May 9, 201412 yr Will Smith is top 25, hater. Will Smith has played some amalgam of Detective Mike Lowrey, Captain Steve Hiller, Alex Hitchens, and Dr. Robert Neville in damn near every single one of his roles over the last 20 years. He's a small tweak of the same person over and over and over again. His box office draw is huge, but aside from playing The Greatest in Ali (which I would contest required fairly little acting for Big Willie), and maybe playing Chris Gardner in The Pursuit Of Happyness, the guy doesn't really do much to show his range.
May 9, 201412 yr Good call on Christian Bale. My fourteen are somewhat similar to yours: 1. Jeff Bridges 2. Chris Cooper 3. Matt Damon 4. Claire Danes 5. Viola Davis #44 6. Mel Gibson 7. Scott Glenn 8. Scarlett Johansson 9. James Earl Jones 10. Rachel McAdams 11. Robert Redford 12. Will Smith 13. Emma Stone 14. Robin Williams Leaves my overall list looking like this (in no particular order): Christian Bale Javier Bardem #40 Kathy Bates Warren Beatty Cate Blanchett George Clooney #35 Daniel Day-Lewis Robert Deniro Leonardo DiCaprio Kirk Douglas Michael Douglas #43 Robert Downey Jr. #38 Robert Duvall Clint Eastwood #36 Sally Field #39 Jodie Foster #42 Morgan Freeman Paul Giamatti #47 Gene Hackman Tom Hanks Dustin Hoffman Anthony Hopkins Samuel L. Jackson Ben Kingsley #41 Tommy Lee Jones Diane Keaton Jennifer Lawrence #37 John Malkovich Matthew McConaughey #45 Frances McDormand Helen Mirren Jack Nicholson Ed Norton Gary Oldman Al Pacino Sean Penn Joaquin Phoenix #48 Brad Pitt #50 Sydney Poitier Natalie Portman Geoffrey Rush Kevin Spacey Meryl Streep Hilary Swank Charlize Theron Christopher Walken Denzel Washington Sigourney Weaver #49 Forest Whitaker #46 Kate Winslet No way I take Chris Cooper off the list, that dude can act...and is 100x better than Clooney...I don't get that guys appeal at all and think that not only is he not deserving of "top 50" designation, but shouldn't even be considered a good actor. DDL can flat out act. Someone said Kirk Douglas earlier...has to be at least in the top 5 of "living actors" for sure.
May 9, 201412 yr Emma Stone and Robert Redford were the last two to make the cut. She's quite young, but I think Stone has shown a wide range in her abilities. She's done the comedy genre with great success (Easy A, Superbad, Zombieland), she's done the Rom-Com (Crazy Stupid Love), she's done the action/cheesy (Spider-Man), and then the serious drama (Gangster Squad, The Help). As for Redford, I just love The Natural too much to exclude him. :lol2: I'm a big fan of Emma Stone. I don't see how you could include her and cut Jennifer Lawrence though. Lawrence has already won an Oscar and been nominated for two others. She's also won 2 Golden Globes and been nominated for another. That's a pretty formidable resume for a 24 year old. It's really tough to cut it down to 50 and I know it comes down to personal preference on a lot of them--it's just really hard for me to leave her off of a list with what she has done so far, especially for another young actress.
May 9, 201412 yr Author I'm a big fan of Emma Stone. I don't see how you could include her and cut Jennifer Lawrence though. Lawrence has already won an Oscar and been nominated for two others. She's also won 2 Golden Globes and been nominated for another. That's a pretty formidable resume for a 24 year old. It's really tough to cut it down to 50 and I know it comes down to personal preference on a lot of them--it's just really hard for me to leave her off of a list with what she has done so far, especially for another young actress. I haven't seen Silver Linings Playbook or Winter's Bone, so I'm only judging her off what I know. Thought she was average in American Hustle, and if we're being honest, any of a couple hundred young actresses could pull off her role as Katniss in Hunger Games or Mystique in X-Men. Like you said it's about preference, and when it gets down to it, I'm just a bigger fan of Emma Stone.
May 10, 201412 yr Jennifer Lawrence makes one movie and is better than Brad Pitt? Okay.....Just her list from 2001 to 2013 American Hustle The Hunger Games: Catching Fire The Devil You Know House at the End of the Street Silver Linings Playbook The Hunger Games X-Men: First Class And she's a Kentucky girl
May 10, 201412 yr Daniel Day-Lewis I guess it's an indication of how few movies I watch, but I seriously doubt I could pick him out of a police lineup unless you told me there was a famous person mixed in there with the ne'er do wells. Could also be that I find his name clunky and keep wanting to change it to Daniel Simpson Day in my head.
May 10, 201412 yr Will Smith is top 25, hater. No way Will Smith should even be mentioned. Even in his serious roles he is the same guy. I like his movies, but would never think of him as one of the best actors.
May 10, 201412 yr Billy Bob Thornton belongs on the list. He has made some bad movies but his Slingblade performance was outstanding. My vote for top actor and actress would go to Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep. Cher, Olympia Dukakis, and Jane Fonda are also potential top 10 picks, along with Robert Redford, DeNiro, Russell Crowe, and Hoffman. Mel Gibson also belongs on the list somewhere. If racist or political ideology is a disqualifier, then there is no room for actors that have aligned themselves with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Nor would there be room for Alec Baldwin. A list of greatest actors should be based on skill and accomplishments in their field - not on good citizenship or parenting skills.
May 11, 201412 yr Billy Bob Thornton belongs on the list. He has made some bad movies but his Slingblade performance was outstanding. My vote for top actor and actress would go to Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep. Cher, Olympia Dukakis, and Jane Fonda are also potential top 10 picks, along with Robert Redford, DeNiro, Russell Crowe, and Hoffman. Mel Gibson also belongs on the list somewhere. If racist or political ideology is a disqualifier, then there is no room for actors that have aligned themselves with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Nor would there be room for Alec Baldwin. A list of greatest actors should be based on skill and accomplishments in their field - not on good citizenship or parenting skills. I guess that means some right-wingers will be upset as to where Sean Penn lands on this list.
May 11, 201412 yr Just her list from 2001 to 2013 American Hustle The Hunger Games: Catching Fire The Devil You Know House at the End of the Street Silver Linings Playbook The Hunger Games X-Men: First Class And she's a Kentucky girl Wasn't Winter's Bone her first big hit? Or what was the movie called????
May 11, 201412 yr I guess that means some right-wingers will be upset as to where Sean Penn lands on this list.You seem to have misread my post. I think that intelligent people should be able to show some objectivity in separating talent from character. That is what you should have taken from my post.
May 11, 201412 yr Love many of his movies but I'm not seeing Clint Eastwood. Talk about playing the same character.
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