My Favorite Actors
by wastedsugar | created - 01 Aug 2013 | updated - 01 Aug 2013 | PublicMy all-time favorite actors; some of whom are listed for their appearance in single films or shows, and others listed for their over-all acting appearances.
1. David Tennant
Actor | Doctor Who
Widely considered as one of the greatest stage and screen actors of his generation both in his native Scotland and internationally, David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen (McLeod) and Sandy McDonald, who was a Presbyterian minister. He is of Scottish ...
2. Billie Piper
Actress | Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Billie Piper studied at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School. She caught the eyes of record producers who were interested in signing a young vocalist when she was the poster girl for the ad campaign of a British pop music magazine, "Smash Hits". She released her first single, "Because We ...
3. Alex Kingston
Actress | ER
Alex Kingston was born on March 11, 1963 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for ER (1994), Doctor Who (2005) and Alpha Dog (2006). She has been married to Jonathan Stamp since July 18, 2015. She was previously married to Florian Haertel and Ralph Fiennes.
4. Matt Smith
Actor | Doctor Who
Matt Smith is an English actor who shot to fame in the UK aged 26 when he was cast by producer Steven Moffat as the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC's iconic science-fiction adventure series Doctor Who (2005).
Matthew Robert Smith was born and raised in Northampton, the son of Lynne (Fidler) and David ...
5. Karen Gillan
Actress | Selfie
Karen Sheila Gillan was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland, as the only child of Marie Paterson and husband John Gillan, who is a singer and recording artist. She developed a love for acting very early on, attending several youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at ...
6. Arthur Darvill
Actor | Doctor Who
Thomas Arthur Darvill, known professionally as Arthur Darvill, is an English actor and musician. He is perhaps most recognized as Rory Williams, one of the Eleventh Doctor's companions in Doctor Who (2005), and as Rev. Paul Coates in Broadchurch (2013). In 2013-2014 he appeared in the lead role in ...
7. Anna Torv
Actress | Fringe
Anna Torv (born 7 June 1979) is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe (2008-2013). Torv was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the daughter of Susan (née Carmichael) and Hans Torv, also grew up in Gold Coast, Queensland. Her father is of ...
8. Joshua Jackson
Actor | Fatal Attraction
Joshua Carter Jackson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. His Irish mother, Fiona Jackson, is a casting director originally from Dublin. His American father, John Carter Jackson, is from Texas. Josh spent the first eight years of his life in California before returning to Canada. At the age of...
9. Eliza Dushku
Actress | Bring It On
Eliza Dushku was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Judith (Rasmussen), a political science professor, and Philip R. Dushku, a teacher and administrator. Her father is Albanian and her mother is American (of Danish, Irish, English, and German descent). She was discovered at the end of a five-month ...
10. David Duchovny
Actor | The X Files
David William Duchovny was born on August 7, 1960, in New York City, New York, USA. His father, Amram Ducovny, was a writer and publicist who was from a family of Jewish immigrants (from Ukraine and Poland), and worked for the American Jewish Committee. His mother, Margaret (Miller), was a ...
11. Claire Danes
Actress | My So-Called Life
New Yorker Claire Catherine Danes was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Carla (Hall), a day-care provider and artist, and Christopher Danes, a computer consultant and photographer. She has an older brother, Asa. Her paternal grandfather, Gibson Andrew Danes, was a Dean of the Yale School of Art ...
12. Summer Glau
Actress | Serenity
Summer is a native of San Antonio, Texas. She's been a ballerina most of her life. Her debut was in various commercials and a guest appearance on the WB's Angel (1999). She has gone on to star on the TV series Firefly (2002) as well as its follow-up movie Serenity (2005) and the TV series ...
13. Callum Blue
Actor | The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Callum Blue, born in London, England, has enjoyed a steady career in film and TV. Best known for his role as Mason in the hit Showtime series, Dead Like Me (2003), he has also achieved other hits with Related (2005) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), co-starring Anne Hathaway. He ...
14. John Noble
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Artistic Director of Stage Company of South Australia 1977 - 87. Head of Drama, Brent St. School of Arts (Sydney) 1997-00. Directed over 80 plays, including 'Sons of Cain' on London's West End (1986). Freelance actor. Semi-regular in TV series 'All Saints'. Voice and acting teacher.
15. Jensen Ackles
Actor | Supernatural
Jensen Ross Ackles, better known as simply Jensen Ackles, was born on March 1, 1978, in Dallas, Texas, to Donna Joan (Shaffer) and actor Alan Ackles. He has English, German, and Scottish ancestry. Jensen grew up in Richardson, Texas, together with his older brother, Joshua, and a younger sister, ...
16. 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 ...
17. 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 ...
18. 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 ...
19. Ellen Pompeo
Actress | Grey's Anatomy
Ellen Kathleen Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts, to Kathleen B. (O'Keefe) and Joseph E. Pompeo, a salesman. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, and some English, ancestry.
Pompeo made her major studio screen debut in Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile (2002), starring ...
20. Jim Parsons
Actor | The Big Bang Theory
Having grown up in Houston, and its northern suburb of Spring, he made his first stage appearance in a school play at the age of 6. Parsons then went on to study theater at the University of Houston. From there he won a place on a two-year Masters course in classical theater at the University of ...
21. Jessica Alba
Actress | Fantastic Four
Jessica Marie Alba was born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, CA, to Catherine (Jensen) and Mark David Alba, who served in the US Air Force. Her father is of Mexican descent (including Spanish and Indigenous Mexican roots), and her mother has Danish, Welsh, English, and French ancestry. Her family ...
22. David Boreanaz
Actor | Angel
David was born in Buffalo, New York and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Patti, a travel agent, and weatherman Dave Roberts (Boreanaz). His father is of Italian descent and his mother is of half Slovak ancestry. At the age of seven he decide to be an actor, which eventually ...
23. Pauley Perrette
Actress | NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service
Pauley Perrette is known to millions around the world as Abby Sciuto, the brilliant but offbeat forensic scientist on CBS's NCIS (2003). Her additional credits include appearances on such shows as Almost Famous (2000), The Ring (2002), 24 (2001), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Murder One (...
24. Eric Christian Olsen
Actor | Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
Eric Christian Olsen was born on May 31, 1977 in Eugene, Oregon, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003), Fired Up! (2009) and Not Another Teen Movie (2001). He has been married to Sarah Wright since June 23, 2012. They have three children.
25. Evanna Lynch
Actress | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Evanna Patricia Lynch is an Irish actress. Born in the town of Termonfeckin in Ireland, she is one of four children to Donal and Marguerite Lynch. Her acting career began in 2007 when she competed in an open audition against nearly 15,000 girls, and won the coveted role of Luna Lovegood in the "...
26. Helena Bonham Carter
Actress | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Helena Bonham Carter is an actress of great versatility, one of the UK's finest and most successful.
Bonham Carter was born May 26, 1966 in Golders Green, London, England, the youngest of three children of Elena (née Propper de Callejón), a psychotherapist, and Raymond Bonham Carter, a merchant ...
27. James Phelps
Actor | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
James Phelps was born on February 25, 1986 in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001).
28. Oliver Phelps
Actor | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Oliver Phelps was born about 13 minutes before his twin brother, James Phelps. He has always loved acting and appeared in many high school drama productions. In 2000 he and his brother were picked to play Fred (James) and George (Oliver) Weasley in the film adaptations of the Harry Potter book ...
29. James McAvoy
Actor | Filth
McAvoy was born on 21 April 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland, to James, a bus driver, and Elizabeth (née Johnstone), a nurse. He was raised on a housing estate in Drumchapel, Glasgow by his maternal grandparents (James, a butcher, and Mary), after his parents divorced when James was 11. He went to St ...
30. Emile Hirsch
Actor | Into the Wild
Emile Davenport Hirsch was born in Palms, California, to Margaret Esther (Davenport), a teacher and visual artist, and David M. Hirsch, an entrepreneur and producer. He grew up in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and having been introduced to acting while still at school, he got his first ...
31. Leonard Nimoy
Actor | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Leonard Simon Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Dora (Spinner) and Max Nimoy, who owned a barbershop. His parents were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. Raised in a tenement and acting in community theaters since age eight, Nimoy did not make his Hollywood debut until he was 20, with a bit ...
32. Zachary Quinto
Actor | Star Trek
Zachary Quinto was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Margaret J. (McArdle), an Irish-American office worker, and Joseph John Quinto, an Italian-American barber. Zachary graduated from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, with the class of 1995, where he won Pittsburgh's Gene Kelly Award ...
33. Simon Baker
Actor | Margin Call
Simon Baker was first recognized in 1992, when he received Australia's prestigious Logie award for Most Popular New Talent. Upon relocating to Los Angeles with his family, Baker was immediately cast in the Academy Award winning film L.A. Confidential (1997).
34. Harrison Ford
Actor | Raiders of the Lost Ark
Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (Nidelman), a radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an actor turned advertising executive. His father was of Irish and German ancestry, while his maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Minsk, ...
35. Hugh Laurie
Actor | House M.D.
Hugh was born in Oxford, England on June 11, 1959, to Patricia (Laidlaw) and William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, a doctor, both of Scottish descent. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. Son of an Olympic gold medalist in the sport, he rowed for the England youth team (1977) and for ...
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