The Top 50 Actors Countdown - You Casted Your Votes

[Issun]

Not excusing Hoffman's behavior at all, but if you want to enjoy the work of a large percentage of male actors and musicians (and authors and pretty much any kind of artist) from just about any point before the 21st Century you're going to have to do some compartmentalizing because of men being absolutely encouraged to abuse any power they had over women (and other men, just look at Kevin Spacey). We've still got a long way to go, obviously, but the permissiveness of earlier eras means there's a pretty good chance an actor you like from that era did some skeevy stuff.

This makes Sir Roger Moore stand out especially, as he was always uncomfortable playing Bond's misogyny, and the main reason he quit the role was because the age differences between him and the "Bond Girls" was getting absolutely disgusting and he refused to stomach it.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Oh, sure but at the same time, I find it easier for me to compartmentalize people who have displayed monstrous behaviour who have passed than someone whose work I could still support due to them being alive. (For those keeping score, Hoffman is pulling an Earl Jones in the not-dying department). But yeah, I do find some areas tricky. Like, I won't likely see a "new" Hoffman movie but I might revisit an old one when he was doing this stuff, so it's not like I'm someone sticking to morally superior viewership suggestions.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

26. Jeff Goldblum

AS

Banana Boy

60 Points, 2 Lists, #4 Johnny Unusual
Iconic Roles: Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park), Seth Brundle (The Fly), David Levinson (Independence Day), Tricycle Man (Nashville)

Jeff Goldblum studied in the Neighborhood Playhouse under Sandford Meisner, the creator of the Meisner method, focused less on the literal words and focus on the other actors and situation to utilize the underlying emotion. Goldblum made his Broadway debut with the Tony award-winning musical Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1971. He made his screen debut in a small role as a criminal in Death Wish and after some smaller roles in television and eventually got a major film role in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He later had major roles in the boomer drama The Big Chill and the sci-fi adventure films The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension and had his first lead role in the poorly received comedy Transylvania 6-5000. The next year, he starred in The Fly, a science fiction horror film where he played a scientist who tests a teleportation device on himself, only to find himself slowly mutating. Goldblum’s acting was acclaimed he would become a sought-after star for both comedy and drama. Goldblum starred in some notable films but his next big hit was as supporting character Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, a role he would reprise multiple times. Goldblum would also appear in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and become a recurring actor for Wes Anderson. Alternating between bigger and smaller films, he also appeared on television, starring in the short lived detective show Raines and spending a few seasons on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Most recently, he appeared in the Marvel Universe as eccentric tyrant The Grandmaster, appeared as a tech billionaire in the comedy thriller series Search Party and hosts his own family friendly documentary series; the World According to Jeff Goldblum.

Goldblum is one of those actors who often seems like he’s on his own weird wonderful plane of existence, even if you meet him in person. But I also think he’s someone who despite being on his own wavelength is incredibly engaged and wants to engage with people and his work. He has those specific, idiosyncratic mannerisms that make him one of those fun actors to impersonate but it’s easy to forget he’s a great actor. I feel like he’s one of those actors who will go for it, such as in Adam Resurrected a somewhat tepidly received movie (I liked it but I get the people who don’t care for it) about a Jew who saves himself from extermination in World War II by spending years acting like a dog, destroying his dignity to save his life. In the Fly, he plays a man who becomes both horrified and fascinated with his own destruction. He’s a guy who plays fascination well, even if he’s often weird and aloof. And he’s simply a pleasure to be around and to see appear in a film.

\
I admire this man’s METHOD but I cannot FOLLOW SUIT, as I cannot conceive of A process that isn’t all about MEEEEEEEEEEEEE. The Thespian method is that any time you are acting, think about MASTER THESPIAN!

Simpsons or Star Trek?: Though a small role, Goldblum appeared in the all time classic “A Fish Called Selma”, about the Troy McLure comeback.

ACTING!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

25. Gary Oldman

AS

EP

61 Points, 2 Lists, #5 Adrenaline
Iconic Roles: Count Dracula (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), George Smiley (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (The Fifth Element), Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol… it’s a choice)​

Gary Oldman initially wanted to become pianist but his career course shifted after seeing Malcolm MacDowell in the drama The Raging Moon. Oldman studied acting while working various jobs, and has thought of himself as a shy but diligent student rather than a naturally talented one. He starred in various theatrical productions and made his film debut was the ensemble drama Remembrance. He would star in some smaller films and acclaimed plays but made a real splash in Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy (despite his hesitance to take the role due to complete disinterest in punk music) playing punk icon Sid Vicious. Following this and the success of the biopic Prick Up Your Ears, Gary would become part of the “Brit Pack”, an unaffiliated collection of up and coming British actors which also included Tim Roth and Daniel Day-Lewis. In 1992, he appeared in the title role of Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola’s ostentatious production and spent much of the 90s in villain roles (including in the films of Luc Besson). The early 2000s marked a “low point” with “barrel-scraping roles” in Oldman’s words (hard to argue with Tiptoes, the film where he played a dward), but found a resurgence in genre films playing more sympathetic, including in the Harry Potter series as escaped convict Sirius Black and James Gordon in the Batman films. But Oldman earned serious Oscar buzz for the role of George Smiley in the mature espionage thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The role was praised and earned him his first Oscar nomination in an already celebrated career. Recent notable roles include Winston Churchill in the Darkest Hour and Herman Mankiewicz in Mank and he will appear in the television series Slow Horses this year.

Perhaps a failing on my part, but it took me a long time to recognize Gary Oldman on sight, I always found him to be a chameleonic actor, one capable to crafting completely different roles from film to film. By his own admission, he often goes big, particularly in his villain roles but everything he does, big and small always feels right for the part and the story he’s telling. Yes, I can see Jim Gordon and Zorg and see the same guy but it isn’t to me just that they are both different characters, Oldman felt to me like he was in very different wavelengths in playing them. This is no slight, of course, to actors drawn to similar characters or themes, as everyone has their fascinations but I’m always impressed how vastly different they are. The only other actor I feel quite the same way about is Tom Hardy, another guy who it took me a while to recognize by sight. Oldman may have had the misfortune in getting stuck with some pedestrian acting jobs for a while but I don’t ever remember feeling like he was phoning it in. Every role is an opportunity to craft and I have always enjoyed his takes.

Stuart Heritage of The Guardian wrote, "The man is a long-term devotee of the art of ham." So we have that in common, though I’m affectionate to most lunch meets.

Simpsons or Star Trek?: Nope.

ACTING!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

24. Kurt Russell

AS

Peasha

63 Points, 3 Lists, #8 Johnny Unusual

Iconic Roles: Snake Plissken (Escape from New York), R.J. MacReady (the Thing), Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China), I wanna say… Cash? (Tango & Cash)

Kurt Russell began acting in the year 1963 and being the son of an actor probably helped him get an uncredited role in an Elvis movie, a guest role in Our Man Higgins and most notably the title role in the program The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, and remained a prolific child actor though the decade. In 1966, the last thing Walt Disney wrote was the name “Kurt Russell” on a piece of paper. He knew. Because soon after, Russell signed a 10 year contract with the Disney company and quickly became the studios biggest stars in films like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Barefoot Executive. And this also while he was acting as a minor league baseball player, though he left in ’73 to pursue acting. Aging into an adult, Russell took more adult roles, notably the TV movie Elvis, directed by then up and coming director John Carpenter, which would be the first of many pairings which they would follow with the post-apocalyptic adventure movie Escape from New York and the sci-fi horror classic The Thing. Russell later gained a Golden Globe nomination for Silkwood and co-starred with Goldie Hawn as love interests in Swing Shift and Overboard. Overboard as well as the wuxia-style action comedy Big Trouble in Little China demonstrated adult Russell as having comedic chops. He also had another iconic role as Wyatt Earp in the popular western epic, Tombstone. Russell became an actor who often was cast in action and crime films and more recently appeared in the Fast and the Furious, the Tarantino movies Death Proof and Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood and even starred as Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles.

For better and worse, the 80s were a big time for tough guy actors, something that Russell turned himself into. A lot of them had muscles AND charisma (it’s easy to make fun of them and their limitations as actors but there’s a clear reason they had appeal) but I feel like the ones that I loved most were more about attitude than capability, namely being able to mix humour into their toughness. Russell certainly wasn’t limited to comedy but I feel like his type of acting reminds me both of Clint Eastwood, an actor who mastered a sort of stoicism that perfectly clashed with ridiculous situations and his contemporary, Bruce Campbell, who was not afraid to embrace how goofy “toughness” inherently is in fiction. Russell’s done serious roles AND WELL, but I think part of the reason he sort of gravitated to genre film is that it embraced a certain kind of charisma he has that lends itself to it, whether he’s making other people the fool or being that himself. In watching these clips, I’m reminded that though he's done lots of fun roles… he can really bring the intensity, whether he is scared or he’s being scared (see below).

If I had a CHEKOV’S gun… I’d know in WHOM’S hand I would put it in.

If I do some coaching again, I’d advice him to see about renewing that Disney contract. Better late than never.

Simpsons or Star Trek?: Neither. Not only that, he basically stayed off TV outside of non-fiction news and talk shows from 1980 to 2021 for a very small role in What If…

ACTING!

 

[Octopus Prime]

That Jeff Goldblum got a minor role in Buckaroo Banzai, while Peter Weller was the title character stabds out as being one of the weirdest casting decisions I think I’ve ever seen.

Up there with Danny Glover taking the Arnold role in Predator 2

 

[Johnny Unusual]

That Jeff Goldblum got a minor role in Buckaroo Banzai, while Peter Weller was the title character stabds out as being one of the weirdest casting decisions I think I’ve ever seen.

Now that you bring this up, I feel like the increasingly angry John Madden from that one Simpsons episode. And I don't even like that film that much.

 

[Violentvixen]

In 1966, the last thing Walt Disney wrote was the name “Kurt Russell” on a piece of paper.​

I did not know this, wild.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

If it is a Wikipedia lie, it is a very good one.

 

[Adrenaline]

That first acting appearance is great because it's just like, that kid is 100% already Kurt Russell

 

[Johnny Unusual]

That's straight up Jack Burton. Fun fact, Russell played Kurt Russell in a TV movie, a pretty bad Tarantino wannabe movie (as an Elvis impersonator) 3000 Miles to Graceland and he had an uncredited cameo in Forrest Gump as Elvis.

 

[Kirin]

Goldblum is a great one I didn't think of, but probably would have made my list if I did. Gary Oldman was high on my list - as Johnny talked about, seeing him disappear into such a wide variety of roles and act the hell out of them is always a delight.

 

[Violentvixen]

That first acting appearance is great because it's just like, that kid is 100% already Kurt Russell

I did not expect Kurt Russell to be what made my morning but here we are.

 

[Octopus Prime]

It’s rare that seeing Kurt Russel doesn’t make your day whenever you see him

 

[Johnny Unusual]

23. Tom Hanks

AS

Wat Mel

63 Points, 3 Lists, #2 Johnny Unusual
Iconic Roles: Woody (Toy Story), Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump), Josh Baskin (Big), Mr. Weird Hair (The Da Vinci Code)

A shy, awkward and religious kid, Tom Hanks ended up finding a personal outlet in doing drama in high school and followed this into college. Eventually he became a stage actor and earned an award for acting in a production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. He soon began appearing in in films like He Knows You’re Alone and the unintentional cult classic Mazes and Monsters (the goofy Dungeon and Dragons scare-film). In 1980, not long after his work in film began he earned a lead with Peter Scolari (whom he partnered with on the show Make Me Laugh) in the hit sitcom Bosom Buddies. The cross-dressing comedy’s premise doesn’t look very good now but really, the show more or less ignored it’s high concept premise after a season, instead leaning on the extremely charming leads of the show (pretty sure it didn’t take long for pretty much everyone to know they were pretending to be women). After a guest spot on Happy Days, Hanks garnered the attention of co-star and film director Ron Howard, who cast him in the fantasy comedy Splash. With this, Hanks appeared in various TV and film comedies. This included films The Money Pit, Dragnet and his big 80s hit Big, where he plays a boy in an adult body for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. He also began transitioning more serious roles with the comedy drama Nothing in Common and by the 90s was an older established star who would go onto new hits in his career including A League of Their Own and Sleepless in Seattle, which would lean into both his maturity and affability and he would eventually gain his first Oscar in the drama Philadelphia, playing a successful businessman dropped from his company for having AIDS. Hanks would hit an incredible streak for financial and critical success with films such as Forrest Gump (which was a monster hit and, yeah, another one that looks questionable in retrospect), Toy Story and Apollo 13. He continued his success with directing That Thing You Do!, a drama about a one-hit wonder band, and co-writing and producing the docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. In 1998, he starred in the war movie Saving Private Ryan and in 2000, in the survival drama Castaway. From then on, Hanks appeared in many acclaimed dramas, including a lot of biopics, including the recent A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a film about a man’s relationship with Mr. Rogers.

Hanks went through an interesting transformation from charming everyman to “America’s dad”, a charming and comforting parental figure who is gently human. But I also think that might boil his strength down to an “aura” or tone and there’s definitely more to it than that. Yes, he definitely has an irresistible charm but he both is someone who seems like he can have tremendous amount of fun in a role and tries to inhabit it whole. I don’t think he can do a complete transformation like a lot of actors but he doesn’t skimp and clearly wants to blow up a part of himself into a full character. And while I wouldn’t say there’s an “edge” or “intensity” to him as an actor, there can be a vulnerability that hints at something well. His portrayal of Mr. Rogers is someone who is deeply caring but is deeper because he isn’t a saint, he’s a man trying to be good by working through hard feelings like angers in ways that are healthy. Woody is a hero but he has a lot of flaws that come with a “true believer” status who needs to deepen his understanding and learn new ways to love himself and others. They are good people but they aren’t people without weaknesses, they are great characters with weight behind them. Because sure, he’s dad, but dads are never simply dads, just like no one is simply one role. He’s a person and he embodies that whole.

If he IS America’s dad, why DOES IT SEEM like he’s not a COLD distant figure whom we can never IMPRESS?

Simpsons or Star Trek?: Hanks appeared as himself in the Simpsons Movie as himself in a propaganda piece implying the destruction of Springfield.

ACTING!

 

[Issun]

Don't forget Russell also played an actual planet.

I think a big part of Hanks's appeal is that he's maintained an empathy that most rich and famous people don't seem to have. Forrest Gump would probably have been even more problematic in retrospect with anyone else in that role.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

22. Kristen Bell

AS

Princess Tomato’s Chambermaid

64 Points, 3 Lists, #11 Beta Metroid
Iconic Roles: Anna (Frozen), Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars), Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place), Gossip Girl, the world’s least helpful superhero (Gossip Girl)

Kristen Bell began acting in high school and studied musical theatre at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and left with a few credits shy of graduating. She had starred in local theatre at age 12 but her first major work was a short lived Tom Sawyer broadway musical. She appeared in some more stage and screen productions in mostly smaller roles before landing the lead in the UPN teen detective drama Veronica Mars as the title character. The series originally last three season and became a cult hit (including earning a movie a decade later and a new season 12 years after it went off the air). After a recurring role on the show heroes she gained her second starring role as the narrator of the long-running primetime soap Gossip Girl. She became a popular actress usually appearing in supporting roles before easily her most financially rewarding role as Princess Anna, the co-lead in the Disney super smash Frozen. In 2016, Bell starred as the lead in the fantasy sitcom The Good Place about a young woman of questionable morals who finds herself in the afterlife where she learns what it means to be good. Most recently, she’s executive produced the preschool series Do, Re & Mi and is starring in the Netflix mini-series parody of Gillian Flynn thrillers The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window.

Mostly I knew Kristen for three roles; on Heroes which, I mean, that show wasn’t great, Frozen, where she gets to be charming and fun and The Good Place. The Good Place is SO friggin’ good and Bell is both able to sell that she’s a morally adrift person slowly learning to want to be good not for the easy reward but for true self-improvement. She never becomes a different “better person”, she’s the same person, but better, someone who can do more good for herself and others and doesn’t get complacent about it but keeps the great qualities she already has, someone who isn’t content to let things be and will go to the matt for any injustice she senses. The difference is, of course, she only used to care about injustice to herself and manages to broaden that view with empathy and knowledge. Looking at that clip, I feel like that moxie carries through and a sense that in most of her roles, she will not be indifferent in her role, she’s a woman of action. It’s actually surprising she isn’t in an action comedy of some kind, as she feels like she’s great with characters who have instincts towards setting things right.

It probably wouldn’t hurt to have a kickstarting hero on having our backs.

Simpsons or Star Trek?: Bell plays a controlling rich friend of Lisa’s in the Simpson episode Friend with Benefit

ACTING!

 

[Kirin]

I had Bell on my list, she is just a delight. Like Johnny I also know her mostly from The Good Place (and Heroes) and only noticed partway through recently watching the Frozen movies for the first time that she was Anna - after which I couldn't stop envisioning Eleanor singing Anna's songs.

 

[Falselogic]

She's really great in Forgetting Sarah Marshall as well.

 

[Patrick]

I'm a fan of this Sia music video that she starred in.

Also, Veronica Mars and The Good Place.

 

[pudik]

I think the only thing i've seen her in is good place, which i think was just all around good enough that i didn't really think of her acting, which is a sizable compliment. being the driving force in a show that relies a lot on building a specific connection to the main character is really good lol.

think ps hoffman and dafoe are still my only selections, which is kind of surprising. there's maybe a half dozen i'd still expect to show up at some point, but at this point there are some that aren't going to show up that i'm going to be very surprised and sad at

 

[Johnny Unusual]

21. Charlize Theron

AS

Miss Peach

64 Points, 3 Lists, #4 Kirin
Iconic Roles: Imperator Furiosa (Mad Max: Fury Road), Aileen Wuornos (Monster), Lorraine Broughton (Atomic Blonde), Eli's Follower (Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest)

Charlize Theron was training to be a ballet dancer in her teens when a knee injury closed this path. She was given the choice by her mother between returning home to South Africa or moving forward in America and she chose the latter, living paycheck to paycheck, even stealing bread to survive at one point. Because she was undocumented, at one point she was struggling to cash a cheque at a bank but the man behind her was an agent, who gave her an opportunity and cashed her cheque for her. After a small appearance in Children of the Corn III, she appeared as a hitwoman in 2 Days in the Valley (one of many quirky crime movies in the wake of Tarantino’s success). She gained attention largely for her looks and while she was able to parley that into attention, she also wanted to avoid being typecast and soon appeared in a variety of films. Though she starred in a number of major motion pictures, she first drew major critical attention and an Oscar for best actress for Monster, where she played the much less glamourous role as serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Soon after, she appeared in the workplace drama about sexual harassment North Country and in 2009 starred in the dark comedy Young Adult, playing an author of stunted maturity meeting her childhood crush. In 2015, she became an action icon in the game changing action picture Mad Max: Fury Road, which she continued to the stylish cold war action flick Atomic Blonde. In 2019, she was nominated for another Oscar for the true story film Bombshell about sexual harassment within Fox News and is set to appear in the teen fantasy film The School for Good and Evil.

It’s interesting to see Charlize trajectory and her backstory (seriously, I didn’t want to get lost in it but it is intense) and how she went from a sort of journeyman actor in some fairly generic movies to coming into her own. I’m sure that a lot of people at the time (because they suck), may have merely seen surface charisma but I feel like she manages to eventually find roles where she shows the kind of range she has in character and physical appearance and tone. Looking at what she can do, rather than finding her niche (which is also a fine thing), she’s found new places to extend her talent to. It’s understandable why people saw her and were struck by her looks because they are powerful to be sure but she clearly takes the craft seriously and she fits in as comfortably in intense drama, comedy and fun genre picks. I feel like she’s a lot like Gary Oldman in her ability to craft some of her larger characters and I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with her in a role.

I also admire she can ACT… and produce. Her productions in this include Monster, Bombshell and… that Adam Sandler crime movie on a boat, for some REASON.

Oh, she was also in the Addams Family animated films which aren’t great but their biggest crime is it isn’t live action Charlize as Morticia. And live action Oscar Isaac as Gomez. It think this film was supposed to be not-animated

Simpsons or Star Trek?: Nope.

ACTING!

 

[Octopus Prime]

Some day I’ll stop confusing Kristen Bell with Kristen Stewart, and that day is not today.

“Gals got range” I thought, every time I forget that Anna and Jessica Jones are different people

 

[Issun]

Theron was, indeed, excellent in Monster, but lost in the praise was Christina Ricci's performance in that movie, which was subtler but still really well done.

Ricci is one that probably would have been on my list had I remembered her. Very underrated compared to other actors of her generation.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

“Gals got range” I thought, every time I forget that Anna and Jessica Jones are different people

I've got some bad news, buddy.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Okay that’s on me for getting the name wrong

 

[Adrenaline]

I'm having a hard time imaging two women with the same name, race and general frame who are more different

 

[Kirin]

I'd forgotten I put Theron so high. My list ordering was extremely arbitrary but she has a lot going for her including, as Johnny said, an Oldman-like capacity for disappearing into some very different characters. And of course, Furiosa is the bomb.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Kristens Bell and Ritter are both characterized by a certain snappy, snarky wit; I can see getting them mixed up.

Not Stewart, though, with either. Definitely not.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

All great, though. It's interesting that the Twilight movies were rightly derided but I feel like everyone who wasn't Taylor Lautner came out better for it.