Top 10 Actors

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07 Jan

Male actors in Hollywood still have it easier than actresses. They get paid more and get offered better roles. While female actors have to resort to cosmetic surgery to enhance their looks, the likes of George Clooney and Brad Pitt can gracefully grow old.

10. Daniel Day-Lewis

Less commercial than many of his contemporaries, England-born actor Daniel Day-Lewis struggled to break into the Hollywood mainstream for many years. Recently, with powerful performances in There Will Be Blood and Gangs Of New York, he has shown he can star in major Hollywood films, but you’ll find some of his best performances in early British films such as In The Name of the Father and My Beautiful Laundrette.

9. Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. has found himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons too often in his career but nothing should take away from his talent as an actor. He’s made the commercial hits Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, and Sherlock Holmes recently, but his stand out performances can be found in Chaplin, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Natural Born Killers.

8. Edward Norton

Edward Norton announced his presence with his tour-de-force performance as a reformed neo-Nazi who, having learnt the errors of his ignorance, has to persuade his younger brother not to go down the same route. He followed the film up with an equally good performance in David Fincher’s Fight Club. He has most recently become a comic book hero in The Incredible Hulk. He is undoubtedly one of the finest actors of his generation currently working in Hollywood today.

7. Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington, with a string of commercial and critical successes, has shown he is the finest African-American actor currently working in Hollywood. He was brilliant in Ridley Scott’s Man on Fire, and he delivered an emotional turn in Remember The Titans, bringing celebrated high school football coach Herman Boone to life.

6. Leonardo Di Caprio

Leonardo DiCaprio must be one of the busiest actors working in Hollywood right now. And it’s not surprising since the actor, who for a long time struggled to shake off the perception that he was just a pretty-boy with average talent, is now one of the most highly regarded, not to mention highly paid, actors in the industry. DiCaprio has been acting on film for longer than many people think, starring alongside Robert De Niro in the hard-hitting family drama This Boy’s Life when only 19 years of age. His finest performances have come in the last few years, playing against type in The Departed and Body of Lies.

5. Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro might have saved his best performances for Martin Scorsese, but what brilliant performances they are. His raw talent was properly introduced to the world in Scorsese’s Mean Streets, playing street bad boy Johnny Boy. Over the years he has brought to life some of the most iconic and devastatingly memorable characters in such films as Taxi Driver, The Godfather Part II, The Deer Hunter, Cape Fear, and Goodfellas.

4. Al Pacino

Nobody thought Al Pacino could handle playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather apart from Francis Ford Coppola. He was inexperienced and a raw talent. But hindsight is a great thing, and history proves it was a perfect casting choice by Coppola to choose Pacino. His best performances can be found in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Scarface, and Carlito’s Way.

3. Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson didn’t make much of a splash in his first few movies. He played many small parts during the 1960s, working frequently with low-budget filmmaker and producer Roger Corman. But as soon as Nicholson made Five Easy Pieces, he quickly became one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors appearing in such classics as One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Chinatown, The Shining, and, of course, playing The Joker in Batman.

2. Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman has played every type of character in every type of film. Since the late 1960s when he appeared in The Graduate, Hoffman has gone from strength to strength, winning Academy Awards for Kramer Versus Kramer and Rain Man. From the twitchy schemer Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy to the chaotic humour of cross-dressing Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie to the autistic savant Raymond Babbit in Rain Man, he has continually proven what a powerhouse actor he is.

1. Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is the most versatile actor working in Hollywood today. He has chameleon-like qualities, especially in the roles he’s played for film director Tim Burton, bringing to life diverse and wonderfully imaginative creations with new nuances and characteristics every time. His stand out performances can be found in Edward Scissorhands, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Ed Wood , Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Donnie Brasco, and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.