Best Actor 1960 -

1. Adam Driver

Actor | Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Adam Douglas Driver was born in San Diego, California. His mother, Nancy (Needham) Wright, is a paralegal from Mishawaka, Indiana, and his father, Joe Douglas Driver, who has deep roots in the American South, is from Little Rock, Arkansas. His stepfather is a Baptist minister. His ancestry includes...

2019

1. Adam Driver, Marriage Story 2. Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems 3. Robert DeNiro, The Irishman 4. Joaquin Phoenix, Joker 5. Edward Norton, Motherless Brooklyn

2. 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 ...

2018

1. Viggo Mortensen, Green Book 2. Joaquin Phoenix, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot 3. Ethan Hawke, First Reformed 4. Christian Bale, Vice 5. Matt Dillon, The House That Jack Built

3. 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 ...

2017

1. James McAvoy, Split 2. Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread 3. Jake Gyllenhaal, Stronger 4. Woody Harrelson, The Glass Castle 5. Ben Stiller, Brad's Status

4. Andrew Garfield

Actor | Hacksaw Ridge

Andrew Russell Garfield was born in Los Angeles, California, to a British mother, Lynn, and American father, Richard Garfield. When he was three, he moved to Surrey, U.K., with his parents and older brother. He is of English and Polish Jewish heritage. Andrew was raised in a middle class family, ...

2016

1. Andrew Garfield, Silence 2. Denzel Washington, Fences 3. Jesse Pemmons, Other People 4. Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic 5. Casey Affleck, Manchester By the Sea

5. Michael Fassbender

Actor | Shame

Michael Fassbender is an Irish actor who was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a German father, Josef, and an Irish mother, Adele (originally from Larne, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland). Michael was raised in the town of Killarney, Co. Kerry, in south-west Ireland, where his family moved to when ...

2015

1. Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs 2. Jason Segel, The End of the Tour 3. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl 4. John Cusack, Love & Mercy 5. Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

6. Michael Keaton

Actor | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny...

2014

1. Michael Keaton, Birdman 2. Matthew McConaughey, Interstellar 3. Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler 4. Tom Hardy, Locke 5. Jeremy Renner, Kill the Messenger

7. Chiwetel Ejiofor

Actor | 12 Years a Slave

English actor, writer and director Chiwetel Ejiofor is renowned for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He is also known for playing Okwe in Dirty Pretty Things...

2013

1. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave 2. Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club 3. Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips 4. Joaquin Phoenix, Her 5. Mathieu Amalric, Venus in Fur

8. Joaquin Phoenix

Actor | Walk the Line

Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Rafael Bottom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Arlyn (Dunetz) and John Bottom, and is the middle child in a brood of five. His parents, from the continental United States, were then serving as Children of God missionaries. His mother is from a Jewish family from New ...

2012

1. Joaquin Phoenix, The Master 2. Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln 3. John Hawkes, The Sessions 4. Melvil Poupaud, Laurence Anyways 5. Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

9. Michael Shannon

Actor | Take Shelter

Michael Corbett Shannon was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, the son of Geraldine Hine, a lawyer, and Donald Sutherlin Shannon, an accounting professor at DePaul University. His grandfather was entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon.

Shannon began his professional stage career in Chicago. His ...

2011

1. Michael Shannon, Take Shelter 2. Michael Fassbender, Shame 3. Daniel Henshall, The Snowtown Murders 4. Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 5. Peyman Moaadi, A Separation

10. James Franco

Actor | Spring Breakers

Known for his breakthrough starring role on Freaks and Geeks (1999), James Franco was born April 19, 1978 in Palo Alto, California, to Betsy Franco, a writer, artist, and actress, and Douglas Eugene "Doug" Franco, who ran a Silicon Valley business. His mother is Jewish and his father was of ...

2010

1. James Franco, 127 Hours 2. Colin Firth, The King's Speech 3. Leonardo, DiCaprio, Inception 4. Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine 5. Jim Carrey, I Love You Phillip Morris

11. Jeff Bridges

Actor | The Big Lebowski

Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California, the son of well-known film and TV star Lloyd Bridges and his long-time wife Dorothy Dean Bridges (née Simpson). He grew up amid the happening Hollywood scene with big brother Beau Bridges. Both boys popped up, without ...

2009

1. Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart 2. Viggo Mortensen, The Road 3. Morgan Freeman, Invictus 4. Johnny Depp, Public Enemies 5. Sam Rockwell, Moon

12. 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 ...

2008

1. Sean Penn, Milk 2. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler 3. Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon 4. Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon 5. Josh Brolin, W.

13. Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor | There Will Be Blood

Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...

2007

1. Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood 2. Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 3. Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises 4. Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild 5. Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

14. Peter O'Toole

Actor | Lawrence of Arabia

A leading man of prodigious talents, Peter O'Toole was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racecourse bookmaker. Upon leaving school, he decided to become a...

2006

1. Peter O'Toole, Venus 2. Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond 3. Matt Damon, The Good Shepherd 4. James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland 5. Heath Ledger, Candy

15. Heath Ledger

Actor | Brokeback Mountain

When hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a "pretty boy" and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword. His work comprised ...

2005

1. Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain 2. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote 3. Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line 4. Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale 5. Eric Bana, Munich

16. 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,...

2004

The Aviator

17. 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 ...

2003

Mystic River

18. Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor | There Will Be Blood

Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...

2002

Gangs of New York

19. 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 ...

2001

Training Day

20. Russell Crowe

Actor | Les Misérables

Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather, Stanley Wemyss, was a cinematographer. Crowe's recent ancestry includes Welsh (where his paternal grandfather was born, in Wrexham),...

2000

1. Russell Crowe, Gladiator 2. Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls 3. Guy Pearce, Memento 4. Ed Harris, Pollock 5. Christian Bale, American Psycho

21. 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...

1999

1. Kevin Spacey, American Beauty 2. Jim Carrey, Man on the Moon 3. Russell Crowe, The Insider 4. Tom Hanks, The Green Mile 5. Matt Damon, The Talented Mr. Ripley

22. Edward Norton

Actor | Fight Club

American actor, filmmaker and activist Edward Harrison Norton was born on August 18, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, and was raised in Columbia, Maryland.

His mother, Lydia Robinson "Robin" (Rouse), was a foundation executive and teacher of English, and a daughter of famed real estate developer ...

1998

American History X

23. Jack Nicholson

Actor | Chinatown

Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...

1997

1. Jack Nicholson, As Good as it Gets 2. Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting 3. Robert Duvall, The Apostle 4. Ian Holm, The Sweet Hereafter 5. Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights

24. Billy Bob Thornton

Actor | Sling Blade

Billy Bob Thornton was born on August 4, 1955 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Virginia Roberta (Faulkner), a psychic, and William Raymond (Billy Ray) Thornton, an educator, high school history teacher, and basketball coach (now deceased). He is the older brother of James Donald (Jimmy Don) (born in ...

1996

1. Billy Bob Thornton, Sling Blade 2. Eric Roberts, It's My Party 3. Geoffrey Rush, Shine 4. Tom Cruise, Jerry Maguire 5. Woody Harrelson, The People vs. Larry Flynt

25. 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 ...

1995

1. Sean Penn, Dead Man Walking 2. Nicolas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas 3. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Basketball Diaries 4. Morgan Freeman, Se7en 5. Anthony Hopkins, Nixon

26. 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 ...

1994

1. Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump 2. John Travolta, Pulp Fiction 3. Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption 4. Johnny Depp, Ed Wood 5. Gary Oldman, Immortal Beloved

27. 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 ...

1993

1. Tom Hanks, Philadelphia 2. Daniel Day-Lewis, In the Name of the Father 3. Liam Neeson, Schindler's List 4. Brad Pitt, Kalifornia 5. Michael Douglas, Falling Down

28. 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 ...

1992

Malcolm X

29. Val Kilmer

Actor | The Doors

Val Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California, to Gladys Swanette (Ekstadt) and Eugene Dorris Kilmer, who was a real estate developer and aerospace equipment distributor. His mother, born in Indiana, was from a Swedish family, and his father was from Texas. Val studied at Hollywood's ...

1991

1. Val Kilmer, The Doors 2. Robert DeNiro, Cape Fear 3. John Turturro, Barton Fink 4. Warren Beatty, Bugsy 5. Viggo Mortensen, The Indian Runner

30. 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 ...

1990

1. Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune 2. Richard Harris, The Field 3. Michael Rooker, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 4. James Caan, Misery 5. Ray Liotta, Goodfellas

31. Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor | There Will Be Blood

Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...

1989

My Left Foot

32. Dustin Hoffman

Actor | Tootsie

Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...

1988

1. Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man 2. Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers 3. Gene Hackman, Mississippi Burning 4. Tom Hanks, Big 5. Michael Keaton, Clean and Sober

33. Gary Oldman

Actor | The Dark Knight

Gary Oldman is a talented English movie star and character actor, renowned for his expressive acting style. One of the most celebrated thespians of his generation, with a diverse career encompassing theatre, film and television, he is known for his roles as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), ...

1987

1. Gary Oldman, Prick Up Your Ears 2. Mickey Rourke, Barfly 3. Robin Williams, Good Morning Vietnam 4. Jack Nicholson, Ironweed 5. Mel Gibson, Lethal Weapon

34. Gary Oldman

Actor | The Dark Knight

Gary Oldman is a talented English movie star and character actor, renowned for his expressive acting style. One of the most celebrated thespians of his generation, with a diverse career encompassing theatre, film and television, he is known for his roles as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), ...

1986

Sid & Nancy

35. William Hurt

Actor | A History of Violence

William McChord Hurt was born in Washington, D.C., to Claire Isabel (McGill) and Alfred McChord Hurt, who worked at the State Department. He was trained at Tufts University and The Juilliard School and has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including the most recent nomination for his ...

1985

1. William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman 2. Raul Julia, Kiss of the Spider Woman 3. John Voight, Runaway Train 4. Jack Nicholson, Prizzi's Honor 5. Harrison Ford, Witness

36. F. Murray Abraham

Actor | The Grand Budapest Hotel

Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham was born on October 24, 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in El Paso, Texas. His father, Fred Abraham, was a Syrian (Antiochian Orthodox Christian) immigrant. His mother, Josephine (Stello) Abraham, was the daughter of Italian immigrants. Born...

1984

1. F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus 2. Tom Hulce, Amadeus 3. Harry Dean Stanton, Paris, Texas 4. Philip Baker Hall, Secret Honor 5. Albert Finney, Under the Volcano

37. Robert Duvall

Actor | The Apostle

Veteran actor and director Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, CA, to Mildred Virginia (Hart), an amateur actress, and William Howard Duvall, a career military officer who later became an admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College (Elsah, IL), then served a ...

1983

1. Robert Duvall, Tender Merces 2. Al Pacino, Scarface 3. Eric Roberts, Star 80 4. Michael Caine, Educating Rita 5. Albert Finney, The Dresser

38. 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 ...

1982

1. Ben Kingsey, Gandhi 2. Paul Newman, The Virdict 3. Jack Lemmon, Missing 4. Klaus Kinski, Fitzcarraldo 5. Dustin Hoffman, Tootsie

39. Warren Beatty

Actor | Heaven Can Wait

Since starring in his first film, Splendor in the Grass (1961), Warren Beatty has been said to have demonstrated a greater longevity in movies than any actor of his generation. Few people have taken so many responsibilities for all phases of the production of films as producer, director, writer, ...

1981

1. Warren Beatty, Reds 2. Jürgen Prochnow, Das Boot 3. Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond 4. James Caan, Thief 5. Paul Newman, Absence of Malice

40. Robert De Niro

Actor | Cape Fear

One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...

1980

1. Robert DeNiro, Raging Bull 2. Jack Nicholson, The Shining 3. Robert Duvall, The Great Santini 4. John Hurt, The Elephant Man 5. John Savage, Inside Moves

41. Peter Sellers

Actor | Being There

Often credited as the greatest comedian of all time, Peter Sellers was born Richard Henry Sellers to a well-off acting family in 1925 in Southsea, a suburb of Portsmouth. He was the son of Agnes Doreen "Peg" (Marks) and William "Bill" Sellers. His parents worked in an acting company run by his ...

1979

1. Peter Sellers, Being There 2. Dustin Hoffman, Kramer vs. Kramer 3. Al Pacino,and Justice for All... 4. Jack Lemmon, The China Syndrome 5. Robert Duvall, The Great Santini

42. 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 ...

1978

1. John Voight, Coming Home 2. Robert DeNiro, The Deer Hunter 3. Dustin Hoffman, Straight Time 4. Anthony Hopkins, Magic 5. Gary Busy, The Buddy Holly Story

43. Richard Burton

Actor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Probably best-remembered for his turbulent personal life with Elizabeth Taylor (whom he married twice), Richard Burton was nonetheless also regarded as an often brilliant British actor of the post-WWII period.

Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in 1925 into a Welsh (Cymraeg)-speaking family in ...

1977

1. Richard Burton, Equus 2. Peter Firth, Equus 3. John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever 4. Art Carney, The Late Show 5. Dennis Hopper, Tracks

44. Robert De Niro

Actor | Cape Fear

One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...

1976

1. Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver 2. Sylvester Stallone, Rocky 3. William Holden, Network 4. Peter Finch, Network 5. John Wayne, The Shootist

45. Jack Nicholson

Actor | Chinatown

Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...

1975

1. Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 2. Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon 3. Maximilian Schell, The Man in the Glass Booth 4. Walter Matthau, The Sunshine Boys 5. James Caan, Rollerball

46. Al Pacino

Actor | Serpico

Alfredo James "Al" 'Pacino established himself as a film actor during one of cinema's most vibrant decades, the 1970s, and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of American movies.

He was born April 25, 1940 in Manhattan, New York City, to Italian-American parents, Rose (nee Gerardi)...

1974

1. Al Pacino, The Godfather: Part II 2. Dustin Hoffman, Lenny 3. Gene Hackman, The Conversation 4. Jack Nicholson, Chinatown 5. Art Carney, Harry and Tonto

47. Jack Lemmon

Actor | The Apartment

Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...

1973

1. Jack Lemmon, Save the Tiger 2. Al Pacino, Serpico 3. Jack Nicholson, The Last Detail 4. Sean Connery, The Offence 5. Erland Josephson, Scenes from a Marraige

48. Marlon Brando

Actor | Apocalypse Now

Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in ...

1972

1. Marlon Brando, The Godfather 2. Al Pacino, The Godfather 3. Klaus Kinski, Aguirre, The Wrath of God 4. Lawrence Olivier, Sleuth 5. Peter 0'Toole, The Ruling Class

49. Malcolm McDowell

Actor | A Clockwork Orange

Malcolm John Taylor was born on June 13, 1943 in Leeds, England, to working-class parents Edna (McDowell), a hotelier, and Charles Taylor, a publican. His father was an alcoholic. Malcolm hated his parents' ways. His father was keen to send his son to private school to give him a good start in life...

1971

1. Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange 2. Gene Hackman, The French Connection 3. Walter Matthau, Kotch 4. George C. Scott, The Hospital 5. Richard Attenborough, 10 Rillington Place

50. George C. Scott

Actor | Patton

George C. Scott was an immensely talented actor, a star of the big screen, stage and television. He was born on October 18, 1927 in Wise, Virginia, to Helena Agnes (Slemp) and George Dewey Scott. At the age of eight, his mother died, and his father, an executive at Buick, raised him. In 1945, he ...

1970

1. George C. Scott, Patton 2. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces 3. Gene Hackman, I Never Sang for My Father 4. James Earl Jones, The Great White Hope 5. Gian Maria Volontè, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

51. 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 ...

1969

1. Jon Voight, Midnight Cowboy 2. Peter O'Toole, Goodbye, Mr. Chips 3. John Wayne, True Grit 4. Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 5. Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider

52. Burt Lancaster

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Burt Lancaster, one of five children, was born in Manhattan, to Elizabeth (Roberts) and James Henry Lancaster, a postal worker. All his grandparents were immigrants from the north of Ireland. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and ...

1968

1. Burt Lancaster, The Swimmer 2. Peter O' Toole, The Lion in Winter 3. Cliff Robertson, Charly 4. John Marley, Faces 5. Robert Shaw, The Birthday Party

53. Dustin Hoffman

Actor | Tootsie

Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...

1967

1. Dustin Hoffman, The Graduate 2. Robert Blake, In Cold Blood 3. Scott Wilson, In Cold Blood 4. Sidney Poitier, In the Heat of the Night 5. Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke

54. Paul Scofield

Actor | A Man for All Seasons

Though his number of film roles amount to a bit over 30, Paul Scofield has cast a giant shadow in the world of stage and film acting. He grew up in West Sussex, the son of a schoolmaster. He attended the Varndean School for Boys in Brighton. The love of acting came early. While still high school ...

1966

1. Paul Scofield, A Man for All Seasons 1. Richard Burton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 3. Eli Wallach, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 4. Michael Caine, Alfie 5. Jack Lemmon, The Fortune Cookie

55. Rod Steiger

Actor | In the Heat of the Night

Rodney Stephen Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, to Augusta Amelia (Driver) and Frederick Jacob Steiger, both vaudevillians. He was of German and Austrian ancestry. After his parents' divorce, Steiger was raised by his mother in Newark, New Jersey. He dropped out of Westside High school at...

1965

1. Rod Steiger, The Pawnbroker 2. Terence Stamp, The Collector 3. Richard Burton, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold 4. Sean Connery, The Hill 5. Marlon Brando, Morituri

56. Peter Sellers

Actor | Being There

Often credited as the greatest comedian of all time, Peter Sellers was born Richard Henry Sellers to a well-off acting family in 1925 in Southsea, a suburb of Portsmouth. He was the son of Agnes Doreen "Peg" (Marks) and William "Bill" Sellers. His parents worked in an acting company run by his ...

1964

1. Peter Sellers, Dr. Strangelove 2. Peter O' Toole, Becket 3. Anthony Quinn, Zorba the Greek 4. Richard Burton, Becket 5. Richard Attenborough, Seance on a Wet Afternoon

57. Paul Newman

Actor | The Hustler

Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...

1963

1. Paul Neman, Hud 2. Marcello Mastroianni, 8 1/2 3. Richard Harris, This Sporting Life 4. Albert Finney, Tom Jones 5. Toshiro Mifune, High and Low

58. Gregory Peck

Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird

Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...

1962

1. Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird 2. Jack Lemmon, Days of Wine and Roses 3. Burt Lancaster, Birdman of Alcatraz 4. Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia 5. Anthony Quinn, Requiem for a Heavyweight

59. Maximilian Schell

Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg

Maximilian Schell was the most successful German-speaking actor in English-language films since Emil Jannings, the winner of the first Best Actor Academy Award. Like Jannings, Schell won the Oscar, but unlike him, he was a dedicated anti-Nazi. Indeed, with the exception of Maurice Chevalier and ...

1961

1. Maximilian Schell, Judgment at Nuremberg 2. Spencer Tracy, Judgment at Nuremberg 3. Paul Newman, The Hustler 4. Toshiro Mifune, Yojimbo 5. Glenn Ford, Pocketful of Miracles

60. Anthony Perkins

Actor | Psycho

Anthony Perkins was born April 4, 1932 in New York City, to Janet Esselstyn (Rane) and Osgood Perkins, an actor of both stage and film. His father died when he was five. Anthony's paternal great-grandfather was engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony. Perkins attended the Brooks School, the Browne & ...

1960

1. Anthony Perkins, Psycho 2. Alec Guinness, Tunes of Glory 3. Jack Lemmon, The Apartment 4. Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry 5. Spencer Tracy, Inherit the Wind

61. James Stewart

Actor | Vertigo

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...

1959

1. James Stewart, Anatomy of a Murder 2. Charleton Heston, Ben-Hur 3. Jack Lemmon, Some Like It Hot 4. Robert Ryan, Day of the Outlaw 5. Tony Curtis, Some Like It Hot

62. Paul Newman

Actor | The Hustler

Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...

1958

1. Paul Newman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 2. James Stewart, Vertigo 3. Tony Curtis, The Defiant Ones 4. Gregory Peck, The Big Country 5. Marlon Brando, The Young Lions

63. Alec Guinness

Actor | Star Wars

Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...

1957

1. Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai 2. Charles Laughton, Witness for the Prosecution 3. Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men 4. Kirk Douglas, Paths of Glory 5. Andy Griffith, A Face in the Crowd

64. Kirk Douglas

Actor | The Final Countdown

Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...

1956

1. Kirk Douglas, Lust for Life 2. Eli Wallach, Baby Doll 3. Yul Brenner, The King & I 4. Robert Stack, Written on the Wind 5. Paul Newman, Somebody Up There Likes Me

65. Laurence Olivier

Actor | Sleuth

Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...

1955

1. James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause 2. Laurence Olivier, Richard III 3. Henry Fonda, Mister Roberts 4. Toshiro Mifune, I Live in Fear 5. Jack Palance, The Big Knife

66. Marlon Brando

Actor | Apocalypse Now

Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in ...

1954

1. Marlon Brand, On the Waterfront 2. Humphrey Bogart, Sabrina 3. James Stewart, Rear Window 4. Bing Crosby, The Country Girl 5. James Mason, A Star is Born

67. Montgomery Clift

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Edward Montgomery Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-...

1953

1. Montgomery Clift, From Here to Eternity 2. Gregory Peck, Roman Holiday 3. Richard Burton, The Robe 4. Burt Lancaster, From Here to Eternity 5. Humphrey Bogart, Beat the Devil

68. Laurence Olivier

Actor | Sleuth

Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...

1952

1. Laurence Olivier, Carrie 2. Charles Chaplin, Limelight 3. Kirk Douglas, The Bad and the Beautiful 4. Takashi Shimura, Akiru 5. John Wayne, The Quiet Man

69. Kirk Douglas

Actor | The Final Countdown

Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...

1951

1. Kirk Douglas, Detective Story 2. James Stewart, No Highway in the Sky 3. Van Heflin, The Prowler 4. Montgomery Clift, A Place in the Sun 5. Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen

70. James Stewart

Actor | Vertigo

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...

1950

1. James Stewart, Harvey 2. Marlon Brando, The Men 3. Humphrey Bogart, In a Lonely Place 4. William Holden, Sunset Blvd. 5. Stig Olin, To Joy

71. Broderick Crawford

Actor | All the King's Men

Broderick Crawford is best remembered for two roles: his Oscar-winning turn as Willie Stark in All the King's Men (1949) and as Chief Dan Mathews on the syndicated TV series Highway Patrol (1955). He was also memorable as Judy Holliday's vulgar partner in Born Yesterday (1950), roles both actors ...

1949

1. Broderick Crawford, All the King's Men 2. Toshirô Mifune, The Quiet Duel 3. Dennis Price, Kind Hearts and Coronets 4. James Cagney, White Heat 5. Robert Ryan, The Set-Up

72. Humphrey Bogart

Actor | Casablanca

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...

1948

1. Humphrey Bogart, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 2. Laurence Olivier, Hamlet 3. Lamberto Maggiorani, Bicycle Thieves 4. John Wayne, Red River 5. James Cagney, The Time of Your Life

73. Gregory Peck

Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird

Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...

1947

1. Gregory Peck, Gentlemen's Agreement 2. William Powell, Life with Father 3. Edmund Gwenn, Miracle on 34th Street 4. Robert Mitchum, Out of the Past 5. Isao Numasaki, One Wonderful Sunday

74. James Stewart

Actor | Vertigo

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...

1946

1. James Stewart, It's a Wonderful Life 2. Paul Muni, Angel on My Shoulder 3. Frederic March, The Best Years of Our Lives 4. Jean Marais, Beaty and the Beast 5. Dana Andrews, The Best Years of Our Lives

75. Ray Milland

Actor | The Lost Weekend

Ray Milland became one of Paramount's most bankable and durable stars, under contract from 1934 to 1948, yet little in his early life suggested a career as a motion picture actor.

Milland was born Alfred Reginald Jones in the Welsh town of Neath, Glamorgan, to Elizabeth Annie (Truscott) and Alfred ...

1945

1. Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend 2. Charles Boyer, Gaslight 3. Jean-Louis Barrault, Children of Paradise 4. Barry Fitzgerald, And Then There Were None 5. Edward G. Robinson, Scarlet Street

76. Alexander Knox

Actor | Wilson

A Presbyterian minister's son, softly-spoken, intellectual-looking Alexander Knox received his education from the University of Western Ontario where he studied English literature. An excellent elocutionist (a member of the university's Hesperian Club) he had his first fling with dramatic acting ...

1944

1. Alexander Knox, None Shall Escape 2. Charles Boyer, Gaslight 3. John Hodiak, Lifeboat 4. Edward G. Robinson, The Woman in the Window 5. Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity

77. Paul Lukas

Actor | Watch on the Rhine

Oscar-winning actor Paul Lukas was born in Hungary and graduated from the School for Dramatic Arts. In 1916 he went to Kosice (Kassa) to be an actor; in 1918 he became an actor specializing in comedy. For ten years he was the most popular character player and romantic lead of the company. In 1918 ...

1943

1. Paul Lukas, Watch on the Rhine 2. Henry Fonda, The Ox-Bow Incident 3. Roger Livesly, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 4. Joseph Cotten, Shadow of a Doubt 5. Thorkild Roose, Day of Wrath

78. James Cagney

Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces

One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...

1942

1. James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy 2. Chishû Ryû, There Was a Father 3. Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca 4. Gary Cooper, The Pride of the Yankees 5. Fredric March, I Married a Witch

79. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

1941

1. Orson Welles, Citizen Kane 2. Cary Grant, Penny Serenade 3. Humphrey Bogart, The Maltese Falcon 4. Warner Baxter, Adam Had Four Sons 5. Gary Cooper, Meet John Doe

80. Laurence Olivier

Actor | Sleuth

Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...

1940

1. Laurence Olivier, Rebecca 2. Henry Fonda, The Grapes of Wrath 3. James Stewart, The Shop Around the Corner 4. Cary Grant, His Girl Friday 5. James Stephenson, The Letter

81. James Stewart

Actor | Vertigo

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...

1939

1. James Stewart, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 2. Laurence Olivier, Wuthering Heights 3. Henry Fonda, Young Mr. Lincoln 4. Charles Laughton, Jamaica Inn 5. Brian Aherne, Juarez

82. Cary Grant

Actor | North by Northwest

Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."

Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in ...

1938

1. Cary Grant, Bringing Up Baby 2. Spencer Tracy, Boy's Town 3. Charles Laughton, Sidewalks of London 5. Leslie Howard, Pygmalion 4. Brian Aherne, Merrily We Live

83. Paul Muni

Actor | Scarface

Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and ...

1937

1. Paul Muni, The Life of Emile Zola 2. Freddie Bartholomew, Captain Courageous 3. Humphrey Bogart, Black Legion 4. Ronald Coleman, Lost Horizon 5. Henry Fonda, You Only Live Once

84. William Powell

Actor | The Thin Man

William Powell was on the New York stage by 1912, but it would be ten years before his film career would begin. In 1924 he went to Paramount Pictures, where he was employed for the next seven years. During that time, he played in a number of interesting films, but stardom was elusive. He did ...

1936

1. William Powell, My Man Godfrey 2. Gary Cooper, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 3. Walter Huston, Dodsworth 4. Paul Muni, The Story of Louis Pasteur 4. Warner Baxter, The Prisoner of Shark Island

85. Edward G. Robinson

Actor | Double Indemnity

Emanuel Goldenberg arrived in the United States from Romania at age ten, and his family moved into New York's Lower East Side. He took up acting while attending City College, abandoning plans to become a rabbi or lawyer. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts awarded him a scholarship, and he began ...

1935

1. Edward G. Robinson, The Whole Town's Talking 2. Charles Laughton, Mutiny on the Bounty 3. Boris Karloff, Bride of Frankenstein 4. Clark Gable, Mutiny on the Bounty 5. Fred Astaire, Top Hat

86. Fredric March

Actor | The Best Years of Our Lives

Fredric March began a career in banking but in 1920 found himself cast as an extra in films being produced in New York. He starred on the Broadway stage first in 1926 and would return there between screen appearances later on. He won plaudits (and an Academy Award nomination) for his send-up of ...

1934

1. Fredric March, Death Takes a Holiday 2. William Powell, The Thin Man 3. Clarke Gable, It Happened One Night 4. Leslie Howard, Of Human Bondage 5. John Barrymore, Twentieth Century

87. George Arliss

Actor | Disraeli

One of the oldest actors on the screen in the 1920s and 1930s, George Arliss starred on the London stage from an early age. He came to the United States and starred in several films, but it was his role as British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in Disraeli (1929) that brought him his greatest ...

1933

1. George Arliss, The Working Man 2. Charles Laughton, The Private Life of Henry III 3. Claude Rains, The Invisible Man 4. James Cagney, Hard to Handle 5. Richard Barthelmess, Heroes for Sale

88. Paul Muni

Actor | Scarface

Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and ...

1932

1. Paul Muni, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 2. John Barrymore, Grand Hotel 3. Jack Oakie, Uptown New York 4. Charles Laughton, Island of Lost Souls 5. Spencer Tracy, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing

89. James Dunn

Actor | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

James Dunn worked on the stage, in vaudeville and as an extra in silent movies before he was signed by Fox in 1931. His first movie with Fox was 1931's Sob Sister (1931). While at Fox, he appeared with Shirley Temple in her first three features: Baby, Take a Bow (1934), Stand Up and Cheer! (1934) ...

1931

1. James Dunn, Bad Girl 2. Wallace Beery, The Champ 3. Michel Simon, La Chienne 4. Fredric March, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde 5. Jackie Cooper, The Champ

90. Emil Jannings

Actor | The Last Command

His real name was Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, and in the early 1900s, he was already working in the theater under Max Reinhardt's company. Important movies where he defined himself as a convincing actor were Passion (1919) and Quo Vadis? (1924), followed by The Last Laugh (1924) (aka The Last ...

1930

1. Emil Jannings, The Blue Angel 2. Colin Clive, Journey's End 3. Edward G. Robinson, A Lady to Love 4. Walter Huston, The Criminal Code 5. Edward Chapman, Juno and the Paycock