June 25, 200719 yr the first name that came to my mind was Paul Newman. Talk about range. He's done every type of genre there is and still come out on top. Quintesenntial actor of our time: Paul Newman. I like Paul Newman a lot and am we're in a sort of Paul Newman mode right now having rewatched a few of his late 50s movies over the past few weeks but I wouldn't call Newman an actor of our times. The guy has made maybe one good movie the past 30 some years. He was an actor of the 50s and 60s. My favorite current actor is Ed Norton. My favorite actor of all-time is Burt Lancaster.
June 25, 200719 yr As far as active actors go, my vote goes to Ed Norton. He has an incredible range and every role he has played has been near perfect. That and he has been blessed with/picked some great roles during his career.
June 25, 200719 yr I agree that Ed Norton's a good actor, but I'm not sure that he's done enough to rank up there quite yet. I really need to see The Illusionist, but otherwise I've seen most of his stuff... American History X? Terrific. But otherwise seems like a lot of good but not standout performances.
June 25, 200719 yr My top actors include: Tom Hanks Robert DeNiro Leonardo DiCaprio I am by no means a movie expert or pretend to be one but I feel you cant go wrong with either of these men.
June 25, 200719 yr I agree that Ed Norton's a good actor, but I'm not sure that he's done enough to rank up there quite yet. I really need to see The Illusionist, but otherwise I've seen most of his stuff... American History X? Terrific. But otherwise seems like a lot of good but not standout performances. I'd recommend Illusionist.. very good movie. Primal Fear definitely counts as a standout performance as well as American History X. Was absolutely wonderful in 25th hour. Loved him in Fight Club.. Rounders was excellent as well. Thought he did a very good job in TPvLF.
June 25, 200719 yr I agree that Ed Norton's a good actor, but I'm not sure that he's done enough to rank up there quite yet. I really need to see The Illusionist, but otherwise I've seen most of his stuff... American History X? Terrific. But otherwise seems like a lot of good but not standout performances. I'd recommend Illusionist.. very good movie. Primal Fear definitely counts as a standout performance as well as American History X. Was absolutely wonderful in 25th hour. Loved him in Fight Club.. Rounders was excellent as well. Thought he did a very good job in TPvLF. Edward Norton is great. I thought The Illusionist was one his weakest roles though. He was just really flat and his accent seemed to slip in and out, knocked him down a few pegs IMO. Really good in 25th Hour, American History X, Fight Club and Primal Fear though.
June 25, 200719 yr Hes up far enough on my list though that ill basically enjoy anything that he does, for the most part.
June 25, 200719 yr If we are talking about worldwide it's Daniel Day-Lewis. Yesssssss.. where oh where did he disappear for so long? Love me some Hawkeye He is incredibly selective and extremely private. I'd love for someone to name a better performance than his in My Left Foot. I know 2002 had one of the best best actor nomination groups in recent memory but I'd still put him not winning for Bill The Butcher as one of the biggest Oscar snubs ever. I'd put it up there with James Stewart not winning for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Peter O'Toole not winning for Lawrence of Arabia, and Ellen Burstyn not winning for Requiem For a Dream. Couldn't agree more. Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot is easily one of the Top 5 acting performances ever on screen. He also has to be one of the most interesting actors in the business. From his insane adherence to his style of method acting to his semi-retirements to pursue life as a cobbler in a small Italian village, there really is no actor out there quite like Daniel Day-Lewis. Bill the Butcher was an absolutely amazing performance as well. 2002 has to be one of my least favorite years for the Academy Awards. First, Chicago got alot of love. (I really didn't think that movie was anything special) And, I thought The Pianist was a fine film but got some awards that it didn't deserve. I thought Polanski deserved his award, but Actor (Adrien Brody) and Screenplay were undeserved. Daniel Day Lewis should have won Best Actor, and Best Screenplay should have easily gone to Adaptation, in my opinion. Dead on. I love how Day-Lewis was so in to his roles in My Left Foot and Gangs of New York that his refusal to come out of his character off-screen led to his publicist/agent quitting and contracting pneumonia and turning down proper medical help because it didn't go with the time. You can have an anecdote like those for virtually every role he has ever done. Incredible. No one has immersed themselves in their roles as much as that man. Bale has some of that in him today and that is why I respect him so much. As for 2002, Nic Cage would have been a better choice than Brody as well. Kudos on mentioning Adaptation's snub. :thumbup
June 25, 200719 yr Man.. havent thought about adaptation in a while. Might have to watch that tonight.. it is a monday. I loved that movie
June 25, 200719 yr Somebody no one has mentioned because he doesn't have a lot of range, Joe Pesci. That guy is perfect in the mobster type role. Hey, My Cousin Vinnie was pretty awesome :thumbup
June 25, 200719 yr Nicolas Cage is a fine actor, but some of the roles he's been taking lately are baffling. Yes, you're right there but he still was good I felt in the Weatherman and was solid in Lord of War(I believe the title is?). But yeah, I didn't even see Next, and I had the misfortune of see him in two crappy adaptations of things I enjoyed prior to Hollywood getting it's hands on. Wickerman(one of the best horror films IMO), and Ghost Rider.
June 25, 200719 yr Nicolas Cage is a fine actor, but some of the roles he's been taking lately are baffling. Gots to get paid.
June 25, 200719 yr I agree that Ed Norton's a good actor, but I'm not sure that he's done enough to rank up there quite yet. I really need to see The Illusionist, but otherwise I've seen most of his stuff... American History X? Terrific. But otherwise seems like a lot of good but not standout performances. I'd recommend Illusionist.. very good movie. Primal Fear definitely counts as a standout performance as well as American History X. Was absolutely wonderful in 25th hour. Loved him in Fight Club.. Rounders was excellent as well. Thought he did a very good job in TPvLF. That was one of the best performances I have seen. I immediately became a huge fan after that role, great call.
June 26, 200719 yr I'm late to this discussion, but my favorite actor is probably Jeffrey Wright. I'm waiting for him to get that one big lead role that is going to win him an Oscar. I can almost guarantee that's going to happen some day. His range is astounding, and pretty much all of his characters are memorable. Damon, Dicaprio, and Norton are all great. Most of the older guys mentioned in this thread have fallen into a schtick by now, Gary Oldman excepted. I was watching Con Air the other day, and I was reminded how truly awful Nic Cage can be. That may be the single worst performance I have ever seen. He's like comatose for most of the movie, even when he's supposed to be kicking someone's ass. And the bad Forrest Gump accent...just awful.
June 26, 200719 yr I agree that Ed Norton's a good actor, but I'm not sure that he's done enough to rank up there quite yet. I really need to see The Illusionist, but otherwise I've seen most of his stuff... American History X? Terrific. But otherwise seems like a lot of good but not standout performances. I'd recommend Illusionist.. very good movie. Primal Fear definitely counts as a standout performance as well as American History X. Was absolutely wonderful in 25th hour. Loved him in Fight Club.. Rounders was excellent as well. Thought he did a very good job in TPvLF. That was one of the best performances I have seen. I immediately became a huge fan after that role, great call. I think Ed Norton will probably go down as the definitive actor of the current generation of 18-40 year olds. Interesting note about that performance. During his audition for Primal Fear, Norton walked in and told the casting directors that he, like the character, grew up in Kentucky. Throughout the entire audition and conversation with the casting agents, he was speaking with a definitive twang. The producers had no idea he was a Boston-born kid who grew up in Maryland. Needless to say, those test screenings became something of Hollywood lore afterwards and Norton was getting a ton of attention before Primal Fear had even come out.
June 26, 200719 yr Re: Ed Norton, I'd completely forgotton about Primal Fear which was indeed a terrific performance from him. Rounders was good also. I think I'd just need to see a little more staying power before I put him around the top of this list.
June 28, 200719 yr Why are there no women on this list? Is this limited to MALE actors? Wouldn't this be a best living American actress thread then? :mischief2 Actor can mean both although Wikipedia gives the entire explanation: actor
July 6, 200719 yr Bobby DeNiro Dustin Hoffman Richard Dreyfuss Kevin Spacey (the best villain actor ever)
July 8, 200719 yr That looks fantastic. Absolutely. You know, 2007 is shaping up to be a great year in movies. There are so many films coming up that I am highly anticipating, in just October-November alone we get 3:10 to Yuma, No Country for Old Men, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, The Kite Runner, Rescue Dawn is coming out soon...The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford.. These are just off the type of my head and I know I am forgetting a couple, but there really are some great movies coming out. By the way, I found out last weekend that my brother-in-law edited the trailer for There Will Be Blood. He's a trailer editor in Los Angeles and we met up in Vermont for a family function. I asked him what he was working on and he told me, not expecting for me to have heard of it.
July 12, 200719 yr Nicolas Cage is a fine actor, but some of the roles he's been taking lately are baffling. Yes, you're right there but he still was good I felt in the Weatherman and was solid in Lord of War(I believe the title is?). But yeah, I didn't even see Next, and I had the misfortune of see him in two crappy adaptations of things I enjoyed prior to Hollywood getting it's hands on. Wickerman(one of the best horror films IMO), and Ghost Rider. I loved the Weatherman. Thats one of my favorite movies of the last few years. Doesn't try to be anything more than a nice little dark comedy, but Nicolas Cage puts on a great performance. Can I just say I think Gary Oldman is one of the better actors of our time, and he needs some better roles stat. As for Denzel, he's great but he has no range whatsoever. He does "Angry black man fighting for justice" extremely well, but he hasn't really done any roles besides that that have been all that noteworthy. Training Day was one of the worst performances to win a best actor role.
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