Acting is hard. It really is. I'm not totally sold on the idea of certain actors being good or bad in everything. More often than not actors are simply miscast in specific roles because the producers think they'll help a movie make money or because they think they hear Oscar bells ringing in the background. And sometimes an actor just plain doesn't work right for whatever reason in a given movie. A random, but pretty good example in my opinion, would be the casting of Tobey Maguire or Ben Affleck in the respective superhero film-roles- Spiderman and Daredevil. I never in a million billion years could have imagined either one of them in any kind of superhero outfit. They're not bad actors per se. They're just not superhero material. Ben should stick to his low-key semi-melodramatic work and his directing. And Maguire should stick to...whatever it is he did before Spiderman. He's like Kristen Stewart (another good example here). Neither one is a leading actor/actress. Yes they're pleasant enough to look at, but they should be relegated to supporting performances only.
That being said- I really don't know what it is I see specifically in the actors that are my favorites. There aren't really any major similarities in terms of methods or styles or choice of roles. There's just something about each one of them I find very appealing and convincing and engrossing and just really really good in terms of quality acting.
Favorite Actors-
Runners-Up:
Tommy Lee Jones (In The Valley of Elah)
Martin Sheen (The West Wing)
Dustin Hoffman (Kramer Vs. Kramer)
Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica)
All-Around Favorite:
Philip Baker Hall (I can't pick one role for him, here's his two best- Secret Honor & Hard Eight)
Favorite Actresses
Runners-Up:
Jodie Foster (The Accused)
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton; I Am Love is a very very close second best for her. Also I have yet to see We Need To Talk About Kevin, it is literally the next movie I'm going to watch today.)
Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom)
All-Around Favorite:
& The Best Performance By An Actor/Actress In Any Movie Ever
Mary McDonnell (Passion Fish)
Note:
It should be said that there is another performance by another very very good actress who is not on here mainly because I've only seen her in one role. I believe she should essentially tie with Mary McDonnell in Passion Fish for giving probably the best performance I've seen in any movie ever by any actor or actress ever. The two are on the exact same level of perfection.
Tied With Mary McDonnell In Passion Fish For The Best Performance By An Actor/Actress In Any Movie Ever:
Yoon Jeong-hee (Poetry)
