My Favorite Actors of All Time
by luukhulsman | created - 30 Mar 2014 | updated - 10 Feb 2015 | PublicAn overview of my favorite actors of all time. I'm not including every performance by them that I have seen, but only the performances I liked. Furthermore, there are some acclaimed performances that I haven't seen yet, so please don't be surprised if some notable performances aren't on the list I made. The criterium to be on this list is that I should have seen at least five performances by the selected actors.
1. Al Pacino
Actor | Serpico
Alfredo James "Al" 'Pacino established himself as a film actor during one of cinema's most vibrant decades, the 1970s, and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of American movies.
He was born April 25, 1940 in Manhattan, New York City, to Italian-American parents, Rose (nee Gerardi)...
Favorite performances I have seen: Michael Corleone in the Godfather-trilogy (1972-1990), Frank Serpico in Serpico (1973), Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Arthur Kirkland in ...And Justice for All (1979), Tony Montana in Scarface (1983), Frank Keller in Sea of Love (1989), Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman (1992), Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way (1993), Vincent Hanna in Heat (1995), Lefty Ruggiero in Donnie Brasco (1997), Lowell Bergman in The Insider (1999), Will Dormer in Insomnia (2002), Roy Cohn in Angels in America (2003), and Jack Kevorkian in You Don't Know Jack (2010).
2. Robert De Niro
Actor | Cape Fear
One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...
Favorite performances I have seen: Johnny Boy in Mean Streets (1973), Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II (1974), Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976), Michael Vronsky in The Deer Hunter (1978), Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy (1983), David "Noodles" Aaronson in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Archibald "Harry" Tuttle in Brazil (1985), Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987), Jack Walsh in Midnight Run (1988), Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas (1990), Leonard Lowe in Awakenings (1990), Max Cady in Cape Fear (1991), Lorenzo Anello in A Bronx Tale (1993), Sam "Ace" Rothstein in Casino (1995), Neil McCauley in Heat (1995), Louis Gara in Jackie Brown (1997), Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents (2000), Pat Solitano Sr. in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and Paddy in Last Vegas (2013).
3. Jack Nicholson
Actor | Chinatown
Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...
Favorite performances I have seen: George Hanson in Easy Rider (1969), Robert Eroica Dupea in Five Easy Pieces (1970), Billy "Badass" Buddusky in The Last Detail (1973), Jake Gittes in Chinatown (1974), Randle Patrick "Mac" McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980), Eugene O'Neill in Reds (1981), Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment (1983), The Joker in Batman (1989), Nathan R. Jessup in A Few Good Men (1992), Melvin Udall in As Good as It Gets (1997), Jerry Black in The Pledge (2001), Warren R. Schmidt in About Schmidt (2002), and Frank Costello in The Departed (2006).
4. Gene Hackman
Actor | The French Connection
Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Anna Lyda Elizabeth (Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman, who operated a newspaper printing press. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. After ...
Favorite performances I have seen: Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971), Frank Scott in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Harry Caul in The Conversation (1974), The Blindman in Young Frankenstein (1974), Lex Luthor in Superman (1978), Norman Dale in Hoosiers (1986), Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning (1988), Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven (1992), Kevin Keeley in The Birdcage (1996), Edward "Brill" Lyle in Enemy of the State (1998), and Royal Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).
5. Dustin Hoffman
Actor | Tootsie
Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...
Favorite performances I have seen: Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967), Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy (1969), Jack Crabb in Little Big Man (1970), David Sumner in Straw Dogs (1971), Louis Dega in Papillon (1973), Carl Bernstein in All the President's Men (1976), Thomas Babington Levy in Marathon Man (1976), Ted Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie (1982), Ray Babbitt in Rain Man (1988), Stanley Motss in Wag the Dog (1997), and Bernie Focker in Meet the Fockers (2004).
6. Daniel Day-Lewis
Actor | There Will Be Blood
Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...
Favorite performances I have seen: Hawkeye/Nathaniel Poe in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Newland Archer in The Age of Innocence (1993), Gerry Conlon in In the Name of the Father (1993), "Bill the Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002), Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007) and Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012).
7. Tom Hanks
Producer | Cast Away
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...
Favorite performances I have seen: Josh Baskin in Big (1988), Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump (1994), Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995), Cpt. John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Paul Edgecomb in The Green Mile (1999), Chuck Noland in Cast Away (2000), Michael Sullivan Sr. in Road to Perdition (2002), Carl Hanratty in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Viktor Navorski in The Terminal (2004), Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), and Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips (2013).
8. Cary Grant
Actor | North by Northwest
Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."
Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in ...
Favorite performances I have seen: Geoff Carter in Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Walter Burns in His Girl Friday (1940), C.K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940), Johnnie in Suspicion (1941), T.R. Devlin in Notorious (1946), John Robie in To Catch a Thief (1955), Nickie Ferrante in An Affair to Remember (1957), Roger O. Thornhill in North by Northwest (1959), and four characters in Charade (1963).
9. Jack Lemmon
Actor | The Apartment
Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...
10. Humphrey Bogart
Actor | Casablanca
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...
11. Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor | Inception
Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s,...
12. Steve Buscemi
Actor | Fargo
Steve Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Dorothy (Wilson), a restaurant hostess, and John Buscemi, a sanitation worker. He is of Italian (father) and English, Dutch, and Irish (mother) descent. He became interested in acting during his last year of high school. After graduating, he moved to...
13. Kevin Spacey
Actor | The Usual Suspects
Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in...
14. Paul Newman
Actor | The Hustler
Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...
15. Anthony Hopkins
Actor | The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...
16. James Stewart
Actor | Vertigo
James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...
17. Spencer Tracy
Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg
Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...
18. Gary Oldman
Actor | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Gary Oldman is a talented English movie star and character actor, renowned for his expressive acting style. One of the most celebrated thespians of his generation, with a diverse career encompassing theatre, film and television, he is known for his roles as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), ...
19. Michael Caine
Actor | The Dark Knight
Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...
20. Morgan Freeman
Actor | Driving Miss Daisy
With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. The young Freeman...
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