We've done this topic before but it's been a while.   My favorite actor is Jack Nicholson.  I always liked him.  After watching The Shining I realized he was my favorite.  He played a man slowly going mad to perfection. 
    I often wonder what A Few Good Men would have been like with someone else playing the role of Col. Jessup.  It probably would have been a watchable but very forgettable little bit of nothing.  Nicholson was brilliant in that role and amped up the power a thousand times.  "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!"
     My favorite actress is Emmy Rossum.  Most of you who know of her do so through her role as Fiona Gallagher in Shameless.  For those not familiar with the show, she plays a Chicago ghetto girl in a White trash family.  In one of the later seasons, maybe season nine, her world falls apart and Fiona succumbs to her alcoholism.  She becomes a very mean, belligerent, and often violent drunk and Emmy plays the role to perfection.   
    The first time I saw her was in a movie I watched with my late wife Marie.  It was yet another version of Phantom of the Opera made in 2004.  Emmy Rossum played the lead character. Though a Chick Flick, it was very well done and I enjoyed it.  I few weeks afterward I was blown away when I read that she was only seventeen when she played that role.  Amazing!
   Anyway, those are my favorites.  Who are yours?

I'm going to go obscure. Joe Gilgun. He played Woody in This is England (one of my favourite films) and the subsequent series. He also played Rudy in Misfits (a fantastic TV series that did kind of lose it but was still quality). Why do I like him? He managed to play silly jokey characters that could then turn and have those emotional moments that rip your heart out. He plays the clown perfectly and then can also have that depth that elevates the character far past a clown. He's a genius.

Tilda Swinton is one of the greatest living actors. She could play anyone and absolutely nail it.

Rat Man wrote on Apr 8^th, 2021 at 8:51am:


Yes, and if we didnt seperate the actors work from their personal life I suspect I would not be able to watch a single movie. Most of them are insufferable. But the guy is a flat out genius when it comes to his craft.