My 25 Favorite Male Actors of this Generation
by lotrfan_89 | created - 16 Feb 2011 | updated - 16 Feb 2016 | PublicDoes not include actors like Harrison Ford, Robert Deniro, and Al Pacino, who haven't made a movie worthy of their name in 10 years
1. Denzel Washington
Actor | Fences
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...
His Best-Glory, The Pelican Brief, The Hurricane, Remember the Titans, Training Day, John Q., Man on Fire, Deja vu, American Gangster, The Book of Eli, Flight
2. Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor | Inception
Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s,...
His Best-Titanic, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, Inception, The Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained, The Revenant
3. Tom Hanks
Producer | Cast Away
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...
His Best-Big, A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Forest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story 1-3, That Thing You Do, You've Got Mail, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Catch Me if You Can, Captain Phillips, Bridge of Spies,
4. Christian Bale
Actor | The Dark Knight
Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to English parents Jennifer "Jenny" (James) and David Bale. His mother was a circus performer and his father, who was born in South Africa, was a commercial pilot. The family lived in different countries ...
His Best-Equilibrium, The Machinist, The Prestige, Rescue Dawn, 3:10 to Yuma, The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Fighter, American Hustle, The Big Short,
5. Brad Pitt
Actor | Fight Club
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri to Jane Etta Pitt (née Hillhouse), a school counselor & William Alvin "Bill" Pitt, a truck company manager. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student ...
His Best-Thelma & Louise, True Romance, Legends of the Fall, Seven, Fight Club, Snatch, Ocean's 11, Babel, Burn after Reading, Benjamin Button, Inglourious Basterds, Moneyball, World War Z, The Big Short, Fury,
6. Tom Cruise
Actor | Top Gun
In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. ...
His Best-Risky Business, Top Gun, The Color of Money, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, The Firm, Jerry Maguire, Mission Impossible I-V Magnolia, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral, Tropic Thunder,
7. Morgan Freeman
Actor | Driving Miss Daisy
With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. The young Freeman...
His Best-Glory, Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves, Unforgiven, The Shawshank Redemption, Seven, Kiss the Girls, Amistad, Bruce Almighty, Million Dollar Baby, The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Bucket List, Invictus,
8. Samuel L. Jackson
Actor | Pulp Fiction
Samuel L. Jackson is an American producer and highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), Formula 51 (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006), and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005), ...
His Best-Pulp Fiction, A Time to Kill, Jackie Brown, The Negotiator, Unbreakable, Changing Lanes, The Incredibles, Coach Carter, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight,
9. Robert Downey Jr.
Actor | Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. With an amazing list of credits to his name, he has managed to stay new and fresh even after over four decades in the business.
Downey was born April 4, 1965 in Manhattan, New York, the son of writer, director and ...
His Best-Heart & Souls, Natural Born Killers, U.S. Marshals, Good Night & Good Luck, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Zodiac, A Scanner Darkly, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Sherlock Holmes, Avengers
10. Jim Carrey
Actor | Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Jim Carrey, Canadian-born and a U.S. citizen since 2004, is an actor and producer famous for his rubbery body movements and flexible facial expressions. The two-time Golden Globe-winner rose to fame as a cast member of the Fox sketch comedy In Living Color (1990) but leading roles in Ace Ventura: ...
His Best-The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, Batman Forever, Ace Ventura 1&2, Liar Liar, The Truman Show, The Grinch, Bruce Almighty, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Yes Man,
11. Will Smith
Producer | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Willard Carroll "Will" Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has enjoyed success in television, film, and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him "the most powerful actor in Hollywood". Smith has been nominated for five Golden ...
His Best (from what I've seen)-Independence Day, Men in Black, Enemy of the State, Ali, I Robot, Hitch, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend,
12. Will Ferrell
Producer | Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
John William Ferrell was born in Irvine, California, to Betty Kay (Overman), a teacher, and Roy Lee Ferrell, Jr., a musician. His parents were originally from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.
A graduate of the University of Southern California, Ferrell became interested in performing while a student ...
His Best-Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch, Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, The Other Guys, The Lego Movie,
13. Ben Stiller
Producer | Tropic Thunder
Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York City, New York, to legendary comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. His father was of Austrian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent, and his mother was of Irish Catholic descent (she converted to Judaism).
His parents made no real...
His Best-There's Something About Mary, Mystery Men, Zoolander, The Royal Tenenbaums, Along Came Polly, Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball, Meet the Parents, Night at the Museum, Tropic Thunder,
14. George Clooney
Actor | The Ides of March
George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Nina Bruce (née Warren), a former beauty pageant queen, and Nick Clooney, a former anchorman and television host (who was also the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney). He has Irish, English, and German ancestry. Clooney ...
His Best-Out of Sight, Three Kings, O Brother Where Art Thou, Ocean's 11, Good Night & Good Luck, Syriana, Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up in the Air,
15. Daniel Day-Lewis
Actor | There Will Be Blood
Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...
His Best-My Left Foot, The Last of the Mohicans, In the Name of the Father, The Crucible, Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood, Lincoln
16. Steve Carell
Actor | The Office
Steve Carell, one of America's most versatile comics, was born Steven John Carell on August 16, 1962, in Concord, Massachusetts. He is the son of Harriet Theresa (Koch), a psychiatric nurse, and Edwin A. Carell, an electrical engineer. His mother was of Polish descent and his father of Italian and ...
His Best, Bruce Almighty, Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Over the Hedge, Little Miss Sunshine, Dan in Real Life, Get Smart, Despicable Me, Foxcatcher, The Big Short
17. Bruce Willis
Actor | Die Hard
Actor and musician Bruce Willis is well known for playing wisecracking or hard-edged characters, often in spectacular action films. Collectively, he has appeared in films that have grossed in excess of $2.5 billion USD.
Walter Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955, in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany,...
Die Hard 1-4, Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Jackal, Armageddon, The Whole Nine Yards, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Bandits, Hart's War, Hostage, Sin City, RED
18. Johnny Depp
Actor | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II was born on June 9, 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky, to Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. He was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school when he was 15, and fronted a series of music-garage bands, including one ...
His Best-Platoon, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, Blow, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Neverland Sweeney Todd, Public Enemies, Black Mass
19. John Cusack
Actor | Grosse Pointe Blank
John Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, he has built a successful career playing underdogs and odd men out--all the while avoiding the media spotlight. John was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish-American ...
His Best-Say Anything, Grosse Pointe Blank, Con Air, The Thin Red Line, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Identity, Runaway Jury, 1408,
20. Joaquin Phoenix
Actor | Walk the Line
Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Rafael Bottom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Arlyn (Dunetz) and John Bottom, and is the middle child in a brood of five. His parents, from the continental United States, were then serving as Children of God missionaries. His mother is from a Jewish family from New ...
His Best-Gladiator, Signs, The Village, Ladder 49, Walk the Line, The Master, Her,
21. Mark Ruffalo
Actor | Spotlight
Award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo was born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of humble means to father Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, a construction painter and Marie Rose (Hebert), a stylist and hairdresser; his father's ancestry is Italian and his mother is of half French-Canadian and half ...
His Best-You Can Count on Me, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Collateral, 13 Going on 30, Zodiac, The Kids are All Right, Shutter Island, The Avengers, Foxcatcher, Spotlight,
22. Tom Hardy
Actor | Inception
With his breakthrough performance as Eames in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller Inception (2010), English actor Tom Hardy has been brought to the attention of mainstream audiences worldwide. However, the versatile actor has been steadily working on both stage and screen since his television debut...
His Best-Bronson, Inception, Warrior, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Locke, The Dark Knight Rises,
23. Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Actor | Inception
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt was born February 17, 1981 in Los Angeles, California, to Jane Gordon and Dennis Levitt. Joseph was raised in a Jewish family with his late older brother, Dan Gordon-Levitt, who passed away in October 2010. His parents worked for the Pacifica Radio station KPFK-FM and ...
His Best-500 Days of Summer, Brick, The Lookout, Looper, Inception, Don Jon, The Dark Knight Rises,
24. Matt Damon
Actor | Good Will Hunting
Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Kent Damon, a stockbroker, realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Matt has an older brother, Kyle, a sculptor. His father was of English and ...
His Best-Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, The Bourne Trilogy, Ocean's 11, Invictus, The Martian, The Departed,
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