Top 10 Actors – The 00’s

Article by Terry Plucknett

Posted - 2/8/10

There are many actors who emerged this decade as bankable movie stars, not only in the money they bring in (which has been great) but also in the quality of the performances and the movies.  While the 90’s were ruled by Kevin Spacey, Tom Hanks, and Tom Cruise, none of them appear on my list of this decade (Tom Cruise is an honorable mention, but that doesn’t count).  Instead, my list is who became this decade’s Hanks, Spacey, and Cruise.  The interesting question is what will happen in the ‘10s?  Will there be a complete turnover in a list like this again, or will some have the staying power to last another decade?  Only time will tell, but I hope a lot of these names are still just as huge simply because I have so much fun watching them.

Honorable Mention: Robert Downey, Jr., J.K. Simmons, Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, Paul Giamatti

10.  Christian Bale – Most people did not know this name at all until he slipped on the mask of the Caped Crusader in 2005’s Batman Begins, but his best performance of the decade may have come in 2000’s American Psycho.  He showed his complete commitment to the roles he played by dropping down to almost 100 pounds for his role in The Machinist and then bulking up to about 220 pounds of muscle to play Batman.  Since Batman, he has continued making quality films such as Rescue Dawn, the underrated 3:10 to Yuma, The New World, The Dark Knight, and Public Enemies.  He has become one of those stars you can count on for making quality films.

Best Performance – American Psycho

9.  Will Smith – This decade Will Smith has gone from a singer that makes movies to one of the biggest movie stars in the world.  With a couple Oscar nominations in the decade, as well as one of the longest streaks of Hollywood blockbusters in history, Smith has shown not only his appeal to audiences but his range as an actor.  Starting the decade with his greatest role to date in Ali, and ending it with strong performances in I Am Legend and Seven Pounds, Will Smith has shown he is one of those few actors who cause you to see a movie simply because he is in it.

Best Performance - Ali

8.  Heath Ledger – One of the best actors of the decade very quickly became one of the most tragic stories of the decade.  However, before his sad passing, this Aussie was able to show that he was one of the best actors around.  With roles in such films like Monster’s Ball and A Knight’s Tale, Heath was building up to two of the best performances of the decade with Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain and the Joker in The Dark Knight.  Ending his short career on such performances as these makes his untimely death that much more tragic.  He was just peaking, or was he?  Was there better yet to come than what he had already given us?  It’s hard to imagine, but now we will never know.  I think it was this feeling of unfulfilled potential that forced three of the top actors around to all pitch in to help finish his final work, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

Best Performance – The Dark Knight

7.  Johnny Depp – I have Johnny on my list, but not for what most people would praise him for.  I mean, Jack Sparrow was a great role and introduced him to everyone if he had not been done so already, but he is so much more than a bumbling drunk pirate.  This decade also showed him as a drug dealer in Blow, a writer in Secret Window and Finding Neverland, a deranged candy maker in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a vengeful musical barber in Sweeney Todd, and an infamous bank robber in Public Enemies.  He has been one of our greatest chameleons for now two decades, and he shows no sign of stopping, and I sure hope I’m right.

Best Performance – Finding Neverland

6.  Leonardo DiCaprio – Although he might not have made as many movies as some of the other actors on the list, few have reached the level and quality of film as Leonardo DiCaprio.  The easiest way to become one of the greatest actors on the planet is become Martin Scorsese’s go-to guy.  First it was De Niro, and now it’s DiCaprio.  When you look at the three Scorsese collaborations of Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed (all nominated for Best Picture Oscar, one getting Leo an acting nomination), then you add in Catch Me if You Can, Blood Diamond, and Revolutionary Road, and there can be no argument that he is one of the greatest actors working right now, and looking at his 2010 lineup in place with Shutter Island (another Scorsese collaboration) and Inception (the latest from the brilliant mind of Christopher Nolan) it is hard to picture him not on the list of the greatest actors of the 10’s.

Best Performance – The Departed

5.  Sean Penn – It’s very rare that this feat ever happens: win two acting Oscars in the same decade.  Tom Hanks did it last decade.  Sean Penn did it this decade, along with having another nomination.  He didn’t win that one because as we have learned, “You never go full retard.”  He did have some lesser movies come out this decade, but he also had some of the greatest performances of the decade, especially Harvey Milk.  He completely embodied that character, as he does with every character he portrays, to the point where you no longer see Sean Penn but you see Harvey or Jimmy or Sam.  That is the mark of a true genius.

Best Performance - Milk

4.  Philip Seymour Hoffman – What would this decade have been without Philip Seymour Hoffman?  For the first half of the decade, he was that memorable guy you always saw in everything but never quite knew his name.  After his Oscar-winning performance in Capote, the only thing that changed was you now knew his name in all the memorable performances he appeared in.  He is brilliant in everything he is in, from Almost Famous to Capote to Charlie Wilson’s War to The Savages.  All we can ask is that he keeps doing his thing so we can continue to enjoy every minute we see him on screen.

Best Performance - Capote

3.  Matt Damon – These top three actors can really be in any order.  Damon could be on this list simply for starring in two of the most successful film franchises of the decade with the Ocean’s trilogy and the Bourne trilogy.  You add to these great performances Invictus, The Informant!, The Good Shepherd, and the previously mentioned The Departed, and you have one of the most impressive bodies of work of any decade, let alone this one.  There is a reason some movie stars become stars: they are just that good.  Matt Damon is one of those.

Best Performance – The Departed

2.  George Clooney – George applies to a lot of the same rules that Damon does.  First, the Ocean’s movies.  Second, he is a movie star for a reason: he’s good at what he does.  He has become one of those event actors.  When he is in a movie, it becomes an event because you can count on it being good.  He won his Oscar for Syriana, was nominated for Michael Clayton, will be nominated for Up in the Air, and I am not done yet.  He also has films like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, Leatherheads, Good Night, and Good Luck, and The Men Who Stare at Goats that show his durability and his bankability.  He really is a throwback to a classic type of movie star, and I love watching him work.  The day he stops acting will be the end of an era.

Best Performance – Michael Clayton

1.  Brad Pitt – As I have said, these top three actors can really be placed in any order.  They all starred in the Ocean’s movies, which turned out to have such a huge cast.  To think that these movies would end up starring these top three actors of the decade, Don Cheadle who could have easily been on this list, Casey Affleck who is a candidate for this list for the next decade, and others that have become recognizable faces.  With that said, Brad Pitt ends up on top of the three simply because I think I enjoy watching to see his latest creation the most.  Aldo Raine made the Inglourious Basterds lovable.  His portrayal of the title character is one of the few things that made The Curious Case of Benjamin Button something more than just a remake of Forrest Gump.  Chad became the most quirky of the cast of quirkiness in Burn After Reading.  He was very memorable in the extremely underrated The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.  He showed his full range of skills in Babel.  He showed his ability to be an action star in Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  He can do it all, and he does it all so very well.  He is one that I don’t necessarily expect to be on the list of the 10’s simply because of his age.  I think he’ll fall into the same trap that Hanks and Spacey did.  However, for Pitt’s sake and for the sake of all moviegoers, I really hope I am wrong!

Best Performance – Inglourious Basterds