I thought he was well known for both volume and range.Peter North
That's a little ridiculous. He does sarcasm as well as anyone. And anger and frustration.Harrison Ford does pain and/or confusion very well. He can't do anything else.
Snatch to Moneyball to Seven to Legends of the Fall. He's not Tom Hanks, but he has some range.Brad Pitt
Funny as I was going to post Tom Hanks as well. Always plays the same sympathetic character.Snatch to Moneyball to Seven to Legends of the Fall. He's not Tom Hanks, but he has some range.
I would say the range between cognitively disabled football player/Nam vet to dying gay man with AIDs pretty clearly showed major range. Every actor brings certain characteristics that casting directors look for and so certain qualities almost always repeat: Hanks being likable, Pitt being attractive but dangerous, Owen Wilson's deprecating neurotic sense of humor, VV being cool and sarcastic. The difference is I don't think I have ever really seen Wilson or VV transform into a character the way Hanks did in Gump or Pitt did in Snatch- even if they still retain their innate qualities. The tougher question is, which actors regularly lose themselves completely in their roles?Funny as I was going to post Tom Hanks as well. Always plays the same sympathetic character.
Watched Into The Wild the other night. Even VV bit part felt like 10 minutes of Wedding Crashers.First one that came to mind.
He slayed it in True Detective season 2 as a Mob Boss though.Oh man. Good one.
Seriously? He's played an adult forced back to elementary school, a waterboy turned college football player, a pro golfer, a professional singer, a commando turned hair stylist, the son of the devil, a would be rockstar turned machine gun wielding hostage taker, and a man in counseling for anger issues. He's only one tier below Daniel Day Lewis.Adam Sandler
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Daniel Day Lewis to being the best.I would say the range between cognitively disabled football player/Nam vet to dying gay man with AIDs pretty clearly showed major range. Every actor brings certain characteristics that casting directors look for and so certain qualities almost always repeat: Hanks being likable, Pitt being attractive but dangerous, Owen Wilson's deprecating neurotic sense of humor, VV being cool and sarcastic. The difference is I don't think I have ever really seen Wilson or VV transform into a character the way Hanks did in Gump or Pitt did in Snatch- even if they still retain their innate qualities. The tougher question is, which actors regularly lose themselves completely in their roles?
Totaly agree on PSH and DDL. I would add Dustin Hoffman,Philip Seymour Hoffman and Daniel Day Lewis to being the best.
For the original question have to add Denzel.
After thinking about it you are right on Denzel and he generally picks good roles. He does kind of have the same the same thing going on all the time but you are right he has played a huge variety of characters.Totaly agree on PSH and DDL. I would add Dustin Hoffman,
I wouldn't put Denzel is the category of actors that totally transformed, but I thought Denzel had good range: plays good guys, bad guys, hot headed violent people, calm intellectual people, historical/genre movies, etc.
Still waiting on Woody's action hero role.Mark Wahlberg
Jennifer Tilly
Woody Allen
Samuel L Jackson
That is who I first typed out but changed to Emma stoneMark Wahlberg
I think Hackman is a good actor and I'm not sure I include him here either, but he is usually the rough, tough, no BS cop/detective/coachGene Hackman should not be on the list unless you only watch his last couple films.