Top Six: Film Actors

Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, judging best film actors was as easy as saying "yeah, he's fit". But, as I've gotten older, I think that I've learnt to truly appreciate an actor far beyond physical appearances. Now, it's more about factoring in an ability to take a role and make it their own, in a very unique way. Some actors, of whom for the duration of this post, shall remain nameless are completely incapable of playing any role other than one specific character, that despite different names, situations, locations, ages and even eras is always ultimately the same.

So, to be able to be different in every single role, and adapting as necessary, whilst giving a top-notch performance, is most definitely more important to looks, although it certainly does help a smidgen.

6. Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee was the very first actor that ever really scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. I didn't really grow up on Hammer Horror, which is probably for the best. Now don't laugh, but the film in which Lee really scared me was actually the 1978 children's film Return to Witch Mountain. I absolutely loved that film, but boy was Lee scary in it.

What really amazes me about Lee, isn't the immense array of films and appearances that he's made over the years, even though that is pretty incredible. It's the fact that even at the age of 89, he is still very much a strong part of the film industry and as of writing this, Lee has FIVE productions in the pipeline. For a career that started in 1946, wow, you have to have a huge amount of respect for this guy.

Best of the Best: Dracula (several variants), The Man with the Golden Gun, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings etc etc

Favourite Performances: Alongside his performance in Witch Mountain, Lee was also pretty scary when he lent his voice to the 1982 animated film: The Last Unicorn. However, my favourite performance has to be in the video game series Kingdom Hearts, for which he gave the voice of DiZ. I think what was so amazing about this character, wasn't really the performance, but just the fact that it was Christopher Lee. Here was a game that brought together two of my favourite things in Disney and in Final Fantasy, and Lee had provided a voice for it. That was pretty incredible.

5. Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis is one of those actors who, being a girl, I always feel like I really should not like. He comes across as having a bit of an attitude. Plus being an action-based actor is typically another reason why I'm not expected to like him. But, for some reason I really do.

Willis' major breakthrough, Die Hard, is probably still one of his most-loved films proving that Willis has always made a presence for himself in front of a camera. And for that reason alone, he's kinda earnt that hard-faced attitude.

His role that really intrigued me was as the father of Elizabeth, who dated Ross Geller, in Friends. For me, the role proved that Willis doesn't take himself too seriously.

Best of the Best: The Sixth Sense, Die Hard, Fifth Element, Unbreakable, Twelve Monkeys, Sin City.

Favourite Perfomance: Bruce Willis is one of those actors who has had so many more hit films, than absolute flops, that I'm finding it incredibly difficult to name my absolute favourite performance. In fact, I'm finding it easier to pin-down his very few questionable films, that I half can't believe Willis did them: Nancy Drew (no surprise that was uncredited), Rugrats Go Wild (seriously....Rugrats?? I know he did Look Who's Talking, but Rugrats is just...no!) and The Whole Nine Yards (brilliant castings, terrible film). I know I've listed my absolute favourite films, but there have been so many brilliant performances including: Pulp Fiction, Armageddon etc.

4. Johnny Depp

First opinion of Johnny Depp? Yeah, he's hot. Depp is a chameleon is a very different way to Oldman, because whilst Oldman fits into a wide variety of differing roles, Depp fits more perfectly into similar roles, that are quirky and very, very eccentric. All of his best roles are crazy types with completely bonkers personalities, and he plays them well. He plays the characters that you know should be on their way to the looney bin, but for some reason we are all incredibly drawn towards them, why? Because he makes them funny, endearing and outright lovable.

Johnny Depp has become one of those actors who simply needs to have his name on the poster, purely for the purpose of selling a film. Unfortunately, sometimes I can't help feeling that his name is too highly regarded for it's own good. For example, I strongly felt that his character's role, in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was made larger, purely because it was being played by Depp. Now, I know I haven't read any of the book in a long time, but I really don't remember the Mad Hatter being in it that much.

Best of the Best: Pirates of the Caribbean, Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Sleepy Hollow.

Favourite Performance: This one you can probably guess, but for me, Jack Sparrow is just comedy genius. His introductory scene in the very first Pirates film, where his boat is sinking and he literally steps from the Crows Nest right onto the harbour getty is just hilarious. Depp plays the drunk and slightly insane character with such perfection, that it has become difficult to watch any of his other roles without comparing and contrasting it to this one.


3. Gary Oldman

I spent a long time watching Gary Oldman in films before I really took the time to pay him much attention. He's one of those actors that slips so easily into every single role that he plays, that sometimes I find myself completely forgetting that he is Gary Oldman. He doesn't play Oldman, he plays Sirius Black, or Jim Gordon, or Sid Vicious, or Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg. And the most exciting part of every single Oldman performance is that he is 100% different in every role that he plays. It's virtually impossible to compare each role he's done to each other, purely because none of them are remotely alike, and I hate to use the cliche, but he's very much an acting chameleon.

Some actors appear to be born to play a particular role, and they play that one type of role incredibly well, but Gary Oldman seems to have been born to play every role, and he plays every one of them so well. If there was a concise list of actors that young boys should aspire to be, Oldman should be very high up on that list.

Best of the Best: Fifth Element, Leon, Batman, Harry Potter

Favourite Performance: This was a hard choice to make, but after a lot of deliberation with Chris, we agreed that Oldman's best performance, for us, was most definitely in The Fifth Element. What we liked most about his performance as Jean-Baptiste was the quirkiness and general weirdness about the character. The performance was quite intelligent, because Oldman played it in a way that had Jean-Baptiste come across as this idiotic buffoon, when really he was, to put it bluntly, a pyscho. He's also completely unrecognisable to the Gary Oldman that we see in his other roles.


2. Leonardo DiCaprio

Back in 1996/97, I borrowed the Romeo and Juliet video from a friend, and I was introduced to the then 22 year old Leonardo DiCaprio, and so began a teenage crush on someone I would eventually have so much appreciation for.

The interesting thing about DiCaprio is that following his huge success in films such as Romeo and Juliet, Titanic etc, I'd started to feel like his career would wane, as he began to lose that little boy cuteness as he grew up. As a result I really expected him to fade away into the typical pool of child stars who were popular whilst they remained "cute", but the public eventually grew tired of, because behind the looks wasn't that much of a serious actor (think Zac Efron, Macauley Culkin, Corey Feldman etc). But, DiCaprio has proven several times over that he is not just a pretty face, in fact, he's a darn good actor to boot, able to take on a huge variety of roles, which was evident as long ago as 1993, when he played Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

I'm very intrigued as to how DiCaprio is going to play his latest role as Jay Gatsby, in Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby, but since I am definitely not a fan of Robert Redford, or his own portrayal of Gatsby, DiCaprio can only do better.

Oh, and the fact that I just happen to share my birthday with DiCaprio is also quite nice ;)

Best of the Best: What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Inception, Shutter Island, The Beach, Romeo and Juliet.

Best Performance: I've come across a few people that have disagreed with me over this opinion, but I honestly believe that the character of Arnie Grape, in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (also starring Johnny Depp), was an incredibly difficult role to play, but DiCaprio played it perfectly. For me, he played it so well that you really believed that he had the issues of his character (and I know some people would argue that he does, but that's something else entirely).

1. Robert Downey Jnr

Apparently the first thing that I ever saw Robert Downey Jnr was 1999 film Bowfinger, but since I'm really not a fan of the film, and I don't remember him being in it, I'm going to say that the first thing I really saw him in was Ally McBeal. Anyone who remembers him as love interest Larry Paul will hopefully know what I mean when I say that I fell in love with his glasses! Boy, does Downey Jnr look HOT in those glasses!

The most intriguing thing that Downey Jnr is the fact that he is not a perfect person, he's done drugs, he's been arrested and his gone pretty much as low as most humans could possibly get to in life, but despite everything, despite his issues, his addictions and his many mistakes, he has still managed to completely bounce back, and grab hold of a waning career and make an even bigger star for himself.

Similar to Johnny Depp, Downey Jnr is brilliant at playing quirky characters, who are deep, dark and intelligent, but funny in the way that they deliver their genius. But, this is pretty much where the similarity of his roles ends, because each of them is completely different, whether it's the rich kid arrogance of Tony Stark (Iron Man), or the obsessive serial killer fan-boy that is Wayne Gale (Natural Born Killers), or the drug-induced fast-thinking, bare-knuckle fighting of Sherlock Holmes.

Best of the Best: Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man, Natural Born Killers, Ally McBeal, Chaplin, Wonder Boys.

Favourite Performance: I hate to pick one of his most recent roles, but my absolute favourite performances is definitely as Sherlock Holmes. I love the deep intelligence of the character that Downey Jnr portrays, and the way that Guy Ritchie's Direction has broken down the characters thoughts.

Whilst it could possibly be argued that the arrogance and intelligence of Holmes are very similar to the arrogance and intelligence of Tony Stark, Downey Jnr plays this role so differently as Holmes as completely different issues and motivations.

In case you've forgotten the greatness that is Sherlock Holmes, here's the trailer for the upcoming Sherlock films: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows which is due for release December 2011:

Who would be in your Top Six Actors?