My Favorite Actors

1. Gary Oldman
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman
3. Eric Bana
4. Ralph Fiennes
5. Edward Norton

What can one say about Gary Oldman but “wow”?! More than any actor working today, he becomes his characters and blends in so well that you forget it’s Gary Oldman. And that’s the best compliment you can pay an actor. When you watch an entire movie and have to see the credits to find out who it was, they did a great job. Just consider a few of his roles and you’ll see how masterful he is at his craft; “The Professional”, “Dracula”, “Tiptoes” … Hell, even in the less than stellar “Air Force One”, his performance is powerful and far exceeds the trappings of the movie around him.

Philip Seymour Hoffman has been cornering the market of unrewarded greatness for the better part of the last decade. Usually relegated to supporting roles in which he often outshines the other actors, with roles in “Capote”, “Love Liza” and even the upcoming “Mission Impossible III”, Hoffman is finally getting some leading roles with teeth. Yes, “M:I:III” will be bad – but I think it’s safe to say that Hoffman will be the strongest tent pole trying to keep that circus standing.

Eric Bana may not be too well recognized but I have yet to see him put in anything less than a stellar performance. He started in comedy and has a great minor role in "The Castle" but now he's heading up the heaviest of roles. From his amazing turn in "Chopper" to "Black Hawk Down" to "Munich", you know you're getting top notch acting from Bana. Even his performances in the less than fantastic movies "Troy" and "The Hulk" were 'incredible' (Get it?).

Ralph Fiennes is one of the best actors at choosing only the best scripts and filmmakers to work with. He came into public perception with “Schindler’s List” and has followed that up with strong performances in “The English Patient”, “The Constant Gardener” and even the latest Harry Potter film. Sure, he was in “The Avengers” but I’d do the film version of the Teletubbies as Tinky Winky to work with Sean Connery. So he gets a pass on that one.

Edward Norton has many of the same chameleon-like abilities as Gary Oldman. With roles in “Fight Club”, “American History X” and “Primal Fear” he has proven himself to be nothing short of amazing.

Other notable actors:

Liam Neeson
Chris Cooper
David Strathairn
Matt Damon
Tom Hanks
Don Cheadle
Tim Roth
Brad Pitt
Mark Ruffalo
Paul Giamatti
William Fichtner
Ed Harris
Johnny Depp
Alec Baldwin
Robert Duvall

A lot of people on this bonus list. Going through each of them would take way too long so just note that even if these actors star or support a bad movie now and then, 98 percent of the time it won’t be their fault.

Foreign Actors:

Moritz Bleibtreu
Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Mads Mikkelsen
Sergio Castellitto
Thomas Kretschmann

I wanted to give a little mention to some of the great actors who rarely make any impact on American soil unless it’s in an art house theater. Each of them provide excellent performances in their films and if you like foreign cinema, checking out a film with any of these actors is a pretty safe bet.