Who do you think the greatest living Actor is thesedays?

I like everything Clint Eastwood has done, BUT I think Hackman has an enormous body of high quality work and only slowed down in his 80s. Pacino and DeNiro have devolved into playing caricatures of their early work. Depp now plays himself in his films and most of his recent stuff sux. Hopkins continues to just blow me away with his Hannibal character. Hanks is terrific. Bale leaves me cold.
 
The two greatest actors right now are probably Daniel Day Lewis and Christian Bale.

Bale is a very good actor. Very under rated by most people. Everyone seems to only know him as Batman.

The chick from hunger games. Not that movie but she was in one about the Ozarks. Superb acting.

Joe Pesci

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I suspect many of us have rated actors that either "look" like we wish we did or those that play in roles that interest us, or rate them how they stand in the real world with their ideas on guns and politics. None of that should be what makes a great actor. Not if we are talking about their actual "acting" ability.
There are singers and actors that probley are great at their profession but I hate their politics. I wont watch a actor or movie that has filthy dialog.
I like westerns and other historical movies. Has anyone mentioned Kurt Russell yet? I always liked John Wayne like most here, but face it, he only played "John Wayne". Same for Eastwood. There are very few "young" actors that I like. Its a age thing I guess due to me kissing 73 years old.
The newer generations tastes are far different than mine. My wife watchs that "American Idol" tryouts or whatever. I now hate tues and wed nights. I swear if no one had ever heard of Johnny Cash, Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis before and they got on stage to try out, that "Expert" panel would throw them off their first try!
Clark Gabel, Errol Flynn, Ward Bond and the type probley wouldnt make it with todays younger generation.

I think you hit the mark on a lot of the above. Also on Eastwood, ive never heard of him ever having something negative about something he did--unlike Sean Penn, jim carrey and others. Ive never met him but I know others have--and he is what you see is what you get. I have met James Cagney--and he was one of the nicest people I was lucky to meet. Also, he is a better Actor than Duke is, but Duke is still my top favorite.Richard Basehart is a better actor than Duke as well and is another favorite of mine but--he aint John Wayne. :-))
 
The chick from hunger games. Not that movie but she was in one about the Ozarks. Superb acting.

Jennifer Lawrence, born and raised here in my adopted home city. Also nominated for best supporting actress this year, and has won all manner of awards at twenty-three. Delightfully unspoiled so far, which is nice to see.

The movie you mentioned was "Winter's Bone", I believe.
 
Jennifer Lawrence, born and raised here in my adopted home city. Also nominated for best supporting actress this year, and has won all manner of awards at twenty-three. Delightfully unspoiled so far, which is nice to see.

The movie you mentioned was "Winter's Bone", I believe.

Yes that's it!

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Eastwood has found his successful way all around the movie industry, be it acting, directing, music and even casting influence. So he's up there. Others of note to me are Hackman, DeNiro, Streep, Nicholson, Oldman, Day Louis, John Goodman, Keitel, Pacino, Ford, Penn, Morgan Freeman, Mirren, Jeff Bridges and Hoffman. There is truly talent galore out there nowadays. These picks I list here are based solely on acting, not personalities.
 
It depends on the role. Liam Neeson is very good in both his action movies like, "Taken" and in erotic thrillers like, "Chloe."

Harrison Ford is good. Michael Douglas is not.
 
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I think of range when judging acting. Robert Duvall and Meryl Streep can, and have done, many varied roles and are always believable. They are whoever they are supposed to be and literally transform into their roles.

Tom Hanks is very close, and I really like Ned Beatty.
 
I may be off the beaten path with this, but I think that the best actor in terms of acting ability and versatility is Jeff Daniels. He pulled off being a complete goof in Dumb and Dumber, was the creepy killer in Blood Work, and was a war hero as Col. Chamberlain, and a bunch of things in between.

As far as big names, I think Tom Hanks is also very good and versatile.

As much as I enjoy Clint Eastwood and John Wayne movies, they are/were usually typecast.
 
Another vote for Christian Bale. He is amazing. If he isn't the best actor, and it's a subjective contest, he has to be top 5. Look at him in American Hustle and in The Fighter. He was also the best Batman.

Also a very good actor who has gotten fantastic roles over the years is Tom Hanks.
 
I may be off the beaten path with this, but I think that the best actor in terms of acting ability and versatility is Jeff Daniels. He pulled off being a complete goof in Dumb and Dumber, was the creepy killer in Blood Work, and was a war hero as Col. Chamberlain, and a bunch of things in between.

As far as big names, I think Tom Hanks is also very good and versatile.

As much as I enjoy Clint Eastwood and John Wayne movies, they are/were usually typecast.
You're off the beaten path but much closer to the mark specified in this thread's title. ;)

Jeff Daniels is short-list all-time great. I can't say "greatest living", but in terms of incredible versatility and absolute immersion, Jeff Daniels mops the floor with 99% of all actors out there. Good call.
 
There are still a few "great actors" out there working today.

I had to read way down in this posting to find one of the best of all time: Gene Hackman - - - the man has range of characters he has played . . . almost as good as Jimmy Stewart was!!!

And, yep, Eastwood has been entertaining the people since Rowdy Yates was a pup............

Ned Beatty is another wide ranging actor............always enjoy his outings!

Let us not forget our brothers on the other side of the street:

Denzel Washington.............now, he is good.
Cuba Gooding JR.................has a great range
Will Smith..........................a very large surprise winner
 
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