imdb.com has many user-posted lists, and one of them is a list of the 25 Best Actors of the 21st Century. The list below excerpts their top 25, which includes late greats Heath Ledger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Are there any glaring omissions? Is there anyone on the list who shouldn’t be? Anyone need to move up or down? What makes an actor either worthy of your list or unworthy of this list? For your favorites, please describe their best performances. For your least favorites, please explain their shortcomings. If you want to deal only with the top ten or pick and choose, that’s fine too.
1. Daniel Day-Lewis 2. Leonardo DiCaprio 3. Philip Seymour Hoffman 4. Jack Nicholson 5. Morgan Freeman 6. Russell Crowe 7. George Clooney 8. Javier Bardem 9. Brad Pitt 10. Christian Bale 11. Jeff Bridges 12. Sean Penn 13. Joaquin Phoenix 14. Heath Ledger 15. Johnny Depp 16. Denzel Washington 17. Tom Hanks 18. Clint Eastwood 19. Geoffrey Rush 20. Colin Firth 21. Viggo Mortensen 22. Tom Wilkinson 23. Gary Oldman 24. Bill Murray 25. Don Cheadle
Perhaps shorten the list to a top 5 or a top 10 at the most; otherwise, your work would be overwhelmingly long. – J.D. Jankowski8 years ago
Good point. One reason I included the last sentence of the descrption... – Tigey8 years ago
Is there a more up to date listing? Writing an article about a 2014 listing seems quite after the fact. Otherwise, sounds like a fun article. – LondonFog8 years ago
I think the writer did a great job posting this, but I feel like the list should condense down to top 10 because then it would be able to seek the audience attention. Personally, I don't like Bill Murray!! – mmq28 years ago
How is Tom Hanks #17?--the man is a chameleon!! A relatively solid list, but I would definitely delete Russel Crowe and move Viggo Mortensen way up the list. Also, whomever takes on this topic should only take on part of this list or an aspect dealing with this list. – danielle5778 years ago
Agree on all three counts, danielle577. I still hold a private grudge against Leonard Maltin for panning Forrest Gump. And Hanks' performance in Road to Perdition was one of his best (and perhaps Paul Newman's very best). How about the omission of Forrest Whitaker? James McAvoy? Benicio Del Toro? Jude Law? Laurence Fishburne? My Top Ten is now in triple digits. – Tigey8 years ago
For what it's worth, perhaps the best piece of acting I've seen in a Hollywood movie in years is Matthew McConaughey's lunch scene with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. McConaughey would be on my list. – Tigey8 years ago