Apart from the obvious choices (Brando, De Niro, Pacino, etc) who is your favourite actor on the go? I would have to say sean Penn, his almost udneracting style is just so refreshing and different compared to most actors going about these days and his choice of roles is stellar. My runners up would be John Cusack & Ray Liotta. I also think John Turturro is very overrated... I just never seem convinced by him for some reason. ***Edited for typo.
Actors: Johnny Depp, Phillip Seymor Hoffman, Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Daniel Day Lewis, Willem Dafoe, Brad Pitt, Ed Norton Actresses: Kirsten Dunst, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchet, Gwyneth Paltrow
Actor: From the not so far past: Michael Caine. For now: Don Cheadle. Jonny Depp's most significant contribution to the entertainment world is whatever guitar track he played on Oaisis' worst Album.
Old school - DeNiro, Hoffman, Hackman, Pacino, Nicholson, Sutherland, Connery, Jack Lemmon, Martin Sheen, Dennis Hopper. New jacks - DiCaprio, Depp, Norton, Giamatti (a character actor but great in everything), Day-Lewis, Vincent Donofrio.
When William Hung makes his acting debut he'll top my list, but for now: New School: Hanks, Denzel, Norton, Pitt, Depp, Spacey, Del Toro Old School: Brando, DeNiro Underratted: Liotta
Charlie Sheen as a comedic television actor is underrated. I'm really impressed with his show. Tom Hanks, who I'd love to see return to some lighter comedic roles (dude, you won the Oscars for drama, comedy is harder...prove you can do that now) Alyson Hannigan...cannot WAIT for her sitcom next season (provided it gets picked up during pilot season). She has incredible comedic timing too and she's rather smart about the roles she picks. Rose McGowan = she's just great with her delivery of sarcasm....again, it's a timing thing. Timing can't be taught. The women of Sex and the City (Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis) = when your WHOLE cast can get acting noms time and time again, that says a lot. There are a lot more whose work I look up to as a comedic actress, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head in my cold medicine-induced state.
In no particular order, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Giammati, Don Cheadle, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ed Norton, Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Susan Sarandon Underrated: Bill Pullman Overrated: Al Pacino Intriguing: Naomi Watts, Jeff Goldblum
Kevin Bacon, Morgan Freeman, Matt Dillon, both Cusacks, Sarandon & Robbins. Special shout out to the Irish actors: Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Rea, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleason
Actors/fav movie: Tom Cruise - Jerry Maguire. Russell Crowe - The Insider Robert DeNiro - Raging Bull Denzel Washington - Malcolm X / Training Day Minsik Choi - Oldboy(S. Korea) Sol Gyungu - Silmido(S. Korea) Sean Penn - Mystic River Jeff Bridges - The Big Lebowski Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves Sydney Poitier - A Patch of Blue Marcello Mastroianni - 8 1/2 Gary Oldman - Sid and Nancy Edward Norton - American History X Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront Tom Hanks - Castaway Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter Vincent Cassell - Hate(France) Actress/movie Naomi Watts - 21 Grams Irene Jacob - Red(France) Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice Moon Sori - A Good Lawyer's Wife(S. Korea) Jeon Doyeon - Happy End(S. Korea) Frances McDormand - Fargo Kyoko Fukada - Dolls(Japan) Monica Belluci - Malena(Italy) Emmanuelle Beart - Manon of the Spring Gong Li - To Live / Ju Dou (China)
I only have least favorite actors. Otherwise, anyone with any talent at all is mostly just dependent on the writer who scripts their part. Great actors don't give great performances. Actors who give great performances were lucky and happened to get great parts.
ALL TIME: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Sean Connery, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, Jean Reno. UP AND COMING: Collin Farrell BadAzz, you forgot Helen Hunt in "As good as it gets" and Holly Hunter in "Thirteen" gallina, Garcia Bernal has no competition right now (with the possible exception of Javier Bardem)
I agree for the most part. The exceptions are those few actors who defined the movie they were in by their personas: Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart, Jeanne Moreau, Klaus Kinski. Actors like these are the only real geniuses: the rest are just technicians. And let me be the first to say that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a terrible actor. He plays the same character, no matter the genre or time frame.
Is it just me, or is there an obvious contradiction between your two paragraphs. The first group is full of "geniuses" because they always play the same character. Hoffman is "terrible" because he always plays the same character. And actually, I'll disagree slightly with that last claim. He does tend to overact and chew up scenes, but I wouldn't say it's always in the same manner. Compare his performances in, say, Magnolia, Twister, and Scent of a Woman. I'd say there's decent range in evidence there. Of course, most actors only ever play the same role over and over. Johnny Depp, Daniel Day Lewis, and Ralph Fiennes are a few who come to mind as not falling into this trap. Holly Hunter is pretty versitle too, now that I think of it.
Edwardo Nortonio would also be my favourite actor. Big fan of Colin Firth for his part in Fever Pitch, also I'm a fan of Angelina Jolie for the obvious reasons. Lucy Liu, too. Intermission
Edward Norton is my favorite actor as well mainly because of Fight Club. Nicole Kidman is my favorite actress. Because she keeps getting better looking with age. It gives me hope for my future wife