Guest Post: Jordan’s Top 10 Actors/Actresses

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**ORIGINAL ARTICLE FOLLOWS**

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To make my top ten Actors or Actresses list these actors had to be people that when their names are mentioned I immediately answer “yes.” They are talent that I will endure a bad film just to watch them use their craft.

1. Meryl Streep:

August: Osage County, The Iron Lady, The Devil wears Prada, Julie & Julia

The women, is an acting machine. I mean, she is just so in tune with her actress-ness that it is a privilege to watch her on the big silver screen. She shows such vulnerability in her pieces, yet holding the strong female character that demands respect and yet is still human with the need to be loved and cherished. In particular, The Devil wears Prada and The Iron Lady. If her acting isn’t spectacular enough, she has been nominated for an academy award 18 times and has won it three times.

2. Maggie Smith:

Downton Abbey (2010), Harry Potter (2001), Gosford Park (2001), Sister Act (1992)

Any one who can hurl insult after insult, yet make you fall for her is a genius. I mean, Maggie goes from Professor Minerva McGonagall to Dowager Countess of Grantham in the BBC’s Downton Abbey and then back again with ease. I love it.

She has performed in over sixty films & TV series with some of the most prominent actors & actresses in the world. Smith has been nominated for an Oscar six times & won twice for, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) & California Suite (1978).

Seriously, who doesn’t love an actress whose trade mark is “played grumpy, acid-witted ladies in the second half of her career.”

3. John Malcovich:

 

RED (2010), The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

This man. Ah. Histerical in RED (2010).

He has won an emmy for his broadway part in Death of Salesman in which he shared the stage with Dustin Hoffman. His trademark “often plays menacing, sadistic villains.” Also a fun interesting fact about Malcovich, he is the first actor to win a mojor award (New York Film Critics) for portraying himself in a movie (non-cameo role), Being John Malcovich (1999).

4. Alan Arkin:

 

The Grudge Match (2013), Stand up guys (2012), Argo (2012), Little Miss Sunshine(2006)

There is an era of actors that is slowly disappearing & Arkin is one from it. He brings a weight to his characters, yet keeps them funny. Arkin is like your grandfather or your grandfather’s friend whom you just want to hang out with because you just know that he has stories. He has lived a life that you can just see when you watch him perform. With each character I watch him play, I always walk away thinking, I would love to spend an afternoon with that guy.

He has received five Golden Globe nominations, won one in 1967 The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming. has received four Academy Award nominations also only winning one in 2007 for Little Miss Sunshine.

5. Colin Firth:

 

The King’s Speech (2010), Gambit (2012),

Two words, King’s Speech. It’s that performance that won him both a Golden Globe and an Oscar in 2011. Firth delivered such a moving performance in Kings Speech that put him on my radar. Until that point I hadn’t taken much notice of him. However after recently viewing Gambit, Firth is becoming an actor I look out for and would most likely go into his film blind. He is a solid, solid actor.

6. Johnny Depp

Any of his works. Depp is one of the most versatile actors I’ve seen. There are a couple out there that have been able to do a few different characters, but no one is quite like Depp. From Cry-Baby to Edward Scissorhands to Gilbert Grape to Wonka to Mad Hatter. Depp’s filmography is a list of must see movies.

Fun trade marks, known for wearing outlandish clothing and numerous tattoos, frequently works with director Tim Burton, and supposedly never watches his own movies.

I once heard that he came up with the voice for Willy Wonka while playing dolls with his daughter. Awesome yet slightly unnerving.

7. Helena Bonham Carter

The Kings Speech (2010), Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix (2007), Fight Club (1999)

This actress is becoming one of my top female actresses. I hadn’t really noticed her much before I caught the Harry Potter wagon, but since then my eyes have been opened. She is versatile and oh so talented. It was her dark edge that first made me uncomfortable with her on my screen staring at me, but as I began to watch her and discover that that edgy feeling wasn’t so terrible. Well, the rest is history.

Pair her with any other actor on this list and … where do I sign? That’s a film I want to see.

This woman has a list of trademarks… six if we are really counting. 😉 Often plays eccentric characters, often plays pre-20th century characters, and my personal favorite trademark, wild messy hair & dark makeup.

8. Dame Helen Mirren

RED (2010), The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Gosford Park (2001)

She is such a graceful actress. No matter if she is keeping everyone in line as housekeeper in Gosford Park, running the country as the Queen, or skillfully taking out people as a retired MI6 agent. She always gets the job done without a hair out of place.

She has won one Oscar and two Golden Globes.

My final two slots in my top ten are in a bit of a flux at this point in time. However, right now my last two positions would go to:

9. Clive Owen

Inside Man (2006)

10. Robert Downey Jr.

         Iron Man (2008)

 

What actor is your top? Who would you go see blindly in theater?

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Thank you for visiting Mr. and Mrs. at the Movies! We have discontinued this blog and have migrated over to our brand new site, Tarpley Movie Talk. If you would like more discussion of movie news, think pieces on hollywood trends and straight-forward film reviews. Please click on over to the new site and check it out.

You can also follow the blog on Facebook and follow Josh Tarpley on Twitter.