Power Ranking The Top 10 Greatest Living Actors
Bob Riha Jr. Getty Images.This was a harder list to put together than I thought. Off the top of my head, I thought Matt Damon would have a shot to crack the list. He never really did. When I started really looking at the options, Damon would struggle to crack the Top 15. I say all of that as a huge Damon fan.
How stacked is this list? I couldn't find a spot for Dustin Hoffman. He was nominated for seven Oscars and won two. That might not seem as much of an absence to younger people. He is 86 and his prime was literally a century ago but Hoffman is very accomplished. It might be unfair but he also had the bad luck of working during the same prime as Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino.
This is list only takes acting under consideration. It's also actors only (no actresses). This list is tough enough to put together with just guys.
Here are the ten greatest living actors:
Silver Screen Collection. Getty Images.10. Clint Eastwood (93 years old)
As great of an actor as he is, he's probably a better director. He might be the greatest figure in movie history when you consider his longevity and the different things he can do. He's even written the score for a few of his movies. He has five Oscar nominations as a producer. It's easy to forget what a great actor he is.
He's the only guy on my list that never won an Oscar (only nominated as an actor twice). But look at his body of work from his spaghetti westerns to Dirty Harry to Unforgiven to more mentor roles in Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino. It's incredible depth and consistently very good work over a very long time. That has to count for something.
9. Daniel Day-Lewis (66 years old)
This might seem a little low for some people. I still think Philip Seymour Hoffman was a better actor than Daniel Day-Lewis. Hoffman could play anyone at any time from Art Howe to Truman Capote to the weirdo in Twister. Day-Lewis never seemed comfortable or very interesting in playing anyone in this time. I think it's a lot harder to do what Hoffman did in Magnolia where he is playing someone we could meet in our real lives than playing Abraham Lincoln.
That's not meant to shit on Day-Lewis though. He gives one of the best performances in the century as Bill The Butcher in Gangs Of New York. Think of how charismatic and what a showman Bill is compared to his quiet and controlling presence in Phantom Thread.
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8. Jack Nicholson (86 years old)
Kirk Minihane isn't as big a fan of Jack Nicholson as I am. He says he keeps playing different variations of Jack. He certainly became that more and more especially once he got out of the 1970's. It also doesn't bother me that much. I think he's such a unique presence that the work is still exceptional. I believe him as the rebellious patient in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I believe him losing his mind in The Shining. I even believe him as a gangster who falls in acid and becomes the Joker.
Archive Photos. Getty Images.7. Tom Hanks (age 67)
If he retired from movies in 2003, he'd be higher on this list. Hanks' work the last 20 years has been so much weaker than the 20 years that preceded. There are obvious exceptions like Captain Phillips and Sully but there are so many more misses than hits. His work in Elvis alone makes it hard to put him ahead of the other names on this list.
Hanks won back to back Oscars before he turned 40. He had five nominations before he was 46. He's had a single nomination since 2001.
I still think Hanks has never been better than his work in Cast Away. He plays three variations of the same man and each behave and react wildly different because of the situations that surround his performance of Chuck. I put it right there with the greatest performances in film history.
6. Denzel Washington (age 69)
It's not fair but Denzel's ranking on this list is hurt because he hasn't been in enough great movies. I'd argue he's never been in a great one at all. He's not his fault. John Q is a shitty movie. Denzel is great in it. Flight is a shitty movie. Denzel is great in it. Even his best movie (Training Day), I see as really good but not great.
If Denzel got the same roles that Tom Cruise did, I'd almost certainly have Denzel higher on this list. It's not fair but when a list is this stacked, it's not always going to be fair.
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Mandeville Films. Shutterstock Images.5. Christian Bale (49 years old)
I might have Bale too high on this list but I think he's so talented. You can make a real case that his work in The Fighter is the best acting of the century. He somehow can even make his eyes go vacant and empty. Mix in what he did in American Psycho, The Prestige, The Big Short, even the Batman movies. His ability to completely encompass a role is similar to Daniel Day-Lewis.
Orion. Shutterstock Images.4. Gene Hackman (93 years old)
Gene Hackman might be the greatest character actor of all-time. You look at his work in The Royal Tenenbaums, Bonnie & Clyde, Unforgiven and even Superman and you see why he is the ultimate supporting actor. But he may be best remembered most for leading roles in Hoosiers, The French Connection and The Conversation.
With a lot of this list, but it was really challenging putting the actors in order but I am perhaps most confident that Hackman is in the right spot here.
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3. Al Pacino (83 years old)
The greatest acting in movie history is Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Watching him go from good to bad to evil is astonishing. Somehow he even makes his whole face change. All of it morphs. His posture, his speech patterns, it almost feels like you see his soul darken in front of you.
Pacino became a loud screaming guy sometime in the late 90's but it's impossible to look past the Godfather movies, Dog Day Afternoon, Glen Gary Glenross or Serpico. Even after he became Loud Pacino, the greatness would still appear from time to time in Donnie Brasco or The Insider.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio (49 years old)
DiCaprio and Bale are the youngest actors on this list. I have DiCaprio so high mostly because I respect his choices so much. He has pretty incredible range whether it be Wolf Of Wall Street to The Revenant to What's Eating Gilbert Grape? I'd put the greatest singular performances of Day-Lewis, Bale, Pacino and Hanks ahead of DiCaprio's best. However, if you look at the entire body of work, DiCaprio never misses.
He's not only the last movie star but he might be the most consistent. Just when you think you've seen every side of DiCaprio, he impresses you again like he just did in Killers Of The Flower Moon. For many years, it was Jack Nicholson who had the front and center seat at the Oscars. George Clooney had that seat for a couple years but it really should be DiCaprio's now.
1. Robert De Niro (80 years old)
For me, he's not only the best living actor but the best actor ever. It's easy to point to his most famous performances in The Godfather Part II, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. But he's even incredible in smaller movies like Sleepers, The King of Comedy and Awakenings.
He's a perfect violent idiot in Jackie Brown and he's just as perfect as a flawed father in Silver Linings Playbook. He can be loving in Sleepers or a cold killer in Cape Fear. Even though into his late 70's, he is still doing amazing work like in The Irishman and especially in Killers Of The Flower Moon where he was almost a new and calculating form of evil.
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I don't know if I'll ever see as accomplished an actor as De Niro as long as I live. Maybe DiCaprio can catch him but it's tough. Bale has too many misses and I don't think Damon has enough range. If there was an Acting Hall of Fame, he'd be my very first vote.