I could never truly participate in this before, but now that I've seen much more movies from the actors that are regarded as the best... I can now see which ones I think are the best. First I'll list the popular actors without any order: Leonardo DiCaprio Tom Hanks Al Pacino Brad Pitt Johnny Depp Robert DeNiro Daniel Day Lewis Jack Nicholson Russell Crowe Tom Cruise Ed Norton Matt Damon How I would rank them: 1st tier 1. Robert DeNiro (total package, seen most of his movies now) 2. Tom Hanks (his ability to act unique characters is second to none) 3. Daniel Day Lewis (when i watched There Will Be Blood, i wasn't thinking that he was an actor... this is a guy who time traveled from the past and starred in this movie) 2nd tier 4. Leonardo Dicaprio (gives a tense feeling to viewers, few actors can do that) 5. Johnny Depp (i hate some of his roles, but his body of work is impressive) 6. Tom Cruise (surprised? don't be. he's a better actor than people credit him for) 3rd tier 7. Jack Nicholson (great at making scary angry faces but his whole act is tiresome) 8. Al Pacino (hugely overrated, his best performance IMO was in Scent of a Woman... terrible in Heat) 9. Brad Pitt (the lesser Johnny Depp, tries a lot of different roles, but mostly fails) 4th tier 10. Ed Norton (tries to act, but doesn't impress me) 11. Matt Damon (basically the same guy in all movies) I know I didn't list some guys, but these are the ones that truly wow me. (Heath Ledger would be in this list and be #1 but he really had only one movie that impressed me)
Christian Bale has been in a few good ones, most recently The Fighter. and George Clooney, I really liked Michael Clayton, Up in the Air, and Good Night and Good Luck. Syriana was decent. Edward Norton hasn't done anything worthwhile in the longest, he really fell off from American History X. I would also put Brad Pitt above Johnny Depp. His performance in the Assassination of Jesse James beats anything Depp has done in the last 5 years. Looking at filmography, Depp has been doing nothing but voice acting in animated movies and big blockbuster disappointments lately (The Tourist, Pirates of the Carribbean sequels). Public Enemies was mostly just okay. Really the last movie of his I've enjoyed was Finding Neverland. Daniel Day-Lewis should do more movies, that guy is extremely picky about his roles. Can't wait to see him play Abe Lincoln though.
Having liked him in Inglorious Bastards and seeing him as Magneto in Xmen 1st class, I think Michael Fassbender has some talent. couple others: Christian Bale Leonardo DeCaprio Liam Neeson Christoph Waltz
Robert Downey Jr. should be on the list as well. My current top tier actors would be: Robert Downey Jr. Sean Penn Brad Pitt Tom Hanks
Totally disagree about Matt Damon. That guy can act. Bourne trilogy was spectacular. Ocean's were all very entertaining, Damon showed very natural humor. Good Will Hunting, Departed... he's done some solid work.
He picks good movies. But they are not good movies because of his acting. All of his roles... are easily replaceable with anyone else.
This was stated earlier, but Bale has to be hands down one of the best actors of this generation. I disagree with someone's post regarding Nicholson. Nicholson gave GREAT performances in Chinatown and One flew over the Cuckoo's nest, Batman. He was also pretty damn solid in A Few good men. Also, Mickey Rourke is a pretty damn good actor.
That's seriously under-appreciating Matt Damon's acting ability if you say he's "easily" replaceable in every movie he's done. He's not a top flight actor like Hanks or Day Lewis but he's very good. He plays the underdog/unassuming protagonist incredibly well. He's at least better than Brad Pitt. Damon can lose me in his character; every time I see Brad Pitt in a movie its like "oh its Brad Pitt". The top of your list is solid; your commentary on the lower players not so much. De Niro rates as the best of his generation but he's past his prime. He hasn't put up a best-actor nominated performance in a while. I completely agree with Day-Lewis and Hanks. Day-Lewis only does a movie every 4-5 years but his performance is always best actor worthy. Hanks's filmography is just incredible and he's put up back-to-back best actor awards. He's done a little of everything and done most of it very well. EDIT* You're also seriously underrating Nicholson. He's old and past his prime like De Niro but his body of work is far better than you think. 3 guys on your list have 2 Academy Award best actor awards: Hanks, Day-Lewis and you guessed it Jack Nicholson. To top that, Nicholson also has a AA best supporting actor and is tied for the most lifetime AA wins by a male (3).
Ed Norton and Gary Oldman are tops in my book. DD Lewis is phenomenal too. And don't forget about Jeff Bridges.
You guys are forgetting Will Smith, the surest thing as far as box office is concerned. He is extremely versatile, his roles range from boyish heroes to loving father.
