When does an actor become bigger than the character?

When you say terrified, which parts are we talking about? The reason I'm asking is because often it's been Hopkins' "bogeyman" take on the character that doesn't work for me. I liked Brian Cox's Lecter because he was, on the face of it, an ordinary person. But once you're involved in Will Graham's mindset and understand the fine line he's walking, that's where Lecter becomes intimidating. Thinking about it as well, I think Cox's Lecter is the only one where we don't see the beast behind the facade of normality (I haven't seen a lot of Mads Mikkelsen).

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