Which 4 actors have the most range/versatility?

So what's your picks?


  • Total voters
    133
Very true. Where are the Gene Hackman's, William Hurt, Ben Kingsley, Sidney Poitier and John Hurt from the list?

Well you can only put so many in a limited options on the poll. I actually had John Hurt initially, but I thought he wouldn't get that many votes.

Gene Hackman, Sidney Poitier I don't consider that versatile. Maybe Ben Kingsley is the most versatile of the group you mentioned, besides John Hurt. Who would you remove in the poll for these guys?
 
Tilda Swinton
Meryl Streep
Cate Blanchett
Michelle Williams
Michelle Pfeiffer
Julianne Moore
Catherine Keener
Annette Bening
Kathy Bates
Jodie Foster
Toni Collette
Kate Winslet
Molly Parker
Amy Adams
 
3 of my votes are with the majority, but i chose heath. Only because i still cant see him in that make up.
 
Tom Hanks is the correct answer. The guy can do everything
 
Well you can only put so many in a limited options on the poll. I actually had John Hurt initially, but I thought he wouldn't get that many votes.

Gene Hackman, Sidney Poitier I don't consider that versatile. Maybe Ben Kingsley is the most versatile of the group you mentioned, besides John Hurt. Who would you remove in the poll for these guys?
I don't think that Tom Hardy belongs in the list as much as I love him. Hanks too is quite vanilla except for Philadephia. Only two roles from Heath that I consider to be in the elite quality. Val Kilmer use to belong in the versatile category but too many personal problems kept him blacklisted later on his career. D'Onofrio is great too
 
I don't think that Tom Hardy belongs in the list as much as I love him. Hanks too is quite vanilla except for Philadephia. Only two roles from Heath that I consider to be in the elite quality
Tom Hardy is really versatile. Him playing Heathcliffe, to a chav London criminal in The Take and more recently Peaky Blinders....he's awesome.
 
I don't think that Tom Hardy belongs in the list as much as I love him. Hanks too is quite vanilla except for Philadephia. Only two roles from Heath that I consider to be in the elite quality. Val Kilmer use to belong in the versatile category but too many personal problems kept him blacklisted later on his career
I think that's what's kept Nicolas Cage out of many people's mouths, but I think he goes toe-to-toe with Dafoe in terms of zany out-there performances of high caliber. I think Hanks, Hardy, and Ledger are all versatile, in that order, but I'd have trouble putting them over Ben Kingsley.
 
I think that's what's kept Nicolas Cage out of many people's mouths, but I think he goes toe-to-toe with Dafoe in terms of zany out-there performances of high caliber. I think Hanks, Hardy, and Ledger are all versatile, in that order, but I'd have trouble putting them over Ben Kingsley.
Yeah Cage is crazy enough that he actually ate a real life roach in Vampire's Kiss for his scene
 
Yeah Cage is crazy enough that he actually ate a real life roach in Vampire's Kiss for his scene
Joe Rogan did it FOR NOTHEEEEEEEEEEENG.



Despite that performance, I'm gonna have to settle on old PSH [FROM THIS LIST].

philip-seymour-hoffman.jpg
 
I don't think that Tom Hardy belongs in the list as much as I love him. Hanks too is quite vanilla except for Philadephia. Only two roles from Heath that I consider to be in the elite quality. Val Kilmer use to belong in the versatile category but too many personal problems kept him blacklisted later on his career. D'Onofrio is great too

Yeah I overlooked D'Onofrio. He's definitely versatile. I also think Ted Levine should be mentioned.
 
What people mean by "range" is quite ill defined though, is it the ability to play a variety of different characters with different speech patterns and mannerisms or is it the ability to dramatic, comic, etc roles or even show a wide variety of drama?

Oldman does seem like the natural choice as I think he fits both of those, played a wide variety of characters with different mannerisms, played dramatic roles, played comic roles(albeit not as often but Zorg especially showed good ability). More recently Phenoix would probably be in with a shout as well.

Honestly though I tend to rank the second part more highly, even if an actor does tend towards having the same persona from role to role I don't mind as long as that persona is well suited to them film, someone like Sam Rockwell being a good example of that who shows a lot of range in terms of what he can do with that persona, often in a single role. Brendan Gleeson is also I think very underrated in that fashion, does both comedy and drama extremely well

On the actress side as well I think you tend to get much more of that as well, you don't get as many roles calling for someone to create an entirely different persona. Cate Blanchet does seem like an obvious choice as someone who does drama and comedy very well plus doesn't just stick to a single persona.
 

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