THE TOP 10 GREATEST UNDERRATED ACTORS OF ALL TIME (IMHO)
This list is based on actors who do not receive the attention they deserve for their acting efforts. Most of the actors on this list have been snubbed of Oscars, others have been cheated and then won later. This is in no chronological order and is based entirely on my own opinion as a film critic. Actors who few average moviegoers recognize but have been noticed by the Academy (like Daniel Day-Lewis or Kevin Spacey) do not qualify. This is strictly actors who do not receive the credit they have undoubtedly earned.
Gary Oldman
Known as a chameleon to many, Gary Oldman has proved time and again that he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, character actor of all time. From Bram Stoker's Dracula to Leon: The Professional, to The Dark Knight Trilogy to True Romance he is never recognizable unless you already know it is him. With so many roles that will stand the test of time as some of the best characters to grace the silver screen, it is wondrous to think that he was not nominated for an Oscar until the recent hit Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. But then again, we all know that Oscars don't mean anything anymore. But what does matter is that Oldman has always entertained and shocked audiences and that he will continue to do so.
Christian Bale
Christian Bale has been acting since he was a child. He has had stunning roles in films like American Psycho, The Machinist (in which he lost 60 pounds to play an insomniac because he refused to use CGI for the film), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), The Fighter, The Prestige, and Empire of the Sun. He was snubbed on both accounts of a nomination for The Machinist and American Psycho which stand as forerunners of the psychological thriller genre. He was finally awarded an Oscar for his role in The Fighter as a crack addict who once was a professional boxer named Dicky Eklund. It is good that he was finally rewarded, but let's be honest, some of his other roles definitely deserved recognition.
Ben Foster
Ben Foster flew under the radar for a long time, initially gaining recognition for his small role in The Punisher. He is a great character actor and sometimes is completely unrecognizable. For anyone who knows little about him, he played an amazing role as Charlie Prince in 3:10 to Yuma(2007). His character in that film was haunting and intimidating with a scary charisma. He has been in films like The Mechanic (2011), 30 Days of Night, The Messenger, Pandorum, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Contraband, and X-Men: The Last Stand. Ben Foster is definitely an actor to watch as long as he is not type-cast. Let's pray that never happens!
Tom Hardy
Edward Norton
Sam Rockwell
Sharlto Copley
Lennie James
Michael Fassbender
Tom Hardy has come into quite a stride in recent times with his films. Little knew who he was when he played the young clone of Captain Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis. And after roles in films like Black Hawk Down and Band of Brothers and the one in Nemesis, he gained some very significant roles in films like The Killing Gene and RocknRolla. Hardy went on to gain major recognition with a long list of amazing roles including: Tommy in Warrior, Eames in Inception, Michael Petersen in Bronson, Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Forest Bondurant in Lawless, Tuck in This Means War, and Ricki Tarr in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Hardy broke through with the role in Bronson based on real-life prisoner Michael Petersen. Tom has never been nominated for an academy award even with such an amazing inventory of roles. He has been nothing short of astounding as of recent and has some exciting upcoming roles such as the lead in Mad Max: Fury Road and Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell movie adaptation which is based on the best-selling franchise based on the late Tom Clancy's characters and story. He is possibly the greatest actor to come about since Gary Oldman (who is his idol by the way) and has given nothing but his all in every film he has been in so far.
Edward Norton
Edward Norton has been a tour de force in acting for a very long time. He is by far one of the most under-appreciated actors of all time. His breakout role was in 1996 as the mentally unstable boy Aaron in the spectacular film Primal Fear. He was nominated immediately for an Academy Award but was snubbed. However this didn't keep him back, next he would bring to the screen one of the most iconic characters in drama history: Neo-Nazi Derek Vinyard in American History X. He was again nominated for an Oscar and yet again snubbed as well. Since then he has starred in roles such as the Narrator in Fight Club, Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, Detective William Graham in Red Dragon, the leper King Baldwin in Kingdom of Heaven, Steve in The Italian Job, Eisenheim in The Illusionist, Ray Tierney in Pride and Glory, Gerald 'Stone' Creeson in Stone, Scout Master Ward in Moonrise Kingdom, and Col Eric Byer in The Bourne Legacy. He is an astounding actor who does his best with character roles. Hopefully we will still have Norton to entertain the masses for decades to come.
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is one of the less heard of actors on this list. Not because he hasn't done a lot of films, but because for a lot of people in my experience he is "that guy! Oh, yeah I remember now!". It is sad that someone as talented as him can so easily be forgotten. If I had to name someone on this list as the most under-appreciated actor it would be Sam Rockwell. He has had roles in films like 'Wild Bill' Wharton in The Green Mile, Charley Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Victor Mancini in Choke, James Reston, Jr. in Frost/Nixon, most notably Sam Bell in Moon, Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, and Billy in Seven Psychopaths. He has never been nominated for an Oscar and deserves more recognition than he is given. He is one of the elite in Hollywood in my honest opinion and I hope to see more of him in the future to come.
Sharlto Copley
Sharlto Copley is one of those rare actors that comes along every few years who can be completely unrecognizable when seeing contrast between roles he has done. Copley broke out with his standout lead role as Wikus in the Science Fiction classic District 9. He played a bumbling idiot and when contrasting this role with his recent acting chop as Kruger in the Science Fiction hit Eysium, it is unbelievable to think it is the same man. One role is a nerdy, stubborn, clutzy, moron to a cold-blooded, calculated killer in Elysium. He also had a hilarious role as Murdoch in the film adaptation of The A-Team. Most recently Copley was the highlight of a disdainful remake of Oldboy, playing lead antagonist Adrian Pryce. He has also starred in the Sci-Fi film Europa Report and this year also in Open Grave. He is one of the actors that moviegoers should definitely keep an eye on. I see him as in the future as being a powerhouse in film.
Lennie James
One of the better actors the arise of recent, Lennie James has been on a stride recently, with a lot of it coming from television. He has starred recently in The Walking Dead as Morgan, Low Winter Sun as Joe Geddes, 147 in The Prisoner, and longer ago Robert Hawkins in Jericho. As for films, he has starred as Sol in Snatch., Lieutenant Nabulsi in The Next Three Days, Special Agent James Ross in Columbiana, and Harry Shaw in Lockout. James is a master at speaking in different dialects for his roles, as seen in his Atlanta African American dialect impression on The Walking Dead. He has been acting since he was a child and is one of the actors to watch in the years to come.
Michael Fassbender has been extremely popular as of recent times, even given his long history in the acting business. He started off in Band of Brothers as Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson and then had his breakout role years later in the smash hit 300 playing Spartan soldier Stelios. He went on to star in Hunger, Eden Lake, Inglourious Basterds, Blood Creek, Jonah Hex, Centurion, Jane Eyre, Dangerous Methods, X-Men: First Class, Shame, Haywire, Prometheus, and most recently 12 Years a Slave and The Counselor, with many upcoming roles planned including X-Men: Days of Future Past and the lead role in the Assassin's Creed film adaptation. He was unbelievable in Prometheus as the first-ever synthetic David, not to mention so many other great roles he has done. Fassbender's career has truly been blasting off and he is projected to win the Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, but then again, who knows? The Oscar system all depends on what the critics are feeling like that given time. As of now, he has never been nominated for an Oscar, but, boy, does he deserve quite a few!
Leonardo Dicaprio
Leonardo Dicaprio has been one of Hollywood's greatest stars for many years now. He has iconic roles such as Jack in Titanic (which he shuns), Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Romeo in Romeo + Juliet, Amsterdam Vallon in Gangs of New York, Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can, Howard Hughes in The Aviator, Billy in The Departed, Danny Archer in Blood Diamond, Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island, Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, Cobb in Inception, J. Edgar in J. Edgar Hoover, Calvin Candie in Django Unchained, and Jordan Belfort in the upcoming film The Wolf on Wall Street. He has been nominated for an Oscar three times and not won once! He was nominated for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, and Blood Diamond and he was completely snubbed for his role in Django Unchained (in which he broke a glass with his hand and continued to keep acting! Not to mention he wiped his actual blood on Kerry Washington's face! So her expression and scream of horror was real. Talk about method acting!) Leonardo is one of the greatest actors ever to grace the silver screen and though he is loved by many, he has not received the attention he deserves.
