According to popular belief, acting is one of the second-oldest professions in our world. Together with, of course, pickpockets, pirates, spies, and gangsters, just to name a few. A fun bunch, indeed! And, of course, with such eon-spanning traditions of the craft and such respectability its professionals have gained in our society, there’s no wonder that we, as a human collective, decided to name who is the best of them all and who shall wear the pretend crown. Picking out the best is basic human nature! So, here we are, with our list of the best actors ever! And because we are pretty sure that our ranking will cause some discussion, don’t forget that we have that vote button if you’d like to change up the sequence in which these Hollywood stars are listed!
From the legends of the Golden Era of Hollywood to stars of the ‘70s to modern-day icons, this list has all the best actors in it. Not all of them have won the elusive Oscar or garnered a myriad of accolades, but we think that awards aren’t always the measure of success. What’s also interesting is that, say, in the top 20 of our actors, almost all of them started acting almost by accident, having worked a heap of odd jobs beforehand. So, if you still don’t know what talents you have, just remember that neither did they!
So, check out our list of the greatest actors just a bit further down and vote for your own favorites. Also, don’t forget to share this article with your movie-crazed friends too!
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Morgan Freeman
Notable movies - The Shawshank Redemption, Unforgiven, Seven
Interesting fact - mister Freeman is a unique persona, and there’s so much interesting stuff about him that we couldn’t decide on just one! So, from being an expert beekeeper just like Henry Fonda to writing a cookbook and breaking Academy Awards and golfing records, it seems like no day is boring in the world of Morgan Freeman.
Tom Hanks
Notable movies - Forrest Gump, Castaway, Saving Private Ryan
Interesting fact - Tom Hanks is a distant relative of President Abraham Lincoln.
Robin Williams
Anthony Hopkins
Notable movies - The Silence Of The Lambs, Fracture, The Father
Interesting fact - Anthony Hopkins is a real-life knight! He received his title from Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 for his services to the arts.
Gregory Peck
Notable movies - To Kill A Mockingbird, Cape Fear, The Omen
Interesting fact - Peck probably had the most durable career of any Hollywood star as it spanned from as early as the 1940s and ended in the 2000s. During that time, he starred in at least 57 movies!
Johnny Depp
Michael Caine
Notable movies - The Cider House Rules, The Italian Job, Batman Begins
Interesting fact - Michael Caine isn’t his real name, it’s Maurice Micklewhite, and he never legally changed it out of respect for his family.
Alan Rickman
Robert Duvall
Notable movies - The Apostle, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather Part I and II
Interesting fact - before being discovered, Robert Duvall worked plenty of odd jobs, one of them being a post clerk. He left the position after half a year, fearing that if he stayed any longer, he’d never quit!
Gene Hackman
Notable movies - The French Connection, Unforgiven, The Royal Tenenbaums
Interesting fact - besides being a world-renowned actor, Gene Hackman is also a novelist, with his first book - Payback At Morning Peak - published in 2011.
I like him. Met him once and he was really lovely in person, he took the time to chat. Great guy.
Sidney Poitier
Notable movies - In The Heat Of The Night, A Raisin In The Sun, The Defiant Ones
Interesting fact - besides being the first black person to win the title of Best Actor for his role in Lilies Of The Field, being a civil rights activist, and a real-life knight, Sidney Poitier was also a Bahamian ambassador to Japan, holding this title for ten consecutive years!
In the Heat of the Night is one my all-time favorite movies. He commands the screen every moment he’s in that picture.
Keanu Reeves
Charlie Chaplin
Notable movies - City Lights, The Gold Rush, Modern Times
Interesting fact - Charlie once entered a “Charlie Chaplin look-alike” contest and… lost it!
Dustin Hoffman
Notable movies - The Graduate, Being John Malkovich, Rain Man
Interesting fact - before “catching the acting bug,” Dustin Lee Hoffman was studying to become a classical pianist. However, we’re not a tiny bit sad about his change in aspirations!
Paul Newman
Notable movies - The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cars
Interesting fact - Paul Newman loved pranks, with his most notable being faking his own death. From lying under a wrecked car to dropping a look-alike dummy off of a 60-foot building, he sure did scare plenty of Hollywood directors.
Missing: Slapshot, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, The Long Hot Summer and so on......
Denzel Washington
Notable movies - Remember The Titans, Glory, Training Day
Interesting fact - his fate of becoming a world-renowned actor was told to him by a fortune teller. That’s why he deems his fate a pulpit for doing the greater good!
Clint Eastwood
Notable movies - Good, Unforgiven, Dirty Harry
Interesting fact - in 1951, a then 21-year-old Eastwood survived a plane crash in shark-infested waters. Turns out, his action star roles also followed him into real life!
Henry Fonda
Notable movies - Once Upon A Time In The West, 12 Angry Men, The Grapes Of Wrath
Interesting fact - Henry Fonda had a quite unusual hobby of beekeeping. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that he incorporated the practice into his movie Ulee’s God. Also, Henry is the father of two other Hollywood megastars - Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda.
James Stewart
Notable movies - Rear Window, Vertigo, It’s A Wonderful Life
Interesting fact - James Stewart, besides being an iconic actor, also had a degree in architecture. But, because he had earned it during the time of the Great Depression, he thought there was no reason to chase this career.
Robert De Niro
Godfather I and II, King of Comedy, Once Upon a Time in America, Midnight Run, Goodfellas, Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Casino, Heat, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets - and there's plenty more.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Notable movies - The Revenant, Titanic, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Interesting fact - his mother named him Leonardo after he kicked her when she was looking at a Da Vinci painting.
Still think he should've got an Oscar for What's Eating Gilbert Grape...
Sean Connery
Notable movies - Goldfinger, The Untouchables, Dr. No
Interesting fact - before becoming an actor, Sean Connery had a job that we thought didn’t exist at all. You’d never guess, but he actually worked as a coffin polisher!
Not for me. He was a misogynist and abusive towards women ... He just "acted" himself in every role he played. Sometimes he was lucky his character and accent worked with the role - eg. The Hunt For Red October.
Steve Buscemi
Fun fact, Steve was a NYC fireman, and after 9/11 happened, he went back to his old firehouse and volunteered, working 12 hours days for weeks.
Gary Oldman
I love him as this drug addicted cop in "Léon: The Professional"...
Humphrey Bogart
Notable movies - Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen
Interesting fact - ever wondered why mister Bogart speaks in an unusual way? Well, it isn’t really a fun story - his father, a surgeon, beat him up as a kid and split his lip. He stitched it up so badly that Bogart was left with a permanent lisp.
That fact is not accurate. It is believed to be hereditary as his son has it too.
Michael Keaton
Patrick Stewart
Cary Grant
Notable movies - North By Northwest, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday
Interesting fact - here’s one - Cary Grant had a peculiar habit of cutting off his dress shirts’ buttons. Why did he do it? Well, to replace missing buttons on other shirts and because his housekeeper loved to use his old shirts as dust cloths!
Jack Nicholson
Jeff Bridges
The Last Picture Show, The Fisher King, Big Lebowski, Tron and King Kong from 1976 are my faves.
Heath Ledger
Woody Harrelson
Christoph Waltz
Robert Redford
Bill Murray
Marlon Brando
Notable movies - The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, On The Waterfront
Interesting fact - Brando had no idea where he put or if someone stole the Oscar he won for his role in On The Waterfront. Now that’s a man who probably doesn’t care much about accolades and praises!
Sayonara is one of his best movies even though it's all but forgotten.
Matt Damon
Jack Lemmon
He and Walter Matthau were fantastic in Grumpy Old Men. I love movies with those two.
Christian Bale
Joaquin Phoenix
Matthew McConaughey
There’s a really big difference here between genuinely great actors - Woody Harelson, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Day Lewis for example, and great movie stars like Tom Cruise and the like. Some do cross, Brad Pitt is a good example. But I’m the first to admit the hero of my lifetime, Harrison Ford, is not up there with the giants of the acting craft.
He emotes very well. I always believe that his character is feeling the emotion he’s expressing. However, that character is invariably Harrison Ford.
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This is about male ACTORS. You can make a list of actresses if you want.
Load More Replies... There’s a really big difference here between genuinely great actors - Woody Harelson, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Day Lewis for example, and great movie stars like Tom Cruise and the like. Some do cross, Brad Pitt is a good example. But I’m the first to admit the hero of my lifetime, Harrison Ford, is not up there with the giants of the acting craft.
He emotes very well. I always believe that his character is feeling the emotion he’s expressing. However, that character is invariably Harrison Ford.
Load More Replies... This is about male ACTORS. You can make a list of actresses if you want.
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