top movie actors list

Johnny Depp is perhaps one of the most versatile actors of his day and age in Hollywood. He was born John Christopher Depp II in Owensboro, Kentucky, on June 9, 1963, to Betty Sue (Wells), who worked as a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer.

James Eugene "Jim" Carrey (/ˈkæri/; born January 17, 1962)[3] is a Canadian American actor, comedian, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for his highly energetic slapstick performances

John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, having performed for nearly 60 years. He is known for playing a wide range of starring or supporting roles, including satirical comedy, romance and dark portrayals of excitable and psychopathic characters.Nicholson's 12 Academy Award nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the Academy's history.

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks[2] (born July 9, 1956)[3][4] is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles in Splash (1984), Big (1988), Turner & Hooch (1989), Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail (both 1998), The Green Mile (1999), Cast Away (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2006), Captain Phillips, and Saving Mr. Banks (both 2013), as well as for his voice work in the animated Toy Story series and The Polar Express (2004).Hanks' films have grossed more than $4.3 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices and more than $8.5 billion worldwide,[5] making him the fourth highest-grossing actor in North America.[6] Hanks has been nominated for numerous awards during his career. He won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia, as well as a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a People's Choice Award for Best Actor for his role in Forrest Gump. In 2004, he received the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts

William Bradley “Brad Pitt,” is a popular actor and philanthropist from Shawnee, Oklahoma, United States. After gaining recognition in 1991 in Thelma & Louise, Brad has featured in several movies in Hollywood, some of which won him a Screen Actor Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Awards, and two Academy Award nominations.

Sir Michael Caine, CBE (/keɪn/; born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor and author. Renowned for his distinctive working class cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over 115 films and is regarded as a British film icon.

Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor.[2] He holds both British and Irish citizenship. Born and raised in London, he excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre, before being accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years. Despite his traditional actor training at the Bristol Old Vic, he is considered to be a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles.[3][4] He often remains completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health.[5] He is one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1998, with as many as five years between roles.

Morgan Freeman[2] (born June 1, 1937)[3] is an American actor, producer and narrator. Freeman won an Academy Award in 2005 for Best Supporting Actor with Million Dollar Baby (2004), and he has received Oscar nominations for his performances in Street Smart (1987), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and Invictus (2009). He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Glory (1989), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Seven (1995), Deep Impact (1998), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Bruce Almighty (2003), The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012), The Lego Movie (2014), and Lucy (2014). He is known for his distinctively smooth, deep voice. He got his break as part of the cast of the 1970s children's program The Electric Company. Morgan Freeman is ranked as the 3rd highest box office star with over $4.316 billion total box office gross, an average of $74.4 million per film.

Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012), credited mononymously as Thilakan, was an Indian film and stage actor who has starred in over 200 Malayalam films.[2] He is considered to be one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema, and is popularly mentioned as the Perumthachan (master craftsman) of Malayalam cinema.[3][4] He has won 3 National Film Awards and 9 Kerala State Film Awards. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 2009 for his contributions towards the arts.

Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair (born 21 May 1960),[1] better known as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, producer and occasional singer best known for his work in Malayalam films. Mohanlal made his acting debut in Thiranottam (1978), but the film got released only after 25 years due to censorship issues.[3] His first film to be released was Manjil Virinja Pookkal (1980) in which he acted as the antagonist. His major commercial success of Rajavinte Makan (1986) which is widely considered as a cult classic in action movie genre.[4][5]

In 1991, he produced and acted in Bharatham which is interpreted as a modern-day adaptation of the Ramayana from Bharath's perspective. The film was a critical and commercial success, and got Mohanlal the National Film Award for Best Actor for that year.[6] His role in Bharatam was listed among 25 best acting performance of Indian cinema by Forbes on occasion of celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema.[7] In 1999, he produced and acted in Vanaprastham, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI Fest).[8] It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and is considered to be one of Mohanlal's best performances.[9] Vanaprastham was screened retrospective, during the 2014 International Film Festival of India in the Celebrating Dance in Indian cinema section.

Heathcliff Andrew "Heath" Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and director. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger left for the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. His work comprised nineteen films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Monster's Ball (2001), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), the latter two being posthumous.[1] He also produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.Ledger died on 22 January 2008[4][6] from an accidental intoxication from prescription drugs.[7][8][9] A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Ledger received numerous posthumous accolades for his critically acclaimed performance in the film, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards (for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously)

Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, producer, writer, singer and voice artist. Starting as a stand-up comedian in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, he is credited with leading San Francisco's comedy renaissance.[5] After rising to fame as Mork in Mork & Mindy (1978–82), Williams went on to establish a career in both stand-up comedy and feature film acting. He was known for his improvisational skills

Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor.[3][4] He has starred in both blockbuster films and smaller projects from independent producers and art houses.

Bale first caught the public eye at the age of 13, when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). Based on the original story by J. G. Ballard, Bale played an English boy who is separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself lost in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.[5] In 2000, he garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal of serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. He is known for going to great lengths to portray characters in films, notably for the psychological thriller The Machinist (2004), where he lost 63 pounds (28.5 kg) to play the role of Trevor Reznik.[6]

Bale went on to receive greater commercial recognition for his performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). His portrayal of Dicky Eklund in the David O. Russell-directed biographical film The Fighter (2010), earned him critical acclaim and a number of awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has since gained further acclaim as well as subsequent Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Russell's American Hustle and Adam McKay's The Big Short.

Willard Carroll "Will" Smith Jr.[2][3][4] (born September 25, 1968)[2] is an American actor, producer, rapper, and songwriter. In April 2007, Newsweek called him "the most powerful actor in Hollywood".[5] Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, and has won four Grammy Awards.

He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally.[6]

Smith has been ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes.[7] As of 2014, 17 of the 21 films in which he has had leading roles have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million each, five taking in over $500 million each in global box office receipts. As of 2014, his films have grossed $6.6 billion at the global box office.[8] For his performances as boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001) and stockbroker Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Smith received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio[1] (/dᵻˈkæpri.oʊ/; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and a film producer. In the early 1990s, DiCaprio began his career by appearing in television commercials, after which he had recurring roles in various television series such as the soap opera, Santa Barbara, and the sitcom, Growing Pains. In 1993, he began his film career by starring as Josh in Critters 3 (1991). He starred in the film adaptation of the memoir, This Boy's Life (1993), and was praised for his supporting role in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). He gained public recognition with leading roles in The Basketball Diaries (1995), and the romantic drama Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame with James Cameron's epic romance, Titanic (1997), which became the highest-grossing film to that point and is currently the second highest grossing film of all time.

Since 2000, DiCaprio has received critical acclaim for his work in a wide range of film genres. DiCaprio's subsequent films include, The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), the biographical crime drama Catch Me If You Can (2002), and the epic historical drama Gangs of New York (2002), which marked his first of many collaborations with director, Martin Scorsese. He was acclaimed for his performances in the political war thriller Blood Diamond (2006), the neo-noir crime drama The Departed (2006), the espionage thriller Body of Lies (2008), the drama Revolutionary Road (2008), the psychological thriller Shutter Island (2010), the science fiction thriller Inception (2010), the biographical film J. Edgar (2011), the western Django Unchained (2012), and the period drama The Great Gatsby (2013).

DiCaprio's portrayals of Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004) and Hugh Glass in The Revenant (2015) won him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, and his role as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) won him the award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He won his first BAFTA award for Best Actor for The Revenant. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards—five for acting and one for producing—and in 2016, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Revenant. DiCaprio is the founder of his own production company, Appian Way Productions.

Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954), also spelled as Kamal Hassan,[4][5] is an Indian film actor, screenwriter, director, producer, playback singer, choreographer, lyricist, philanthropist and dancer. His birth name is Parthasarathy.[6] Haasan has won several Indian film awards including four National Film Awards and 19 Filmfare Awards. With seven submissions, Kamal Haasan has starred in the highest number of films submitted by India for the Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film. Haasan's production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films.

Kamal Haasan was titled Kalaimamani in 1979, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014 and the prestigious French honour Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2016.[7]

After several projects as a child, Haasan's breakthrough as a lead actor came in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He won his first National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless schoolteacher who cares for a childlike amnesiac in Moondram Pirai (1983). Haasan was noted for his performances in Mani Ratnam's crime film Nayagan (1987), rated by Time as one of the best films in cinema history as well as Shankar's vigilante film Indian (1996) which saw him playing dual roles of a father and a son. Since then he has appeared in a number of films including Hey Ram (2000), Virumaandi (2004), Vishwaroopam (2013) which were his own productions and Dasavathaaram (2008) in which he played ten different roles.

Shah Rukh Khan (born Shahrukh Khan; 2 November 1965), also known as SRK, is an Indian film actor, producer and television personality. Referred to in the media as the "Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" or "King Khan", he has appeared in more than 80 Bollywood films, and earned numerous accolades, including 14 Filmfare Awards. Khan has a significant following in Asia and the Indian diaspora worldwide. In terms of audience size and income, he has been described as one of the most successful film stars in the world.[5][6][7]

Liam John Neeson, OBE (born 7 June 1952)[2] is an actor from Northern Ireland.[3] In 1976, he joined the Lyric Players' Theatre in Belfast for two years. He then acted in the Arthurian film, Excalibur (1981). Between 1982 and 1987, Neeson starred in five films; most notably alongside Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins in The Bounty (1984) and Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons in The Mission (1986). He landed a leading role alongside Patrick Swayze in Next of Kin (1989).

He rose to prominence when he starred in the title role in Steven Spielberg's 1993 Oscar winner Schindler's List. He has since starred in other successful films, including the title role in the historical biopic Michael Collins (1996), the film adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables (1998), Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as Qui-Gon Jinn (1999), the biographical drama Kinsey (2004), the superhero film Batman Begins as Ra's al Ghul (2005), the action thriller series Taken (2008–15), the fantasy adventure film Clash of the Titans (2010) as Zeus, the fantasy films in the The Chronicles of Narnia series (2005–10), and the thriller-survival film The Grey (2011).

He has been nominated for a number of awards, including an Academy Award for Best Actor, a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and three Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama. Empire magazine ranked Neeson among both the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History" and "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time

Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon (/ˈdeɪmən/; born October 8, 1970)[2] is an American actor, film producer and screenwriter. He is ranked among Forbes magazine's most bankable stars[3] and is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time.[4][nb 1] Damon has received several accolades, including an Academy Award from four nominations, two Golden Globe Awards, and has been nominated for two British Academy Film Awards and five Emmy Awards.Damon is also known for his starring roles as Jason Bourne in the Bourne franchise (2002–16) and as a con man in the Ocean's Trilogy (2001–07). For his supporting role as the rugby player Francois Pienaar in Invictus (2009) and his leading role as an astronaut stranded on Mars in The Martian (2015), Damon received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor, respectively. The latter also won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Damon has received Emmy Award nominations for his portrayal of Scott Thorson in the biopic Behind the Candelabra (2013) and for producing the reality series Project Greenlight.

Sreekumar Achary (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar, is an Indian film actor who has starred in over a 1,000 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decades. He's popular mainly for his comedy roles.[3]

Jagathy is on the Guinness Book of World Records for essaying roles in more than a thousand films. He has won 5 Kerala State Film Awards for roles in various films.His first film was Chattambi Kalyani. His role earned him recognition. With 1,100-odd Malayalam films to his credit, he is reckoned to be one of the most popular actors in the Malayalam film industry.[9] He has directed two films, written stories for two films & sung in 10 odd films. He considers acting a serious profession. Nevertheless, his contribution to cinema was neglected and never was considered at any awards.[3] He acted once in a language other than Malayalam: in Aadum Koothu, a Tamil film directed by the Malayalam director T. V. Chandran.[10]Narasimham was the 1000th movie of Jagathy Sreekumar. He holds the world record for acting in maximum number of films.

Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Bhanji; 31 December 1943)[2] is an English actor. In a career spanning over 40 years, he has won an Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA, two Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He is known for his starring role as Mohandas Gandhi in the 1982 film Gandhi, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He is also known for his performances in the films Schindler's List (1993), Twelfth Night (1996), Sexy Beast (2000), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Shutter Island (2010), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), Hugo (2011), and Iron Man 3 (2013).

Kingsley was made a Knight Bachelor at Buckingham Palace in 2002 for services to the British film industry.[3] In 2010, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[4] In 2013 he received the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment.

aseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1949 or 16 August 1950[a]) is an Indian film and stage actor and director, and a prominent figure in Indian parallel cinema. Shah has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards and an award at the Venice Film Festival. The Government of India has honoured him with the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan awards for his contributions to Indian cinema.[2] Shah has also appeared in the Lollywood films Khuda Kay Liye and Zinda Bhaag.Shah has acted in movies such as Nishant, Aakrosh, Sparsh, Mirch Masala, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, Trikal, Bhavni Bhavai, Junoon, Mandi, Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, Ardh Satya, Katha, and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, to name a few.[5]

Shah became active in mainstream Bollywood cinema with the 1980 film Hum Paanch. In 1982, he acted in the film Dil Aakhir Dil Hai directed by Ismail Shroff, opposite Rakhee. One of his most important films, Masoom, was released in 1983 and was shot at St Joseph's College, Nainital. His next major success in mainstream films was the 1986 multi-starrer film Karma where he acted alongside veteran Dilip Kumar. Starring roles for films such as Ijaazat (1987), Jalwa (1988) and Hero Hiralal (1988) followed.

Amitabh Harivansh Rai Shrivastava Bachchan (IPA: [əmɪˈtaːbʱ ˈbəttʃən]; born 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s for movies like Zanjeer and Deewar, and was dubbed India's first "angry young man" for his on-screen roles in Bollywood. Referred to as the "Shahenshah of Bollywood", "Star of the Millennium" or "Big B",[3][4][5][6] he has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades.[7][8] Bachchan is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema.[9][10][11][12][13] So total was his dominance of the movie scene in the 1970s and 1980s that the French director François Truffaut called him a "one-man industry."[14][15]

Bachchan has won numerous accolades in his career, including four National Film Awards as Best Actor and many awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies. He has won fifteen Filmfare Awards and is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 40 nominations overall. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 for his contributions to the arts.[16] The Government of France honoured him with its highest civilian honour, Knight of the Legion of Honour, in 2007 for his exceptional career in the world of cinema and beyond.

Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965)[2] is an American actor. His career has included critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, and a resurgence of commercial success in middle age. For three consecutive years from 2012 to 2015, Downey has topped the Forbes list of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, making an estimated $80 million in earnings between June 2014 and June 2015.[3][4]

Making his screen debut at the age of five, appearing in his father's film Pound (1970), Downey Jr. appeared in roles associated with the Brat Pack, such as the teen sci-fi comedy Weird Science (1985) and the drama Less Than Zero (1987). He starred as title character in the 1992 film Chaplin, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. After being released in 2000 from the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison where he was on drug charges, Downey joined the cast of the TV series Ally McBeal playing Calista Flockhart's love interest. This earned him a Golden Globe Award. His character was written out when Downey was fired after two drug arrests in late 2000 and early 2001. After his last stay in a court-ordered drug treatment program, Downey achieved sobriety.

Downey Jr.'s career prospects improved when he featured in the mystery thriller Zodiac (2007), and the satirical action comedy Tropic Thunder (2008); for the latter he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Beginning in 2008, Downey began portraying the role of Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in several films as either the lead role, member of an ensemble cast, or in a cameo. Each of these films has grossed over $500 million at the box office worldwide; four of these—The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War—earned over $1 billion. Downey Jr. has also played the title character in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009) and its sequel (2011).

Sir Patrick Stewart OBE (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor whose career has included roles on stage, television, and film.

Beginning his career with a long run with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stewart's first major screen roles were in BBC-broadcast television and film during the mid-late 1970s, including Hedda, and the I, Claudius miniseries.

In the 1980s, Stewart began working in American television and film, with roles such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and its successor films, as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series of superhero movies, the lead of the Starz TV series Blunt Talk, and voice roles such as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock in American Dad!.

In 1993, TV Guide named Stewart the Best Dramatic Television Actor of the 1980s.