The 50 Best Actors of All Time -

Marlon Brando is widely acknowledged to be the greatest movie actor of all time. Anyone could imitate Marlon Brando — it was as simple as a scowl, a nasal voice and a scratch of the cheek — but few could copy the skill that made him an icon.

The two-time Oscar winner, who died at age 80, popularized the Method style of performing, which stripped away grandiose theatricality in favor of a deeper psychological approach to inhabiting a character.

Generations of young actors were electrified by Brando’s work. Marlon Brando is the epitome of actors today, and all actors since the 1950s have been mimicking him.

Al Pacino is best known for his intense, explosive acting style. Al Pacino is a highly revered American actor, best known for playing Mobster Roles. He has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world Cinema. His performance as Frank Slade, a blind, retired Lt. Colonel, in Scent of a Woman (1992) won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993. His commitment to acting as a profession and his constant screen dominance has established him as one of the movie true legends.

Robert De Niro is famous for his uncompromising portrayals of violent and abrasive characters. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors in history.

De Niro is famous for the intensity with which he throws himself into his roles, a technique known as The Method. For Raging Bull he gained 200 pounds, for Cape Fear he got tattoos and ground down his teeth, and for Shark Tale he lived underwater with a family of sharks for several months.

He won An Academy Award For Best Supporting Actor for playing the young Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part - 2.

Humphrey Bogart became a prominent motion picture “tough guy” and was a top box office attraction during the 1940s and ’50s. In his performances he projected the image of a worldly wise, individualistic adventurer with a touch of idealism hidden beneath a hardened exterior. Offscreen he gave the carefully crafted appearance of being a cynical loner, granting only minimal concessions to Hollywood conventions. He became a cult hero of the American cinema.

Bogart’s screen persona was that of laconic reserve with the suggestion of complex underlying emotions. Although he was a popular actor during the 1940's and 50's, Bogart achieved the status of a legend after his death. In 1999 he was named the top male film star of the 20th century by the American Film Institute.

He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made. He also excelled in sophisticated, screwball romantic comedies. His career spanned from 1925 until shortly before his death in 1961, and comprised more than one hundred films.

Cooper received five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning twice for Sergeant York and High Noon. He also received an Honorary Award in 1961 from the Academy.

He is considered to be one of the greatest living actors. Hopkins's most famous role is as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991. Hopkins' films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror. Anthony Hopkins is well known as a highly convincing actor who enters into the skin of the character he’s playing, making it hard to differentiate between the character he’s playing and the man himself. This is probably because Anthony Hopkins particularly well known for the preparation he puts into the roles he plays.

He is known for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. His twelve Oscar nominations make him the second most nominated actor of all time. Jack Nicholson has been an actor for decades and throughout his storied career, he has become an undisputed screen icon. Nicholson has literally won dozens of awards, including Oscars for his roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment and As Good As It Gets. Nicholson continued to star in dramatic roles.

Daniel Day-Lewis is, to put it mildly, not like other film actors. With every new role he plays, he brings to the big screen an unparalleled intensity. But it's more than that: most of the time, Day-Lewis doesn't even seem a part of the film business at all, so nonchalantly does he flout its rules. He is a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Often, he will remain completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedule of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1997.

Despite wading through a significant amount of dreck at the beginning of his career, actor Tommy Lee Jones emerged to become one of the most admired and respected film stars of his generation. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive.

If there is ever an actor with such credibility to play in every single genre, that would be Tommy Lee Jones. From gracefully starting as soap opera actor, it seems improbable that he is one of the familiar faces in military films. His career was indeed prosperous in the particular genre for his face might have been chiseled out of marble, so hard that it's more suitable to be in action movies. As a matter of fact, hard act movies are not always everybody's favorite compared to drama or comedy.

He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters. Hoffman has won two Academy Awards (for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man), five Golden Globes, four BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Dustin Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999.

He is has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan Freeman has enjoyed an impressive and varied career on stage, television, and screen. in acclaimed 2004 boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, his reputation as one of Hollywood's hardest-working, most-respected actors was cemented in place. He won An Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 77th Annual Academy Awards for his performance as the former boxer turned trainer who convinces his old friend to take a scrappy female fighter (Hilary Swank).

He is one of the versatile Actors of World cinema. For his role as Red in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Freeman received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. He won an Empire Award as Best Actor for Se7en (1995), and in 2000, he received an Outstanding Achievement in Acting award at the Hollywood Film Festival as well as the Joseph Plateau Life Achievement Award at the Flanders International Film Festival. From the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and got a well-deserved Star on the Walk of Fame on March 18, 2003. Now in his sixties, Freeman continues to work non-stop, winning awards and critical acclaim for nearly every performance. For Million Dollar Baby (2004), he received his fourth Oscar nomination and his first win. In 2010, he received a fifth Oscar nomination, this time for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Invictus (2009). Freeman has continued to enjoy an exremely successful film career. He can most recently be seen reprising his role as Lucius Fox in the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.

Onstage, on television, in the movies or in a serious interview, listening to and watching comedian/actor Robin Williams is an extraordinary experience. An improvisational master with a style, his words rush forth in a gush of manic energy. They punctuate even the most basic story with sudden subject detours that often dissolve into flights of comic fancy, bawdy repartee, and unpredictable celebrity impressions before returning earthward with some pithy comment or dead-on observation.

He is known for his chameleonic performances in diverse roles. Oldman has long established a cult following among film fans. Gary Oldman is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of World Cinema.

Oldman received rave reviews and earned his first Academy- and second BAFTA Award nominations for his portrayal of British spy George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), a re-adaptation of the John le Carré novel, directed by Tomas Alfredson. In addition, he was chosen by Screened, and W Magazine for giving one of the best performances of 2011. For the role, Oldman gained 15 pounds.

As enigmatic as he is talented, Kevin Spacey has always kept the details of his private life closely guarded. His performance as the enigmatic criminal Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won universal praise and a Best Actor Oscar for his role as a depressed suburban father in 1999's American Beauty.

In a career that spans seven decades and includes substantial roles in each of the dramatic arts, Plummer is probably best known to film audiences as the autocratic widower Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp in the hit 1965 musical film The Sound of Music. Plummer has won numerous awards and accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award, and a BAFTA Award. With his win at the age of 82 in 2012 for Beginners, Plummer is the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award.

He received international acclaim for his portrayal of SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in the 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2009.

Few stars shine as bright home and abroad like George Clooney when it comes to moviedom. He is a legend when it comes to playing various parts in films. George Clooney’s trademark pecs has been described as seductive and is admired worldwide. George Clooney is a diverse player that is known throughout film for his peerless ability to also direct and write.

He won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Syriana.

Perhaps the icon of macho movie stars, Clint Eastwood has become a standard in international cinema. For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. Eastwood's frequent exploration of ethical values has drawn the attention of scholars, who have explored Eastwood's work from ethical and theological perspectives, including his portrayal of justice, mercy, suicide, and the angel of death.

He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks. Pesci has starred in a number of high profile films including Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, My Cousin Vinny, JFK, Home Alone, and the Lethal Weapon series. n 1990, Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the psychopathic mobster Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, ten years after receiving a nomination in the same category for Raging Bull.

He is a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his stardom were as loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), and as the surly ranch hand, Jett Rink, in Giant (1956). Dean's enduring fame and popularity rests on his performances in only these three films, all leading roles. His premature death in a car crash cemented his legendary status

Dean was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and remains the only actor to have had two posthumous acting nominations. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Dean the 18th best male movie star on their AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list.

He is best known for playing Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim. Jackson is currently the highest grossing film actor of all-time.

He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.

He is a powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints.

Tim Robbins is an actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. Tim Robbins ranks among contemporary cinema's most acclaimed and provocative voices; a multifaceted talent, he has proved so adept at wearing the various hats of actor, writer, and director.

Robbins won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and the SAG Award for his work in Mystic River (2003), as a man traumatized from having been molested as a child.

He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting.

He has received much critical acclaim for his work in film since the 1990s, including for his portrayals of real-life figures, such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas and Herman Boone.

Washington has received two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe awards, and a Tony Award. He is notable for winning the Best Supporting Actor for Glory in 1989; and the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2001 for his role in the film Training Day.

He has earned and been nominated for numerous awards during his career, including winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia and a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a People's Choice Award for Best Actor for his role in Forrest Gump, and earning the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film from the BAFTAs in 2004.

He came to international attention for his role as the Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, an Empire Award for Best Actor and a London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and ten further nominations for best actor.

Crowe's work has earned him several accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Academy Award nominations in a row (1999–2001), one Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, one BAFTA and an Academy Award.

Johnny Depp is perhaps one of the most versatile actors of his day and age in Hollywood, who has recuperated his image greatly since his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the acclaimed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). Though highly successful now, Depp's early life, strangely, was as a rebel, and he took to vandalism and narcotics.

Although he gained popularity since the success of Edward Scissorhands (1990), Depp wasn't hugely famous for many years until his portrayal of the suave, charming Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) in 2003. With the film's enormous success, it has opened several doors for his career and even included an Oscar nomination. He appeared as the central character in the Stephen King-based movie, Secret Window (2004); as the kind-hearted novelist James Barrie in the factually-based Finding Neverland (2004),

He Frequently plays freakishly eccentric outcasts whose oddities are misunderstood by society, and usually have a flamboyant appearance and mannerism. Examples: Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Don Juan DeMarco (1994), Dead Man (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Before Night Falls (2000), the "Pirates of the Caribbean"trilogy, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007).

Johnny Depp was paid $56 million to play Captain Jack Sparrow in the fourth movie of the series Pirates of the Caribbean. As of Summer 2011 this makes him one of the highest paid actors in history.

He is considered to be the most versatile actor of his age.

Ledger received numerous accolades for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. Ledger died on 22 January 2008.

He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as psychopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los Lunes al sol and Mar adentro.

Michael Caine is renowned for his distinctive Cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over one hundred films and is one of Britain's most recognisable actors. Caine is a popular subject for impressionists and mimics, having a voice and manner of speaking that are distinctive, yet fairly easy to imitate.

He portrayed Dicky Eklund in the biopic The Fighter (2010), for which he received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.

Nicolas Cage's acting has been praised by influential film critic's.

In the 68th Academy Awards, Cage was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas.

He has won multiple Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is known for film roles such as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit (Film Series), Magneto in the X-Men films, and as Sir Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code.

He is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).

Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983 (six Eon Productions films and the non-canonical Thunderball remake, Never Say Never Again). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The name of the Rose, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express, Dragonheart, and The Rock.

He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career.

A veteran actor, Duvall has starred in some of the most acclaimed and popular films and TV shows of all time, among them The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, To Kill a Mockingbird, THX 1138, Joe Kidd, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, MASH, Network, True Grit, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, Tender Mercies, The Natural and Lonesome Dove.

He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic (2000). He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual Suspects (1995), Dr. Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Franky Four Fingers in Snatch (2000), Jackie Boy in Sin City (2005), and Che Guevara in Che (2008). He is the third Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award.

He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002), for which he became the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor at age 29. Brody is also the only American actor to receive the French César Award.

He has been nominated for the Golden Globe Award eight times as an actor, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator (2004). He has also been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite Awards, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

DiCaprio has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as Catch Me If You Can (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), The Departed (2006), and Revolutionary Road (2008). His films Shutter Island (2010) and Inception (2010) rank among the biggest commercial successes of his career.

He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His career has spanned six decades and includes roles in several Hollywood blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top six box-office hits of all time included one of his roles.[1] Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.

As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a musical/comedy. He is also a Grammy Award winning musician, producing three albums which have charted highly on the Billboard 200: Unpredictable, which topped the chart, Best Night of My Life and Intuition.

He is an English actor who has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He is also known for his performances in the films Schindler's List (1993), Sexy Beast (2000), and Hugo (2011).

is an English theatre and film actor. A noted Shakespeare interpreter, he first achieved success onstage in the Royal National Theatre. Since then, he has portrayed characters such as Nazi war criminal Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, Count Almásy in The English Patient, and Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show. He also starred in The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, Red Dragon, Onegin, and The End of the Affair, among others. He is also well known for playing Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film series. In 2011, Fiennes made his directorial debut with his film adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus, in which he also played the titular character. Fiennes won a Tony Award for playing Hamlet on Broadway and has been nominated twice for the Academy Award.

During the 1980s, Rourke starred in Diner, Rumble Fish, and the erotic drama 9½ Weeks, and received critical praise for his work in Barfly and Angel Heart. In 1991, Rourke, who had trained as a boxer in his early years, left acting and became a professional boxer for a period. He had supporting roles in several later films, including The Rainmaker, Buffalo '66, The Pledge, Get Carter, Spun, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Man on Fire.

He is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009.

He is an American film actor best known for his performance as President Josiah Bartlet in the television series The West Wing (1999–2006). He achieved fame with roles in the films Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979), and made notable appearances in Wall Street (1987), The Departed (2006), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).

He is considered one of the best actors never to be nominated for an Academy Award despite his acclaimed performances.

His career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s, when his commercial success made him one of the better known stars of that decade. His films include 48 Hrs. (1982), Another 48 Hrs. (1990), Cape Fear (1991), Afterglow (1997), Affliction (1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), The Good Thief (2003), and Warrior (2011). He has been nominated for three Academy Awards, twice for Best Actor and once for Best Supporting Actor.

is an American actor, musician, producer, photographer, cartoonist, storyteller, and occasional vintner. He comes from a well-known acting family and began his first televised acting in 1958 as child with his father, Lloyd Bridges, and brother Beau on television's Sea Hunt. Some of his best-known major motion films include: Tron (and its sequel), Fearless, Iron Man, The Contender, Starman, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Jagged Edge, Against All Odds, The Fisher King, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Seabiscuit, Arlington Road, and The Big Lebowski. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart and earned his sixth Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in 2010's True Grit.

He is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Pollock, Appaloosa, The Rock, The Abyss, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, Enemy at the Gates, The Right Stuff, Gone, Baby, Gone, Jackknife, Empire Falls and Game Change. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies. He is a three-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Apollo 13, The Truman Show and The Hours, along with an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for the title role in Pollock.

He is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as frontman with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90's. Wahlberg is well known for his roles in films such as Fear (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Three Kings (1999), The Perfect Storm (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001), Rock Star (2001), The Italian Job (2003), I Heart Huckabees (2004), Four Brothers (2005), The Departed (2006), Invincible (2006), Shooter (2007), Max Payne (2008), The Fighter (2010), Date Night (2010), and Ted (2012). He has also served as the executive producer of the TV series Entourage, Boardwalk Empire and How to Make It in America.