Your top 5 acting performances of all time

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

My top 5 acting performances of all time?

 

1.  The Lakers' Vlade Divac flopping to draw an offensive foul pretty much any game he ever played in (lifetime achievement award);

 

2.  The South American soccer team players who grab their face, fall to the ground, roll over in agony a few times, and get carted off on a stretcher, only to bounce back on the field about 2 seconds later (with video review showing they never got touched and started reacting well after the whistle);

 

3.  Stefon Diggs acting like he's gonna run a post route and then breaking it off to the sideline (surprise!);

 

4.  My dog acting like he had absolutely no idea how the stuffing came out of that couch pillow; and

 

5.  An ex-girlfriend a long time ago - - "It's not you, it's me."  The acting was so good, and I was so naive at the time, that it took a while to realize she didn't really believe it was her.

[Teddy KGB]

Leo in Django 

Jonah Hill in Wolf of Wall Street 

Rodney Dangerfield in back to school 

Christian Bale in the Fighter 

Tim Olyphant in Justified 

[HappyDays]

I watch way too much TV and film so I'm going to have to split it. In no particular order:

 

Movies:

Tom Hanks - Castaway

Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Uma Thurman - Kill Bill vols 1 & 2

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

Jack Nicholson - The Shining

 

TV:

Michael Richards - Seinfeld

James Gandolfini - The Sopranos

Edie Falco - The Sopranos

Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad

Jon Hamm - Mad Men

 

If I made the list tomorrow I'd probably have 10 completely different names. Good topic.

[SinceThe70s]

 

Tom Pelphrey as Wendy's brother Ben in Ozark.

[frostbitmic]

Marty Feldman - Young Frankenstein

Martin Sheen - Apocalypse Now

Mickey Rourke - Sin City

Peter Dinklage - Game Of Thrones

Stephen Baldwin - Bio Dome

[DrW]

5 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

Tom Hanks in

 

The Green Mile

Forrest Gump

Saving Private Ryan 

Cast Away

 

All brilliant performances. However, in one of his more recent movies, "News of the World", he was outperformed by a 12-year old, Helena Zengel.

[qwksilver]

Good topic! 5 makes it difficult, so In no particular order:

 

Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs

Denzel Washington - Training Day

Sylvester Stallone -  Rocky

Leslie Nielson - Airplane!

Guy Pearce - Memento

 

Should have a list for each genre: Comedy, Action, Drama, etc....

 

[Beerball]

23 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

1. Daniel Day Lewis - Gangs of New York

2. Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Bastards

3. Samuel L Jackson - Pulp Fiction

4. Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man

5. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

 

Other notable mentions:

* Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs

* Joe Pesci - Goodfellas

 

1. Mrs. Beerball

2. Mrs. Beerball

3. Mrs. Beerball

4. Mrs. Beerball

5. @Gugny

[LeGOATski]

6 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

Tom Pelphrey as Wendy's brother Ben in Ozark.

He's great in Outer Range on Amazon, too! Alongside Josh Brolin.

[LeGOATski]

6 hours ago, DrW said:

 

All brilliant performances. However, in one of his more recent movies, "News of the World", he was outperformed by a 12-year old, Helena Zengel.

He was good in Finch on Apple TV, but arguably outperformed by the CGI robot

 

[maddenboy]

no order:

 

Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade

 

Kevin Spacey in the Usual Suspects

 

Joaquin Phoenix in the Joker  (i actually felt that i left that theater changed in some small way)

 

Peter Sellers in A Shot in the Dark (the 2nd Pink Panther movie)

 

Ben Kingsley in Gandhi

 

-----    -----------

Honorable mention:

 

Jamie Foxx in Ray

 

Dustin Hoffman in Rainman

 

Denzel in Malcolm X (because its the only movie i've ever seen him in where i didnt feel like i was watching Denzel Washington)

 

Marcel Marceau in Silent Movie (mentioned upthread and reminded me.  Because miming looks soo hard, but not when done correctly)

 

John Hurt in The Elephant Man.

----------

 

[mid-fifties male, born and raised in bailey/kensington in Buffalo, african american]

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by maddenboy

[Chandler#81]

14 hours ago, 4merper4mer said:

The two main guys in Strange Brew captured the Canadian intellect with profound accuracy.  Bravo.

Bob & Doug McKenzie, eh?

[Doc Brown]

10 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

Tom Pelphrey as Wendy's brother Ben in Ozark.

He was great.  So was Alfonso Herrera as Javi.  If we're going small but memorable tv roles I'll throw out Pedro Pascel in GOT.

[SinceThe70s]

8 hours ago, maddenboy said:

 

Peter Sellers in A Shot in the Dark (the 2nd Pink Panther movie)

 

 

 

He was also great in Dr. Strangelove.

[Royale with Cheese]

14 hours ago, Beerball said:

1. Mrs. Beerball

2. Mrs. Beerball

3. Mrs. Beerball

4. Mrs. Beerball

5. @Gugny

Gross

[Nextmanup]

1 hour ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

He was also great in Dr. Strangelove.

I didn't immediately think of that, but now that you mention it, Sellers in DSL could easily be considered a top 5 acting performance of all time.

He nailed 3 highly distinctive characters perfectly, and each was totally unlike the others.

That dude was an acting genius.

 

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

16 hours ago, Beerball said:

1. Mrs. Beerball

2. Mrs. Beerball

3. Mrs. Beerball

4. Mrs. Beerball

5. @Gugny

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride! 

[Beerball]

2 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Gross

Yeah 

[Beerball]

21 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride! 

You’re #6!

[US Egg]

16 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Sellers in DSL could easily be considered a top 5 acting performance of all time.

That dude was an acting genius.

His portrayal of Chauncey Gardener in “Being There” and as Hrundi Bakshi in “The Party” were under appreciated, but truly were acting gems.