The World's 1000 Greatest Actors (In Progress)

by andreas-sellfors | created - 3 months ago | updated - 3 months ago | Public

Alright, when it comes to outline every actor to his position in this project. So is it not just a task that you do, to use a Swedish expression »over a coffee break«. Because, there are always someone who thinks that you, to use a different Swedish expression are »utterly behind your float« over that John Krasinski for exampel are No:10. Because, in there minds is he no higher than 150. I have therefore several citeras to counter this kind of attacks. And first is my age a factor, because you don't watch the same kind of movies when are a hardworking 50-year-old man, as when you were a strong minded teenager. Yes, I almost only watched action movies in my teens, and then was Bruce Willis my idol. But now, when I are over 30, so is my film taste very different. Yes, ten years ago would I never seen a black & white Polish road-trip drama about a nun, who are trying to find her parents' grave. So, since the beginning of the 2010´s have I seen almost only seen movies from many independent studios. Which all you movie geeks here out in cyberspace probably see, when you browse through the list's first 150 actors. Well that's what I have been doning. And secondly, so are the actors ranked from the relations that I have to them from my own personal opinions. And thirdly, so are the actors ranked [after careful consideration], from their profil pictures here at IMBD. And since we best read a text from left to right, so are the actors then ranked from how their faces are facing on this homepaige

1. Viggo Mortensen

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Since his screen debut as a young Amish farmer in Peter Weir's Witness (1985), Viggo Mortensen's career has been marked by a steady string of well-rounded performances.

Mortensen was born in New York City, to Grace Gamble (Atkinson) and Viggo Peter Mortensen, Sr. His father was Danish, his mother ...

2. Jeremy Irons

Actor | Dead Ringers

British actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. He is the son of Barbara Anne Brereton (Sharpe) and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Young Jeremy didn't prove very fond of figures. He visited mainland England only once a year. He wound up ...

3. 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, ...

4. 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 ...

5. 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 ...

6. Stanley Tucci

Actor | Big Night

Actor Stanley Tucci was born on November 11, 1960, in Peekskill, New York. He is the son of Joan (Tropiano), a writer, and Stanley Tucci, an art teacher. His family is Italian-American, with origins in Calabria.

Tucci took an interest in acting while in high school, and went on to attend the State ...

7. Sean Penn

Actor | Mystic River

Sean Penn is a powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work, who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints.

Sean Justin Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the ...

8. Ben Kingsley

Actor | Sexy Beast

Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji on December 31, 1943 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was a Kenyan-born medical doctor, of Gujarati Indian descent, and his mother, Anna Lyna Mary (Goodman), was an English actress. Ben began to act in stage plays during ...

9. 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,...

10. Ed Harris

Actor | Appaloosa

By transforming into his characters and pulling the audience in, Ed Harris has earned a reputation as one of the most talented actors of our time.

Ed Harris was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, to Margaret (Sholl), a travel agent, and Robert Lee Harris, a bookstore worker who also sang professionally. ...

11. John Krasinski

Actor | Jack Ryan

American actor John Krasinski is known for his role as sardonic nice guy Jim Halpert on NBC's popular TV sitcom, The Office (2005), for which he won a 2007 and 2008 Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.

Born John Burke Krasinski on October 20, 1979,...

12. Kevin Spacey

Actor | L.A. Confidential

Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in...

13. Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy

Actor | Stalker

Alexandr Kajdanovsky, Russian actor, director and screenwriter, now best remembered for his work in Andrei Tarkovsky's films. Kajdanovsky left Junior High School to enroll in technical college where he was training to become a welder. Apparently a prospect of becoming a worker did not appeal to him...

14. Nino Castelnuovo

Actor | Les parapluies de Cherbourg

Francesco 'Nino' Castelnuovo was born to humble beginnings in Lombardy, the second of four brothers. His working life began with a series of stints in various jobs, including house painting, as a mechanic and as a sales agent, after which he decided to take drama classes at the Piccolo Teatro in ...

15. Yvan Attal

Writer | Les choses humaines

Yvan Attal was born on January 4, 1965 in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is an actor and writer, known for The Accusation (2021), Rush Hour 3 (2007) and Munich (2005).

16. Pedro Pascal

Actor | The Last of Us

Pedro Pascal is a Chilean-born actor. He is best known for portraying the roles of Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), Javier Peña in the Netflix series Narcos (2015), the titular character in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2019) and Joel Miller in the...

17. Kodi Smit-McPhee

Actor | Let Me In

Kodi Smit-McPhee started acting at the age of 9. He dropped out of high school in his first year to pursue acting and currently resides in Los Angeles as does his father Andy McPhee and sister Sianoa Smit-McPhee, who are also actors.

He made his feature film debut alongside Eric Bana in 2007's "...

18. Bee Vang

Actor | Gran Torino

Bee Vang was born on November 4, 1991 in Fresno, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Gran Torino (2008), Sunset on Dawn/Kho Neeg and Comisery (2020).

19. Jared Gilman

Actor | Moonrise Kingdom

A resident of South Orange, New Jersey, Gilman attended Newark Academy and attends NYU Tisch. When he was twelve years old, he was cast in the starring role of Sam Shakusky in Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom', alongside an all-star cast of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, ...

20. Antoine Olivier Pilon

Actor | Mommy

Antoine Olivier Pilon was born on June 23, 1997 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is an actor and director, known for Mommy (2014), Most Wanted (2020) and 1:54 (2016).

21. Woody Harrelson

Actor | True Detective

Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor Woodrow Tracy Harrelson was born on July 23, 1961 in Midland, Texas, to Diane Lou (Oswald) and Charles Harrelson. He grew up in Lebanon, Ohio, where his mother was from. After receiving degrees in theater arts and English from Hanover College, he...

22. David Carradine

Actor | Kill Bill: Vol. 2

David Carradine was born in Hollywood, California, the eldest son of legendary character actor John Carradine, and his wife, Ardanelle Abigail (McCool). He was a member of an acting family that included brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine as well as his daughters Calista Carradine and ...

23. Christoph Waltz

Actor | Django Unchained

Christoph Waltz is an Austrian-German actor. He is known for his work with American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, receiving acclaim for portraying SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009) and bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained (2012). For each performance, he won...

24. Dev Patel

Actor | Slumdog Millionaire

Dev Patel was born in Harrow, London, to Anita, a caregiver, and Raj Patel, who works in IT. His parents, originally from Nairobi, Kenya, are both of Gujarati Indian descent. His first role was in the UK TV series Skins (2007). His breakout role was in the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire (...

25. Elijah Wood

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Elijah Wood is an American actor best known for portraying Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's blockbuster Lord of the Rings film trilogy. In addition to reprising the role in The Hobbit series, Wood also played Ryan in the FX television comedy Wilfred (2011) and voiced Beck in the Disney XD animated ...

26. Dominic Monaghan

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Dominic Monaghan is best known for his role in the movie adaptations of "Lord of the Rings". Before that, he became known in England for his role in the British television drama Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996).

Monaghan was born in Berlin, West Germany, to British parents Maureen, a nurse, and ...

27. Billy Boyd

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Billy Boyd was born in 1968 in Glasgow, Scotland, to Mary and William Boyd. The talented young boy, inspired by Star Wars to try acting, got his first taste of it in his school's production of Oliver Twist when he was 10. Boyd's parents were extremely supportive, driving over two hours to get him ...

28. Sean Astin

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Sean Patrick Astin (né Duke; February 25, 1971) is an American actor, voice actor, screenwriter, director, producer, family man, author, marathon runner, political activist and philanthropist who is well known for his film debut portraying Mikey in Steven Spielberg's The Goonies (1985), for playing...

29. John Rhys-Davies

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales, to Mary Margaretta Phyllis (nee Jones), a nurse, and Rhys Davies, a mechanical engineer and Colonial Officer. He graduated from the University of East Anglia and is probably best known to film audiences for his roles in the...

30. Ian McKellen

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Widely regarded as one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, twice nominated for the Oscar and recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK and US, Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, to Margery ...

31. Ian Holm

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Sir Ian Holm was one of the world's greatest actors, a Laurence Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning, BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated British star of films and the stage. He was a member of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company and has played more than 100 roles in films and on ...

32. Andy Serkis

Actor | War for the Planet of the Apes

English film actor, director and author Andy Serkis is known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for such computer-generated characters as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), ...

33. Jean-Pierre Darroussin

Actor | Un air de famille

Jean-Pierre Darroussin was born on December 4, 1953 in Courbevoie, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France. He is an actor and director, known for Family Resemblances (1996), Le pressentiment (2006) and Le Havre (2011).

34. François Damiens

Actor | L'arnacoeur

François Damiens was born on January 17, 1973 in Uccle, Belgium. He is an actor and director, known for Heartbreaker (2010), Delicacy (2011) and Dany (2018).

35. Daniel Brühl

Actor | Rush

Daniel Brühl was born in Barcelona, Spain. His father was German TV director Hanno Brühl (1937-2010), who was born in São Paulo, Brazil. His Spanish mother was a teacher. He also has a brother and a sister, Oliver and Miriam. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Cologne, Germany, where he ...

36. 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 ...

37. Rowan Atkinson

Actor | Johnny English

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born on 6 January, 1955, in Consett, Co. Durham, UK, to Ella May (Bainbridge) and Eric Atkinson. His father owned a farm, where Rowan grew up with his two older brothers, Rupert and Rodney. He attended Newcastle University and Oxford University where he earned degrees ...

38. Robin Williams

Actor | Mrs. Doubtfire

Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford ...

39. Samy Naceri

Actor | Taxi

Samy Naceri is born in Paris from an Algerian father and a French mother. He grew up in the suburbs of Paris in a modest family of seven siblings.

Since his youngest age, Samy dreamt about making movies. After many years of struggling and hard work, he will finally have a chance to meet a famous ...

40. Michael J. Fox

Actor | Back to the Future

Michael J. Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Phyllis Fox (née Piper), a payroll clerk, and William Fox. His parents moved their 10-year-old son, his three sisters, Kelli Fox, Karen, and Jacki, and his brother Steven, to Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

41. Don Cheadle

Actor | Crash

Donald Frank Cheadle was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 29, 1964. His childhood found him moving from city to city with his family: mother Bettye (née North), a teacher; father Donald Frank Cheadle Sr., a clinical psychologist; sister Cindy; and brother Colin. After graduating from high...

42. Edward James Olmos

Actor | Battlestar Galactica

Born February 24, 1947, in East Los Angeles, at The First Japanese Hospital to Pedro Olmos and Eleanor Huizar. Raised on Cheesebrough's Lane, he attended Greenwood Elementary and Montebello Junior High. He then graduated from Montebello High School in 1964. After which he received an Associative ...

43. Per Oscarsson

Actor | Sult

Per Oscarsson was born on January 28, 1927 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was an actor and writer, known for Hunger (1966), The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) and Ronia: The Robber's Daughter (1984). He was married to Gerd Hegnell and Kia Östling. He died on December 31, 2010 in Skara, ...

44. Rutger Hauer

Actor | Hobo with a Shotgun

Blond, blue-eyed, tall and handsome Dutch actor Rutger Hauer enjoyed an international reputation for playing everything from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains. Hauer was born in Breukelen, a Dutch town and former municipality in the province of Utrecht.

He was the son of Teunke ...

45. 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,...

46. Noah Jupe

Actor | Honey Boy

Noah Jupe is a British actor. He is known for his roles in the television series The Night Manager (2016); the dark comedy film Suburbicon (2017); the drama film Wonder (2017); the horror film A Quiet Place (2018) and its sequel A Quiet Place Part II (2021); the sports drama film Ford v Ferrari (...

47. Jesper Christensen

Actor | Quantum of Solace

Born 1948 in central Copenhagen. Lived there ever since. Did 25 years of theatre, - like Alceste in the Misanthropist, Richard in Richard lll (solo), Faust in Faust, Astrov in Vanja, a lot of worried men,- stopped doing it in 1998. Since then only worried men on film. Worked on more than 100 films ...

48. Amir Wilson

Actor | The Secret Garden

Amir Wilson was born on February 6, 2004 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Secret Garden (2020) and The Kid Who Would Be King (2019).

49. Anthony Hopkins

Actor | The Silence of the Lambs

Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...

50. Gösta Ekman

Actor | Mannen som slutade röka

His career began with a bit part at Skansenteatern in Hjalmar Bergman's play 'Markurells i Wadköping' in 1955. The following year he debuted in the movie Swing it, fröken (1956) playing against Alice Babs. He got speech lessons from actress Sif Ruud and worked behind the camera in his father's...

51. Lars Brygmann

Actor | Retfærdighedens ryttere

Lars Brygmann was born on February 17, 1957 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is an actor, known for Riders of Justice (2020), Dicte (2013) and Rembrandt (2002). He has been married to Katrine Brygmann Salomon since 2000.

52. Allan Edwall

Actor | Jungfrukällan

Allan Edwall was born in a working class home in Jämtland, Sweden in 1924. His father was a trade-union man and a communist. 1949-52 he attended Stockholm's Royal Daramatic Theatre School. Through the years he made more than 400 parts in theater, film, television and radio. He was also a director, ...

53. Sten Ljunggren

Actor | Tillsammans

Sten Ljunggren was born on October 16, 1938 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He is an actor and director, known for Together (2000), Border (2018) and Söndagsstek (2023). He has been married to Barbro Oborg since 1991. He was previously married to Barbro Oborg.

54. Mads Mikkelsen

Actor | Hannibal

Mads Mikkelsen's great successes parallel those achieved by the Danish film industry since the mid-1990s. He was born in Østerbro, Copenhagen, to Bente Christiansen, a nurse, and Henning Mikkelsen, a banker.

Starting out as a low-life pusher/junkie in the 1996 success Pusher (1996), he slowly grew ...

55. Søren Malling

Actor | Kapringen

Søren Malling was born in Denmark in 1964 and went to Odense Theatre School from 1988 - 1992.

Malling has appeared in many Danish TV successes such as Unit 1 (2000), The Killing (2007), Borgen (2010-2013). His credits include films as A Royal Affair (2012), A Hijacking (2012), A War (2015), Men & ...

56. Frank Langella

Actor | Frost/Nixon

Frank Langella was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, to Angelina and Frank A. Langella, a business executive. He is of Italian descent.

A stage and screen actor of extreme versatility, Frank Langella won acclaim on the New York stage in "Seascape" and followed it up with the title role in the Edward Gorey...

57. Earl Cameron

Actor | Inception

Earl Cameron did not set out to be an actor. Bermudian by birth, Cameron joined the British Merchant Navy in the 1930s for the travel opportunities that it afforded. By the early 1940s, with World War II in full swing, Cameron found himself in London working menial jobs to survive. After seeing a ...

58. Paul Giamatti

Actor | Sideways

Paul Giamatti is an American actor who has worked steadily and prominently for over thirty years, and is best known for leading roles in the films American Splendor (2003), Sideways (2004), and Barney's Version (2010) (for which he won a Golden Globe), and supporting roles in the films Cinderella ...

59. Waage Sandø

Actor | Kærlighedens smerte

Waage Sandø was born on May 8, 1943 in Denmark. He is an actor and director, known for Pain of Love (1992), Unit One (2000) and Bedrag (2016).

60. Erik Wedersøe

Actor | Rejseholdet

Erik Wedersøe was born on July 18, 1938 in Helsingør, Denmark. He was an actor and director, known for Unit One (2000), The Idiots (1998) and Anna (2000). He was married to Birgitte Wedersøe. He died on September 27, 2011 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

61. Lars Bom

Actor | Pusher

Lars Bom was born on April 8, 1961 in Søborg, Denmark. He is an actor and director, known for Pusher (1996), Webmaster (1998) and Unit One (2000). He was previously married to Birgit Høyer Jensen.

62. Sebastian Ottenstein

Cinematographer | Martin uden X

Sebastian Ottenstein was born on August 5, 1986 in Denmark. He is an actor and cinematographer, known for Martin uden X (2017), Det ender med drab (2015) and Giv os Norge tilbage (2014).

63. Henrik Larsson

Producer | The Way of the Brave

Henrik Larsson was born on June 10, 1977 in Växjö, Kronobergs län, Sweden. He is an actor and producer, known for The Way of the Brave (2016), The Biker and The Dread.

64. Dan Håfström

Actor | Ronja Rövardotter

Dan Håfström was born on July 15, 1972. He is an actor, known for Ronia: The Robber's Daughter (1984), Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (1986) and Idag röd (1987).

65. Kåre Hedebrant

Actor | Låt den rätte komma in

Kare lives with his mother, father and sister in the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden. He attends Adolf Fredrik's School of Music, the oldest specialized elementary school in Sweden. In 2008 Kare starred in his first feature film "Let the Right One In". Before that he played the title role in a ...

66. Clint Eastwood

Actor | Million Dollar Baby

Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...

67. Stellan Skarsgård

Actor | Good Will Hunting

Stellan Skarsgård was born in Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden, to Gudrun (Larsson) and Jan Skarsgård. He became a star in his teens through the title role in the TV-series Bombi Bitt och jag (1968). Between the years 1972-88 he was employed at The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, where...

68. 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 ...

69. Johannes Kuhnke

Actor | Turist

Johannes Kuhnke was born on April 17, 1972 in Strömsund, Jämtlands län, Sweden. He is an actor, known for Force Majeure (2014), Äkta människor (2012) and The House That Jack Built (2018). He has been married to Alice Bah since 2003. They have three children.

70. Ingvar Hirdwall

Actor | Män som hatar kvinnor

Ingvar Hirdwall was born on December 5, 1934 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was an actor, known for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), Daybreak (2003) and Children's Island (1980). He was married to Marika Lindström. He died on April 6, 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden.

71. Johan Ulveson

Actor | Yrrol - En kolossalt genomtänkt film

Johan Ulveson was born on May 30, 1954 in Stockholm, Sweden. He is an actor and writer, known for Yrrol - En kolossalt genomtänkt film (1994), Love Me (2019) and The Final Race (2023).

72. Ibrahim Ahmed

Actor | Timbuktu

Ibrahim Ahmed is known for Timbuktu (2014), Diving (2017) and The Mercy of the Jungle (2018).

73. Omar Sy

Actor | Intouchables

Omar Sy was born on January 20, 1978 in Trappes, Yvelines, France. He is an actor and producer, known for The Intouchables (2011), Jurassic World (2015) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). He has been married to Hélène Sy since July 6, 2007. They have four children.

74. James Gandolfini

Actor | The Sopranos

James Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey, to Santa (Penna), a high school lunchlady, and James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr., a bricklayer and head school janitor. His parents were both of Italian origin. Gandolfini began acting in the New York theater. His Broadway debut was in the 1992 revival ...

75. Hugh Grant

Actor | Love Actually

Hugh Grant, one of Britain's best known faces, has been equally entertaining on-screen as well as in real life, and has had enough sense of humor to survive a media frenzy. He is known for his roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), with Andie MacDowell, Notting Hill (1999), opposite Julia ...

76. Andrew Sachs

Actor | Fawlty Towers

Andrew Sachs born Andreas Siegfried Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, he and his family emigrated to London in 1938, to escape persecution under the Nazis. He made his name on British television and rose to fame in the 1970s for his portrayals of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers ...

77. Christopher Lee

Actor | Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films and cult saga. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it ...

78. John Cleese

Actor | A Fish Called Wanda

John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, England, to Muriel Evelyn (Cross) and Reginald Francis Cleese. He was born into a family of modest means, his father being an insurance salesman; but he was nonetheless sent off to private schools to obtain a good education. Here he ...

79. Robert Carlyle

Actor | The Full Monty

Robert Carlyle was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland, to Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. He was raised by his father after his mother left him when he was four. At the age of 21, after reading Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," he enrolled in acting ...

80. Fionn Whitehead

Actor | Dunkirk

From a family of Londoners, Fionn Whitehead was born and raised in Richmond upon Thames, Surrey (southwest England and also one of the home counties bordering Greater London). He is the son of Tim and Linda Whitehead, and has three older siblings: sisters Maisie and Hattie, and brother Sonny. ...

81. Bill Skarsgård

Actor | It

Bill Istvan Gunther Skarsgard is a Swedish actor, producer, director, writer, voice actor, and model. He is best known for portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the supernatural horror films It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. He also voiced the ...

82. Jon Voight

Actor | Midnight Cowboy

Jon Voight is an American actor of German and Slovak descent. He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role as paraplegic Vietnam War veteran Luke Martin in the war film "Coming Home" (1978). He has also been nominated for the same award other two times. He was first ...

83. Danny Aiello

Actor | Do the Right Thing

Danny Aiello was an American actor of Italian descent, and enjoyed a lengthy career in film. He was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione in the comedy-drama film "Do the Right Thing" (1989).

Aiello was born in Manhattan, New York ...

84. Gian Maria Volontè

Actor | Per un pugno di dollari

Born in Milan in 1933, Gian Maria Volontè studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He began working in theatre and television, where he was soon noticed as one of the most promising actors of his generation. After several supporting appearances in...

85. Lee Van Cleef

Actor | Escape from New York

One of the great movie villains, Clarence Leroy Van Cleef, Jr. was born in Somerville, New Jersey, to Marion Lavinia (Van Fleet) and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef, Sr. His parents were of Dutch ancestry. Van Cleef started out as an accountant. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard minesweepers and sub ...

86. Joe Spano

Actor | Apollo 13

Boyish-looking actor Joe Spano, best known for his sympathetic detective role on the grim 1980's police series Hill Street Blues (1981), was born Joseph Peter Spano on July 7, 1946, in San Francisco, the son of a doctor. A Bishop Riordan High School and University of California-Berkeley graduate, ...

87. Scott Glenn

Actor | The Hunt for Red October

Scott Glenn was born January 26, 1939, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Hope Elizabeth and Theodore Glenn, a salesman. As he grew up in Appalachia, his health was poor; he was bedridden for a year and doctors predicted he would limp for the rest of his life. During long periods of illness, Glenn was...

88. John Travolta

Actor | Pulp Fiction

John Joseph Travolta was born in Englewood, New Jersey, one of six children of Helen Travolta (née Helen Cecilia Burke) and Salvatore/Samuel J. Travolta. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. His father owned a tire repair shop called Travolta Tires in Hillsdale, ...

89. Michael Richards

Actor | Seinfeld

Immortalized as Cosmo Kramer on the classic sitcom Seinfeld (1989), West Coast comedy star Michael Richards was born on July 24, 1949, and raised in South Los Angeles, California, to Phyllis (Nardozzi), an Italian-American medical records librarian, and William Richards, an electrical engineer. ...

90. Philip Zandén

Director | Send mere slik

Philip Zandén was born on July 23, 1954 in Stockholm, Sweden. He is an actor and writer, known for Send mere slik (2001), Serena (2014) and Codename Coq Rouge (1989).

91. Rolf Lassgård

Actor | En man som heter Ove

He started acting school in Malmö and went from there to the Skånska Teatern in Landskrona, performing in plays by Shakespeare or Brecht. He made a breakthrough as Puck in William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer's Night Dream'. He also met his wife Birgitta there. The 1990s meant a lot of work in front ...

92. Lennart Jähkel

Actor | Jägarna

Lennart Jähkel was born on September 27, 1956 in Piteå, Norrbottens län, Sweden. He is an actor, known for The Hunters (1996), As It Is in Heaven (2004) and Goda grannar (1987).

93. Pio Marmaï

Actor | Toute première fois

Marmaï Pio, born 13 July 1984 in Strasbourg, is a French actor. Coming from an artistic background (his mother is a former costume designer at the Strasbourg Opera and his father is an emigrated Italian designer), Pio Marmaï followed the course of the Scuola Commedia dell'Arte Antonio Fava, The ...

94. Colin Firth

Actor | A Single Man

Colin Andrew Firth was born into an academic family in Grayshott, Hampshire, England. His mother, Shirley Jean (Rolles), was a comparative religion lecturer at the Open University, and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, lectured on history at Winchester University College (formerly King Alfred's...

95. Michael Madsen

Actor | Reservoir Dogs

Michael Madsen is an enigmatic force in the entertainment industry, widely regarded as one of the most intense and compelling actors of our time. With an electrifying presence both on and off the screen, Madsen has captivated audiences worldwide with his mesmerizing performances, making an ...

96. Thomas Sadoski

Actor | The Newsroom

Thomas Sadoski was born on 1st July 1976 in Bethany, Connecticut. In 1980, he moved with his family to College Station, Texas. He has been in numerous plays Off-Broadway, and many regional theaters, including the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Made his Broadway debut in 2004, playing Mary-Louise ...

97. Jeff Daniels

Actor | The Squid and the Whale

Actor Jeff Daniels was born in Athens, Georgia, but was raised in Chelsea, Michigan. He is the son of Marjorie J. (Ferguson) and Robert Lee Daniels, who owned The Chelsea Lumber Company and was also mayor of Chelsea. Jeff attended Central Michigan University, but became involved in acting and ...

98. Sam Waterston

Actor | The Killing Fields

Sam Waterston was born on November 15, 1940 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Killing Fields (1984), The Great Gatsby (1974) and Law & Order (1990). He has been married to Lynn Louisa Woodruff since January 26, 1976. They have three children. He was ...

99. John Gallagher Jr.

Actor | 10 Cloverfield Lane

John Gallagher Jr. has appeared in several television programs, including The West Wing (1999), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), NYPD Blue (1993), Ed (2000), Love Monkey (2006), and Hallmark Hall of Fame's film The Flamingo Rising (2001). He played Jim Harper in Aaron Sorkin's The ...

100. 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 ...



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