brilliant in Snow White and the Huntsman.

Finally, Cate Blanchett. I'm trying to draw a line between her character in The Shipping News and (of course) Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and I'm at a loss. Then, to top it off, I didn't know she was in the Thor movie until the credits.
 
For range and depth you can't go past Blanchett. First saw her in Heartland and couldn't get over the honesty of her portrayal. Plus, as always, she glowed. Good skill for an actress.

Also, Tom Hiddleston and Kenneth Branagh

I have always had trouble distinguishing good acting from good direction. Only the years and a body of work sort it out for me.
 
Ford said:
Finally, Cate Blanchett. I'm trying to draw a line between her character in The Shipping News and (of course) Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and I'm at a loss. Then, to top it off, I didn't know she was in the Thor movie until the credits.
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I like that. When we came out of Hook, two of my friends looked at the poster and said, "Dustin Hoffman was in this? Who did he play?"
 
I'll try and highlight some of the lesser known.
David Wenham, from Prince of Gondor to homeless junkie in the Gold Coast.
Cara Gee, her real life persona is nothing like Drummer from The Expanse
Sam Rockwell - why the fuck isn't he a household name?
Alan Ruck watch Ferris Bueller, Spin City then the Justified episode he was in to see his full range
Kate Mulgrew - doesn't matter what role she is in, she throws 110% every time. I only discovered a few months ago she was Flemeth in Dragon Age.
 
i think the question can be rather subjective without any criteria.
mine is:
1. the ability to inhabit a role, giving a sense that they are conveying who and what that character is supposed to be within the narrative (this can be very subjective since interpretation to the meaning of a film can differ from person to person, but still)
2. being able to believably act significantly and consistently different from their actual personality

so this is kind of random and not all inclusive but my list would definitely include:
edward norton
brad pitt
aubrey plaza
joseph gordon levitt
tatiana maslaney (who is probably the best actor working today)
charlize theron
matthew mcconaughey (this is kind of begrudging, i actually don't like him very much and am never pleased seeing him being in a movie, but got to give credit where it's due)
dan stevens
bryan cranston
michael sheen
rose leslie (though her resume is limited but what there is has been surprisingly diverse)
christian bale
kevin spacey
elijah wood

there's some honorable mentions, i think.
patooka said sam rockwell... who is definitely awesome, but i think is one of those "actors" who doesn't really 'act' so much as they just show up and are themselves and are so fucking charismatic and awesome that it's a delight to watch.
included in that list would be morgan freeman, tom cruise, paul rudd, kate mckinnon, keanu reeves, jack nicholson, robert de niro, al pacino, will smith, jon hamm, etc etc. as long as the part is written for them it's perfect.
 
prideandfall said:
i think the question can be rather subjective without any criteria.
mine is:
1. the ability to inhabit a role, giving a sense that they are conveying who and what that character is supposed to be within the narrative (this can be very subjective since interpretation to the meaning of a film can differ from person to person, but still)
2. being able to believably act significantly and consistently different from their actual personality
Click to expand...
Bette Davis said of Peter Sellers that he wasn't an actor, he was a chameleon.

matthew mcconaughey (this is kind of begrudging, i actually don't like him very much and am never pleased seeing him being in a movie, but got to give credit where it's due)
Click to expand...
So anyway, I really didn't respect Reese Witherspoon that much as an actor until Legally Blonde. She played an easily bad character and knocked it out of the park. Matthew McConaughey gained my respect in general with his performance in movies like Contact and A Time To Kill, but I really started liking him in Larger than Life a movie that looks like it should be dumb (BIll Murray got an elephant), but I was tremendously surprised how well it carried. And large part was McConaughey's completely off the wall character that stays in bounds just enough to be viable.

He eventually hits a pair of grand slams in True Detective. I think we learn how good an actor is when they are provided a character that doesn't have it in the bag, and a poor portrayal can ruin a movie.
 
sorry Blanchett doesn't quite do it for me--saw clips of the last Indiana Jones movie last night, and reminded me of that she's somewhat of a grimacing poseur--also weak in the very different Carol; I spent the whole of that movie feeling she was subtly miscast, and trying hard, sooo hard.. Her female compatriots Naomi and even, despite the worked-on face, Nicole, are better actresses.
 
I like Edward Norton for the variety of roles he can play, from Fight Club to The Score to American History X, he is so good at being the character I think people forget there is Edward Norton in there.
 
Time for old school. I always thought the late Alec Guinness was a fantastic actor.
 
If you're going old school you have to add a lot. Peter O'Toole, Oliver Reed, Richard Burton, Robert Shaw to name a few. Elizabeth Taylor, Anne Margret, Angie Dickenson.
 
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