Top 10 Greatest Actors (and the Film they Performed Best In)

Mine is really similar to yours!

Edward Norton (American History X)
Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Kevin Spacey (American Beauty)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond & Django Unchained)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Zodiac & Donnie Darko)
Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights)
Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver)
Daniel Day Lewis (There Will be Blood)
Sam L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction)
Brad Pitt (Fight Club)

No particular order though!

Yeah, sorry Derek. I know that's your personal top 10 and I can accept the other nine choices. But Marky Mark? I really hope you're kidding.

Oh geez, Neiba too? What has this forum come to?

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Nice to see some love for Beatty in McCabe & Mrs. Miller...I think it's one of his best performances. Very odd that Christie received an Oscar nomination and he didn't. Also very pleased to see Julianne Moore for Boogie Nights...I think she was robbed of the Oscar.

I only really have 9 right now, still haven't figured out my #10, so I just put in one of my favorite performances for #10. She hasn't really done enough work for me to call her a favorite actress yet, as much as I'd like to.

1. Buster Keaton - Sherlock, Jr.
2. Liv Ullmann - Autumn Sonata
3. Dustin Hoffman - Midnight Cowboy
4. Klaus Kinski - Aguirre, the Wrath of God
5. Max von Sydow - The Seventh Seal
6. Malcolm McDowell - A Clockwork Orange
7. Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
8. Vincent Price - The Abominable Dr. Phibes
9. Takashi Shimura - Ikiru
10. Adele Exarchopoulos - Blue is the Warmest Color

Well, I like him... Hard to say if he's one of the greatest actores but he really goes for it on Boogie Nights!

I think Mark Wahlberg is one of the worst actors I've ever seen. He doesn't emote well and just generally looks confused. He's tied with Orlando Bloom as my least favorite actor ever.

Dan Duryea? Serously? Love the love for Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green though.

Pretty solid list here...though I think Gyllenhaal's work in Brokeback Mountain trumps his work in both of the films you mentioned and Blood Diamond is one of my least favorite DiCaprio performances. Nice to see some love for Nicholson in The Shining, Norton in American History X, and Pitt in Fight Club though.

1. Takashi Shimura - Ikiru
2. Ulrich Muhe - Funny Games
3. James Dean - Rebel Without a Cause
4. Anna Karina - Pierrot le Fou

6. Albert Finney - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

8. Gloria Swanson - Sunset Blvd.

10. Max von Sydow - The Seventh Seal

Whilst that might be true, I think a lot of this comes down to miscasting and expectations that he doesn't fulfill. In Boogie Nights, he's perfect for me, and I can't really imagine anyone else pulling off his innocent and desperate character like he does. I also like him in The Fighter and Three Kings, two roles that aren't completely seriously and match what David O'Russell does well. He's fine as a comedy actor in Ted, and his turn in The Departed is brilliant. Most of these films are by well respected directors that are taken seriously and know what they want. I haven't seen him in much else, including the films which most people think he's bad in.

Seconded. She's superb.

I forgot a few... These aren't necessarily my favorite actors, but great performances.

Peter Finch - Network
Jean Martin - Battle of Algiers
Ewan McGregor - Trainspotting
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry
Malcolm McDowell - A Clockwork Orange
Gene Hackman - The Conversation
Kirk Douglas - Ace In The Hole
Ruth Gordon - Harold and Maude
Richard Farnsworth - The Straight Story
Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting
R. Lee Ermey - Full Metal Jacket (he was basically playing himself, but still)

Marlon Brando (On The Waterfront)
Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman)
Robert DeNiro (Taxi Driver)
Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest)
Guileta Masina (La Strada)
Peter Finch (Network)
Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer)
Warren Beatty (McCabe and Mrs. Miller)
Henry Fonda (Grapes of Wrath)
Humphrey Bogart (Treasure of the Sierra Madre)

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Nice to see some love for Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy...my Outstanding Lead Actor of 1969.

Because we only could put one movie, I had went with "Kramer vs. Kramer" but he was really good in Midnight Cowbow.. That was one of my favorite movies as a teenager, it's been a year or two since I've seen it.

Before your last post, I made an entire post to distinguish what makes an actor great, etc.. Jon Voight plays a somewhat naive guy from out of town... And another point you bring, it seems like anyone who plays a role with a disability will always get lots of credit (DiCaprio in Gilbert Grape for example), though Al Pacino was great in "Scent..." but so was the writing, at least his role anyway. I didn't care for McDonnell, and think the movie would have been better if "Charlie's" story was more serious, life and death, instead of the worst-case scenario being suspended...

In alphabetical order (by first name):

Charlize Theron - Monster

Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino

Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Bloode

Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca

Jack Nicholson - The Departed

Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone

Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond

Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront

Meryl Streep - The Irony Lady

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