The 50 best acting performances of all time

[1987_Lakers]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYtYKswhGZY&t

[highwhey]

i thot cilian murphy in oppenheimer was great

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2025-washington-dc-donald-trump-97016152.jpg?resize=1024,683&quality=75&strip=all

[SouBeachTalents]

Ed Norton in American History X is a huge omission.

And I know it was just a comedy, but I would’ve put Robert Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder as well.

[Doomsday Dallas]

00:00 Introduction
00:35 Malcom McDowell - A Clockwork Orange
01:03 John Wayne - The Searchers
01:21 J.K. Simmons - Whiplash
01:40 Adrien Brody - The Pianist
01:59 Peter O’toole - Lawrence of Arabia
02:19 Johnny Depp - Edward Scissorhands
02:35 Leonardo DiCaprio - The Basketball Diaries
03:01 Charlie Chaplin - City Lights
03:12 Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
03:29 Denzel Washington - Training Day
03:42 Brad Pitt - Se7en
04:03 Henry Fonda - Once Upon a Time in the West
04:28 Hugh Jackman - Prisoners
04:55 Robert De Niro - The Deer Hunter
05:13 Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire
05:34 Al Pacino - Scarface
05:55 Choi Min-sik - Oldboy
06:16 Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York
06:38 Kathy Bates - Misery
06:58 Robert De Niro - Awakenings
07:20 Meryl Streep - The Bridges of Madison County
07:40 Al Pacino - The Godfather II
08:09 Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
08:28 Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
08:48 Vivien Leigh - Gone With The Wind
09:09 Sean Penn - Mystic River
09:29 Toni Colette - Hereditary
09:47 Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
10:08 Christian Bale - American Psycho
10:30 Naomi Watts - 21 Grams
11:22 Ralph Fiennes - Schindler’s List
11:57 Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
12:39 Paul Dano - There Will Be Blood
13:27 Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront
14:05 Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver
14:45 Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
15:23 Charlize Theron - Monster
16:04 Isabelle Adjani - Possession
16:40 Maria Falconetti - The Passion of Joan of Arc
17:17 Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot
18:00 Isabelle Huppert - The Piano Teacher
18:38 Naomi Watts - Mulholland Drive
19:19 Aleksei Kravchenko - Come and See
20:07 Nastassja Kinski - Paris, Texas
21:12 Robert De Niro - Raging Bull
22:13 Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
23:27 Al Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon
24:27 Meryl Streep - Sophie’s Choice
25:11 Marlon Brando - Last Tango In Paris

[j3lademaster]

Where is Gal Gadot in Snow White? Shit list.

[warriorfan]

DeNiro has 4 mentions
Daniel Day Lewis and Al Pacino 3

I just skimmed Doom’s outline really fast but the main one that jumped out at me as questionable was Brad Pitt in Seven. I rewatched that a few years ago and to be honest it felt like it didn’t hold up very well. It was okay but not nearly as good I remembered when it came out. I also thought Brad Pitt’s performance was actually kinda shitty. He seemed young and inexperience and overacting pretty hard. I’m not a movie expert but that was my take after.

[ArbitraryWater]

DeNiro has 4 mentions
Daniel Day Lewis and Al Pacino 3

I just skimmed Doom’s outline really fast but the main one that jumped out at me as questionable was Brad Pitt in Seven. I rewatched that a few years ago and to be honest it felt like it didn’t hold up very well. It was okay but not nearly as good I remembered when it came out. I also thought Brad Pitt’s performance was actually kinda shitty. He seemed young and inexperience and overacting pretty hard. I’m not a movie expert but that was my take after.

same. Dont think Pitt was great in that and the movie was very predictable to me.

[ShawkFactory]

DeNiro has 4 mentions
Daniel Day Lewis and Al Pacino 3

I just skimmed Doom’s outline really fast but the main one that jumped out at me as questionable was Brad Pitt in Seven. I rewatched that a few years ago and to be honest it felt like it didn’t hold up very well. It was okay but not nearly as good I remembered when it came out. I also thought Brad Pitt’s performance was actually kinda shitty. He seemed young and inexperience and overacting pretty hard. I’m not a movie expert but that was my take after.

Seven is one of my favorite movies of all time. Haven’t watched it in a while but of all the great things that that movie has to offer…it probably isn’t Brad Pitt’s performance :lol

He’s a charming SOB and has certainly found his niche as a movie star now but he has no place on this list.

Aside from that though, this list hit most of the big ones. They have Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs but I think Jodie Foster deserves to be there too. She matched him completely.

[tpols]

Maximum Decimus Meridius deserves to be on this list 1000%.

[Baller234]

After skimming the list I also agree the one that jumped out to me was Pitt in Seven. Really nothing great about it at all. Would have never even thought about it. Odd choice.

[1987_Lakers]

I feel Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men should have been on the list.

Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon is probably my #1 performance, he's #3 on this list.

[Baller234]

I have to say this was a pretty decent list. I haven't seen every movie on the list but of the performances I'm familiar with it's hard to object most of them. I'm sure you could dig deep and find some glaring omissions but these are all great picks.

Two choices that I'm surprised made the list, and I'm glad they did, are Pacino in Scarface and Depp in Scissorhands. Neither of those guys were even nominated for an oscar those years. Goes to show it was always nonsense. Two all time GOAT performances. Elite, ELITE tier.

[Chick Stern]

No Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds? Shit list

also, very few women actors, shit list

[1987_Lakers]

No Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds? Shit list

also, very few women actors, shit list

https://media.tenor.com/BJJlt8TmgUsAAAAM/what.gif

[tpols]

No Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds? Shit list

also, very few women actors, shit list


Halle Berry in that James Bond movie with the orange bikini has to be on this list.

[j3lademaster]

Maximum Decimus Meridius deserves to be on this list 1000%.

Phoenix was better in that movie than Crowe.

[j3lademaster]

No Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds? Shit list

also, very few women actors, shit list

Naomi Watts, Charlize Theron, Isabelle Adjani, Maria Falconetti, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Vivien Leigh, Nastassja Kinski, Cate Blanchett... who do you think is an omission here?

[tpols]

Phoenix was better in that movie than Crowe.

Possibly. They were both bad ass. Crowe had Denzel training day energy. Pheonix was kinda sick and twisted like the Joker.

[diamenz]

Possibly. They were both bad ass. Crowe had Denzel training day energy. Pheonix was kinda sick and twisted like the Joker.

phoenix was so believable in that role I came out hating the crap outta him.

and pitt was better in that film with Hopkins where he played death than he was in seven.

[j3lademaster]

Possibly. They were both bad ass. Crowe had Denzel training day energy. Pheonix was kinda sick and twisted like the Joker.

I felt like Crowe was pretty standard stoic, strong badass; which doesn’t seem like a very tough role to pull off since there aren’t many layers. It’s no better than, for example, Kurt Russell in Soldier. For the record, obviously gladiator is the better film I’m strictly comparing the individual performances.

Phoenix was one a whole other level imo.