So, who would say, in your opinion, are the best actors around today?

I would have to say...

Ian McKellen
Christopher Lee
Edward Norton
Al Pacino
Daniel Day Lewis (just for his versatality, his role in Gangs of New York was brilliant I reckon)
Christian Bale (again, for his versatality, but also in his case, pure dedication)

I think that's about it for now, although I'm sure I'll think of more later :p .

I know a lot of you don't like him, but I still think Tom Hanks is one of the most consistently brilliant actors of our time. People may not like Castaway or Forrest Gump, but that sort of work is amazing.

Another favourite of mine is Jon Cusack.

Al Pacino can be good, but he also does a lot of crap (like The Recruit). Robert de Niro also goes into that category - sometimes brilliant, legendary even, but with loads of dross in between.

Lots of them. Jonny Depp, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Christopher Lee, Michael Caine, Jack Nicholson, Danny De Vito, Gene Hackman, Chrisopher Walken, Tim Robbins, Robert Redford, Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman... many others. If you jump a few years back, add Roy Scheider, Rod Steiger, Marlon Brando, and many others of the older generation.

Now, shall we go into the acresses? :D

No order:
Tom Hanks
Bruce Willis
Kiefer Sutherland
Samuel L. Jackson
& Clint Eastwood

I am amazed that so far all choices are only western actors.

Johnny Depp
Al Pacino
Robert De Niro
Toshiro Mifune
Chow Yun Fat
Samuel L Jackson

@Cúchulainn: Fine then, here's a non-western list :D
André Dussolier, Takeshi Kitano, Mahmoud Hemida, Tony Leung, Fele Martinez, Marc-André Grondin, Nour El Sharif.

For actors still making movies:

Robert DeNiro
Michael Caine
Denzel Washington
Morgan Freeman
Al Pacino
Anthony Hopkins

I am amazed that so far all choices are only western actors. You shouldn't be that amazed, given the backgrounds of the people here and the fact that most of us mostly watch western movies (but not "Westerns").

There are no females in these lists. Barmy, was your intent to only list actors and not actresses?

Arjen Robben (http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/36/90.html). i win

Not bad teekc but how does he compare to the greatest Jurgen Klinsman?

Best for me are:
David Tennant
Billie Piper
Johnny Depp
Rik Mayall
Adrian Edmondson
Hugh Laurie
Stephen Fry
Sir David Jason
Keira Knightly

There are probably several more I could think of, but I am afraid my brain might melt if I push it to work any harder. Besides, it's the summer holidays for me now! Huzzah! :D

Well, the movies I most enjoyed had some of the following in their cast:

Tom Hanks (Green Mile, Saving Priv Ryan, Forest Gump etc)
Johnny Depp (Finding neverland, Edward Scissorhands)
Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects)
Morgan Freeman (Shawshank Redemption, Amistad, Se7en)
Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge, Big Fish, Trainspotting)

Burt Rynolds
Robert Duval
Sam Elliott
Tom Sellick
Powers Boothe
Val Kilmer
Nick Nolte
Steve Buccimi
Kinda gives you a perspective on my age and personality. wheather thats good or bad I can't say.

Just saw "Inside Man" and i have to say that Clive Owen is one heck of an actor. Ofcourse Denzel Washington & Willem Dafoe are excellent as ever. Damn Clive for his inferiority complex vis-a-vis Sir Sean Connery and acting as Bond after him.

And Kim Director is my new pin-up.

Paul Giamatti
Russell Crowe
Robert Downey Jr.
Don Cheadle
Edward Norton
Benicio del Toro
Christian Bale (The Machinist, anyone?)
Johnny Depp
Ewan McGregor
Keifer Sutherland

Over-rated actors:
Al Pacino
Robert DeNiro
Brad Pitt
Robert Redford

Christian Bale, Ian McKellen, and Johnny Depp are some of my favourite actors. Especially Johnny Depp - all his characters are incredibly different. Just look at Edward Scissorhands and compare it with Pirates of the Caribbean or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - it's amazing.

Ian McKellen is a great actor too - I mostly like him for his portrayal of Magneto, but he can indeed act. Gandalf is a good example.

Christian Bale I only like because of his awesomeness in Equilibrium and Batman, but he acted very well in both...speaking of Batman, I quite liked Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow) too...

For me the list would go on and on. ;) So here's 5.

Val Kilmer, surpris surprise.
Denzel Washington, particularlt for Trainig day
Ethan Hawke, for above Gattaca, Alive! and so on.
Tom Hanks, I think he's really good.
Al Pacino, for things like The Recruit.

Hugh Jackman for his versaltility on screen and stage.
Johnny Depp for being able to pull of every type of person under the sun.
Hugo Weaving: pretty much in the same catagory as Johnny Depp (come on, drag queen to a rogue virus agent is pretty damn good)

@ Death Rabbit: uhhh, Russel Crowe? Whatever floats your boat, but he just seems a bit dry for my liking. He reminds me of Mad Mel with that incident a little while ago and TOFOG is a friggin stupid idea. In my opinion, the Kiwi's can have him back.

I should make a special mention for Phillip Seymore Hoffman for being an outstanding character actor. Whilst doing so I should mention the WORST character actors. They might be good actors, but just don't ask them to do an accent or play a character.

3)Robert Mitchum
2)Sean Connery. He can play a scottish Russian sub captain no prob.
1) The all time worst by miles is John Wayne. He might play a part, but is ALWAYS John Wayne.

In no particular order:

Morgan Freeman
Gary Oldman
Sean Penn
Tom Hanks
Sean Bean
Dustin Hoffman
Tony Leung (HK)
Ahn Sung-Ki (S.Korean)
Daniel Day-Lewis

Again, no particular order:
Al Pacino
Ian McKellen
Johnny Depp
Amitabh Bacchan
Abhishek Bacchan

The last two are Indian actors, so I'm not sure if you guys have heard of them...but they're both brilliant...

Yeah, I'm a tool for excluding Phillip Seymoure Hoffman. If you haven't seen Capote yet, do so - he's haunting.

@ TrueBlue,

I like Crowe for his depth, and certainly range. He can be courageous and heroic like in 'Master & Commander,' or vulnerable and modest like in "The Insider,' or sinister and cool like in 'Virtuosity.' He can believably wear so many hats, which to me is the mark of a great actor. I personally don't find him boring at all, but again - we each have different taste in actors.

It's exactly that lack of versatility that makes me think actors like Pacino and DeNiro are overrated - because they play essentially the same guy in every movie they're in. They're type-cast as themselves. Which isn't to say I don't admire and appreciate them as actors, I do - it's just that I find claims of their greatness as 'actors' to be wanting.

@DR: How is Pacino playing the same guy in all his movies? Agreed, he plays a mob boss ala Scarface, or the cool mafia don in Godfather...but those are similar only on paper! If you've seen the movies, you will notice that the two roles are vastly different.

And did you see the Devil's Own?? He was brilliant in that also, I thought. Then there's so many more movies I can't remember off the top of my head...oh though there was this one particular movie where he plays a blind guy...I think it was called Scent of a Woman. Not sure...but yeah, I really disagree with you there..

Yeah, it was Scent of a woman, great film. And I think you mean Devil's advocate. :p

Hmm, let's see....

Scent of a Woman: Blind tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

Devil's Advocate: Lawyer tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

Scarface: Cuban tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

The Recruit: CIA tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

Heat: Police tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

The Insider: CBS Producer tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

Dog Day Afternoon: Bank robber tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

Frankie & Johnie: Short-order cook tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

2 for the Money: Sports-bookie tough guy who hoots and hollars key dialogue...

Etcetera forever.

The Godfather I'll give you; his acting style changed quite a bit with his voice during the early 80's, but beyond that - to me, he's more or less Al Pacino each and every time. I never forget for a second that I'm watching Al Pacino and instead the character he's playing - which is the mark of a great actor. His outrageous personal characteristics are so interwoven with his acting style that the two are impossible not to distinguish.

He's never played a British man (never seen the Devil's Own, so, that may cancel out), or a positive hero, or a person with a disability (blindness is pretty easy acting), or a happy-go-lucky, etc. When an actor steps out of his type-element to play something radically different than his specialty - and pulls it off - THAT'S depth. Either Pacino can't do that, or he's never asked to. Why would he want to? He makes plenty of money being himself.

And no, I don't think he's a bad actor - I love the guy. He's just no great actor, and generally over-rated. I think people too often confuse quality of the character he plays with the quality of the acting that brings that character to life. So you might be thinking "DR, how can you say Scarface was bad acting?!" To which I reply, "No, Tony Montana (aka Scarface) was fine - it was Pacino who could have done better."

;)

[ August 08, 2006, 10:53: Message edited by: Death Rabbit ]

A reasonable and well thought out opinion DR. As for not seeing the Devils own.. don't worry. Personally I felt it kind of gave some alright factor to the awful IRA. And the film had Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford, no Al Pacino.

Yeah - that's what I thought. I never saw it, but I never remembered Pacino sharing top billing with Ford and Pitt, which seems impossible if he were really in it.

Pacino does not have much depth, the most varied roles he's played are probably:

Author! Author!
Insomnia
Sea of Love
And Justice of All

They're not much different that his other roles.