Actors who nail a role

[AlexLaw76]

Just watching a Few Good Men, and whilst the film is just brilliant, this is largely due to the magnificent Nicholson. 

A great example of an actor just nailing a role...

Another one that springs to mind is James Gandalfini - he IS Tony Soprano

[Wiggles31]

Joe Pesci in Goodfellas and Casino (basically the same character) used to scare me. 

McConaughey as Rust Cohle in True Detective is a masterpiece in acting. 

[badgerx16]

David Suchet as Hercules Poirot

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes

[AlexLaw76]

Of course, David Jason as Del Boy

[The Kraken]

Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, Slow Horses.

Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons, Peaky Blinders.

Martin Sheen as Jed Bartlet, The West Wing.

[egg]

Javier Bardem in no country for old men was unbelievably good. Ditto Kathy Bates in Misery.

In lesser known stuff, Stephen Graham in The Virtues was phenomenal. 

[egg]

4 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, Slow Horses.

Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons, Peaky Blinders.

Martin Sheen as Jed Bartlet, The West Wing.

Amen to those, particularly Oldman. Utterly believable. 

I'll add Christopher Waltz in Inglorious Basterds. Absolutely nailed the Hans Lander role. 

[Farmer Saint]

Lesley Nielsen as LT Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun films 😂

[benjii]

16 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Lesley Nielsen as LT Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun films 😂

Have you seen the new one? It's decent.

[hypochondriac]

Most things that Daniel day Lewis is in. Remarkable actor.

[Lighthouse]

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

All three protagonists in Jaws, Robert Shaw in particular.

Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator

Christopher Lee was basically the only redeeming feature in The Man with the Golden Gun

Michael Caine in The Muppets Christmas Carol

[whelk]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

Most things that Daniel day Lewis is in. Remarkable actor.

Yep, I put him up there with John Inman

[hypochondriac]

6 minutes ago, whelk said:

Yep, I put him up there with John Inman

TBF he really made the role of effeminate, closet 70s gay his own. 

Edited Sunday at 10:54 by hypochondriac

[austsaint]

Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning.  Rod Steiger “In the heat of the night”.   Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

[whelk]

I must admit pretty much agree with everyone’s posts.

Would add Mark Wahlberg in The Departed

Also Billy Bob Thornton in first Fargo series and Allison Tolman. Fuck it, so many, also David Thewlis in season 3 as Varga

[Turkish]

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector

Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman

Ed Norton as Derek Vinyard

[trousers]

Michael J Fox & Christopher Lloyd

 

[badgerx16]

David Tennant as Hamlet at the RSC in Stratford.

[benjii]

38 minutes ago, whelk said:

 

Also Billy Bob Thornton in first Fargo series and Allison Tolman. Fuck it, so many, also David Thewlis in season 3 as Varga

These two came to my mind too!

[benjii]

I thought Jude Law was very good in The Young Pope.

Dominic West in The Wire.

Ian Smith as Harold Bishop.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone

Ken Stott as Rebus

Dennis Franz as Andy Sipowicz

George Cole as Arthur Daley

Bob Hoskins as Harold Shand

[egg]

2 hours ago, whelk said:

I must admit pretty much agree with everyone’s posts.

Would add Mark Wahlberg in The Departed

Also Billy Bob Thornton in first Fargo series and Allison Tolman. Fuck it, so many, also David Thewlis in season 3 as Varga

Billy Bob Thornton is immense in everything he does. Even the pissed up thieving Bad Santa. 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Came here to say Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector and saw it was mentioned above. 
 

Also, Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption. 
 

Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. 

[LGTL]

Cuba Gooding Jr as OJ and Courtney Vance as Johnnie Cochran. 

[Colinjb]

Alan Rickman in Die Hard

His debut Hollywood film. 

[benjii]

Luna Star in Put It In Her Ass Vol. 35.

[Colinjb]

50 minutes ago, benjii said:

Luna Star in Put It In Her Ass Vol. 35.

Hate to go all MLG, but surely her co-star is the one who should get the credit.

[Winnersaint]

Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, plus a shout out for the rather oddly cast Stephen Graham as Al Capone.

[saint francis]

Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast.  I once read that Ray Winstone was initially skeptical about "Gandhi" playing the role. 

Robert Shaw in Jaws. 

 

[Turkish]

12 hours ago, saint francis said:

Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast.  I once read that Ray Winstone was initially skeptical about "Gandhi" playing the role. 

Robert Shaw in Jaws. 

 

Great shout. Don Logan is a brilliant character superbly acted. 

[rallyboy]

Stephen Graham every time - from This is England onwards.

[AlexLaw76]

6 minutes ago, rallyboy said:

Stephen Graham every time - from This is England onwards.

He is an amazing actor. As you say, everything he does is just superb.

 

[east-stand-nic]

Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker

Billy Bob Thornton as Carl Childers in Sling Blade

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody

Alan Rickman as Snape in all the Potter movies

Robin Williams in One Hour Photo

Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone

I also love most of what Denzel Washington is in and thought he was mega in The equalizer movies. 

Also agree very much with mentions already for Javier Bardem in no country for old men and Joe Pesci in both Goodfellas and Casino. 

[revolution saint]

Michael Sheen comes very close to being an impersonator but he's always impressed me.
Guess I should mention Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Physically very different from the character in the book but totally embodies the spirit of the role.

[AlexLaw76]

43 minutes ago, east-stand-nic said:

Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker

Billy Bob Thornton as Carl Childers in Sling Blade

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody

Alan Rickman as Snape in all the Potter movies

Robin Williams in One Hour Photo

Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone

I also love most of what Denzel Washington is in and thought he was mega in The equalizer movies. 

Also agree very much with mentions already for Javier Bardem in no country for old men and Joe Pesci in both Goodfellas and Casino. 

Denzel in Training Day. Brilliant

 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

This guy. Every time.

[iansums]

On 11/01/2026 at 10:47, Lighthouse said:

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

All three protagonists in Jaws, Robert Shaw in particular.

Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator

Christopher Lee was basically the only redeeming feature in The Man with the Golden Gun

Michael Caine in The Muppets Christmas Carol

Fascinating documentary on the making of Jaws was on BBC over the Xmas break.

[iansums]

Daniel Day Lewis in There will be blood

[kitch]

Christian Bale in Hostiles and Gary Oldman in Leon spring to mind.

Was watching Grey's Anatomy the other day though (a few years behind) and there's a chap called Giacomo Gianniotti playing a character called DeLuca who absolute stole this scene where he's been struggling with bi-polar and has a mental breakdown. One of the best performances I've watched, and it wasn't even a movie.

In fact, I went off to find it:

https://youtu.be/jTwLrXHef3E?si=lDV5wyMlIbn6WSip

Context: He's a doctor whose Italian dad suffers from extreme mania. Story builds up over a number of episodes that the guy is slowly going the same way, which comes to a head when a patient comes in and he suspects the girl is being child-trafficked.
Of course, no body believes him because of his bi-polar, which triggers the meltdown.

The little cracks in his voice and the way he knows he's not right in the head, but he is actually right here...his sister's the one in the pink, front row. The look she gives him too!

 

Edited 12 hours ago by kitch

[kitch]

Oh, Ralph Fiennes in most of the roles he plays, but particularly Harry in In Bruges.

 

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, iansums said:

Daniel Day Lewis in There will be blood

I read somewhere recently that Quentin Tarantino was doing an interview and was asked to list his top ten films. He said TWBB would have been higher on the list if not for Paul Dano, who he described as being the weakest actor in the Screen Actors Guild.

Lost a lot of respect for him after that. Paul Dano is an exceptionally talented actor IMO, and he's great in everything I've ever seen him in. From Little Miss Sunshine to Prisoners to The Batman. He plays creepy characters with an unnerving believability.

Edited 11 hours ago by Sheaf Saint

[whelk]

39 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

I read somewhere recently that Quentin Tarantino was doing an interview and was asked to list his top ten films. He said TWBB would have been higher on the list if not for Paul Dano, who he described as being the weakest actor in the Screen Actors Guild.

Lost a lot of respect for him after that. Paul Dano is an exceptionally talented actor IMO, and he's great in everything I've ever seen him in. From Little Miss Sunshine to Prisoners to The Batman. He plays creepy characters with an unnerving believability.

Tarantino is like Morrissey. Can produce incredible work but ultimately an attention seeking arsehole

[Holmes_and_Watson]

7 hours ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

This guy. Every time.

He was superb in Goodfellas. Unexpected, yet devastating.

[badgerx16]

7 hours ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

This guy. Every time.

Every character from Reservoir Dogs rolled into one.

Edited 8 hours ago by badgerx16

[sadoldgit]

Owen Cooper - Adolescence  

[iansums]

42 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Owen Cooper - Adolescence  

Good shout, to be honest I think pretty much every actor nailed it in Adolescence.

[bpsaint]

On 11/01/2026 at 11:25, Turkish said:

Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman

 

Bale is brilliant in most of his roles, was absolutely perfect as Pat Bateman. Have you ever read the book? Also deserves a shout for his portrayal of Dicky in The Fighter.

Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark

Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion in Game Of Thrones.

Edited 5 hours ago by bpsaint

[iansums]

Ronnie Barker as Fletch in Porridge. I have never been able to recognise him as the same Ronnie Barker as we saw in The Two Ronnies or other roles. He was simply brilliant as Fletch.

[Patrick Bateman]

Another shout for Billy Bob Thornton, this time in Landman - incredible.

Tom Hardy in pretty much any role he's done, pure class.