Favorite actors

Male only

Christian Bale
Leonardo Cicaprio
Matt Damon
Samuel L Jackson
Morgan Freeman

I will add more later...This is just off the top of my head

 

Daniel Day Lewis
Robert De Niro
Edward Norton
Denzel Washington
John Malkovich
Ray Liotta

 

Pete Postlethwaite is my favourite actor of all-time.

 

Al Pacino
Clint Eastwood

always been my favorites. Of course, Pacino always does his maneuvers and Eastwood is very minimalistic but both are great.

 

I love Pacino prior to him doing scent of a woman, getting an Oscar for being southern, didactic and shouty then thinking thats what the world wanted from him in every role. He's kinda my sentimental favourite - him at his best (fairly rare) is magic. Such a sexy, charming little shit.

Objectively Postlethwaite, Day Lewis & Hackman are probably the best, I've personally seen. If we're including actresses (and why not) Streep is an obvious but deserved choice. I hadn't realised how good Postlethwaite was until he died recently and I checked out a couple of films. Really spectacular.

 

Very well put.

I realised Eastwood's skill only after I saw a skill-less guy trying to repeat his performance. Dolph Lundgren's Missionary Man is a remake of Eastwood's Pale Rider. It is remarkable how two guys can act without "doing anything" and yet one of them does it hundred times better

 

his role in scent of a woman was great. 'You're in no position to disagree with me, boy. I got a loaded .45 here. You got pimples.'haha

 

Aye it was OK. I'm not a big fan, tbh but I was a decent role. But the effect it had on him pretty much sucked. he always struggled with his voice, starting with that weird meely mouth thing and only really growing out of it in the 80s.....I think the 80s was his peak ability wise which he unfortunately wasted doing nothing except Scarface & Sea of love, but I think the desire to 'find a voice', in terms of an affectation he was comfortable with was still there. The early 90s started off great until he got that Oscar in 1993 and decided playing shouty, obnoxious authority figures with a slight southern drawl was pretty much all he'd attempt from then on. Pacino was at his best showing vulnerability, IMO, no male actor could pull that off without crossing over to piitable/unintentionally funny as well as Pacino. I don't think he really ever showed that again, after the Oscar, 'chew the scenery' Al choked off 'vulnerable Al' like Superman choked off Bad Superman in the scrapyard ::

I think the amount of stage acting he's always did had an effect too mind, having to project his voice and stuff.

Either way, Donnie Brasco's pretty much the only performance by him I've enjoyed since Carlito's Way.

 

haha, even as the satan in 'the devil's advocate' and the coach in 'any given sunday', he pretty much screamed like tony montana.

i guess i'm kinda in the minority, but i didnt think much of carlito's way. donnie brasco was very good though.

also, i thought he was good in that movie about the tobacco industry. 'the insider' or something like that.

 

Oh yeah, good shout, Insider is a really good film. I didn't like him in it that much, but as a film it's great.

 

russell crowe was excellent in it. i guess that was before he got as famous as he is now.

 

Pacino was excellent in that recent film about Jack Kevorkian.

 

Present Day Crop:

Christian Bale
Daniel Day Lewis
Paul Giamatti
Viggo Mortenson
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Guy Pearce
Djimon Hounsou
Russell Crowe



All-Time:

Denzel Washington
Andre Braugher
Kevin Spacey
Robert DeNiro
Mickey Rourke - 80's to early 90's version
Chow-Yun-Fat
John Malkovich
Christopher Walken
Robert DeNiro
Pete Postlewaite
Ben Kingsley
Ray Winstone
Tom Wilkinson
Forrest Whitaker
Anthony Quinn
Gregory Peck
Willem Dafoe

 

Nobody mentioned Gary Oldman yet?

But anyway, of today:

Russel Crowe
Edward Norton
Sean Penn
Leo Dicaprio
Christian Bale
DDL
Tim Roth

All time:

Denzel
Pacino
Nicholson
Hopkins
Walken
Hoffman
DeNiro
Hackman
Tim Robbins

 

I recently watched Carlito's Way. I always thought it was a good movie but I came away more impressed with the film, and Pacino's performance, than I originally did.

I love the scene in the back of the barber shop. Carlito's instincts know something shady is about to go down, and there's a shot of him saying nothing, but you see the nervousness in his eyes. Then he has to think quick and confidently pretends to want to show them a pool trick.

His performance shows a mix of the swaggering, tough guy that he used to be as well as a sympathetic and vulnerable new person that connects the viewer to him and makes you root for him. Makes me hate the ending.

Great performance. Better performance (and film) than his iconic and entertaining but ridiculous Tony Montana.

 

Marlon Brando
Roberto DeNiro (pre Midnight Run)
Clint Eastwood
Kirk Douglas
Gregory Peck
Humphrey Bogart
Daniel Day Lewis
Edward Norton
James Dean
Bruce Lee
Boris Karloff
Christopher Lee
Peter Cushing
Burt Lancaster
James Earl Jones
Denzel Washington
Charlton Heston
Lawrence Olivier

 

Anyone else feel Robert De Niro is at least a little over-rated?

 

as good actors i like

Christian Bale
Al Pacino
Leonardo DeCaprio
Clint Easwood
Hgh Jackman
Johhny Depp


then there are a bunch of actors i like who i wouldn't consider particularly good, like B grade comedy actors

 

It seems to be the fate of every cultural icon to become a caricature of themselves. In his prime he was pretty brilliant though, IMO.

@panchy press - midnight run is one of my fave films ever!

 

Forgot:

Johnny Depp
Gary Oldman
Samuel Jackson
Edward Norton
Delroy Lindo
Jason Statham (don't laugh, I like the guy.........he makes shitty movies watchable) ::
Timothy Olyphant
Ian McShane
Steve Zahn

 

Always had time for...

Al Pacino
Samuel L. Jackson (before he became the joke he has in recent years)
Bruce Willis
Tom Hanks
Josh Brolin
Vince Vaughn
Alessandro Nivola
Wes Anderson

The last two are more recognisable for their faces than their names.

...whatever happened to Arliss Howard? Literally seemed to just fall off the face of the Earth. Was in such well-known films (Full Metal Jacket, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad)

 

Robert De Niro
Vincent Cassel
Mads Mikkelsen
John Turturro
Mark Strong
P.S. Hoffman
James Caan
Clint Eastwood
Clive Owen

 

DiCaprio, Pitt, and Day-Lewis always turn out top notch performances and their movies are usually always very good.

Tom Hanks has some great movies as well and in general I like him a lot, but every so often he makes some real duds. Lady Killers for example was just terrible.

For comedies, I usually like Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell.

 

he's so overrated. I actually like Pitt, he's an entertaining actor. DDL is an all time great.

Hanks can be very good but every time I watch him I know I'm watching Tom Hanks.

Sandler and Farrell are mediocre.

 

I think the opposite. DiCaprio is an excellent actor while Pitt needs a perfectly fitting role to be good.

 

Both have been excellent in so many movies. Off the top of my head, Pitt in A River Runs Through It, Legends of the Fall, Fight Club, Meet Joe Black, and Interview With The Vampire and DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Titanic, Inception, Catch Me If You Can, and Aviator.

 

I think DiCaprio is a very good actor.

Eddie Murphy in the 80s is a favorite of mine.

 

Good shout. Forgot him.

 

Gotta love the irony in your post, X... I'm with you, Oldman is a great actor and I'm surprised nobody else mentioned him prior to your post.

However, I'm even more surprised that after your declaration... he doesn't even make your own lists ::

 

that's true enough, but I think it also goes for DiCaprio.

Godfather mentioned Gary Oldman I think.