Best Actor/Actress?

[Sesame Seed]

We've got a worst thread so let's now see the best.

I am going to have to throw Gay Oldman's name into the ring. He is mind numbingly brilliant. He goes beyond the conventional notions of acting and easily has the greatest range ever captured on film.

Other great actors that I'd care to mention include-

Alfred Molina
Kenneth Branagh
Samantha Morton
Brendan Gleeson
Kamal Hassan
Ian Hart
Miranda Richardson
Harry Dean Stanton (over the hill now but for someone with limited range he was an enigma)

What say you? Who's on your list?

 

[Jumbie]

Edward Norton (top of my list)
Dakota Fanning
Sir Ian MacKellan
Denzel Washington
Anthony Hopkin

 

[Go Surface]

Err....

Paul Giamatti
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Laura Linney
Naomi Watts
Meryl Streep
Al Pacino
Julianne Moore
Russel Crowe

And some others.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Joseph Gordon Levitt
Ryan Gosling
Viggo Mortensen
Liam Neeson
Gene Hackman
Gary Oldman


Actors with limited range who i still think are great, despite the fact that they may only play one character: I guess it all comes down to whether or not I like that character...

Al Pacino
George Clooney
Christopher Walken
Samuel L Jackson
Micheal Douglass
Jeff Goldblum
Bill Murray
Chow Yun Fat
Micheal Ironside
James Woods
Spader
Keanu
Bruce Willis.

 

[ArtisticShowcase]

Actress:
Meryl Streep
Tilda Swinton
Renee Zellweger

Actor:
Ryan Gosling
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Liam Neeson
Ralph Fiennes

 

[Reborn]

You all seem to have missed Daniel Day-Lewis.

Originally Posted by Sesame Seed

WI am going to have to throw Gay Oldman's name into the ring.

So I quickly copy and paste from your post what I thought was Gary Oldman's name to double check he is who I thought he was...Shocking google image result

 

[Sesame Seed]

Originally Posted by Reborn

You all seem to have missed Daniel Day-Lewis.

Rich man's Oldman with half the range. Oldman can be intentionally "˜cartoony' but Day Lewis is always unintentionally "˜cartoony'. His characters seem to develop deeper but that can come down to the fact that he gets more screen time (familiarity), and works on better productions with better scripts. Oldman makes something out of nothing and much more frequently as well. It's clockwork with him.

 

[Spatlese]

Only brits are coming to mind in addition to those already mentioned above.

Actor: David Thewlis
Acress: Emily Watson.

 

[perusingnature]

not necessarily the best actors in my mind yet i will sorely miss them if they stopped acting:
(off the top of my head)
morgan freeman
tom hanks
harrison ford
meryl streep
geoffrey rush
julie andrews
rachel weisz

 

[grundletaint]

not my favorite, but daniel day lewis is ******* incredible.

 

[thekunk07]

ian mcshane
michael c. hall
phillip seymour hoffman
russell crowe
don cheadle
illeana douglas
vince vaughn (at what he does, not oscar material)
clive owen
jeff daniels
jeff bridges
emma thompsen
daniel day lewis

 

[horndog]

Robert De Niro
Gary Oldman
Kevin Spacey
Al Pacino
Anthony Hopkins
Edward Norton
Brad Pitt
edit: forgot DiCaprio

Daniel Day Lewis is great but he overacts everything he does.

Also everyone should watch This Boy's Life if you want to see relatively unknown and stellar performances by DeNiro, DeCaprio, and Ellen Barkin

 

[SField]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Joseph Gordon Levitt


Al Pacino

Bruce Willis.

What is very sad is that these two men are now in the same category. Al Pacino actually used to have quite a range. His earlier films avoided the gravel voiced tough guy. He used to play much more vulnerable characters and be so much more nuanced. I totally agree now, he plays himself over and over, and cannot for the life of him pick a script. Everything he's done recently has been trash.

 

[SField]

O and my list

Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Eodi Falco (Carmela Soprano)
Merryl Streep
Leo Dicaprio
Johnny Depp
Ed Norton
DeNiro pre-90s
Pacino Pre-scarface (although some great ones came after)
Hoffman (pre-stupid **** that he now does)
Don Cheedle

 

[jpeirpont]

Angela Bassett
Deniro
Denzel
Don Cheadle
Hugh Laurie
Liam Neeson
Pacino
Chiwetel Ejiofor