Most times when watching an actor/actress, I don't see a huge transformation in their personalities. Their role may be that of a detective or a gangster or a business man but seldom do they transform themselves into a character so completely different that you forget who the actors are.

A few movies I revisited recently with actors that impressed the hell of of me were Billy Bob Thornton's "Sling Blade", Tom Hank's "Philadelphia" and Charlize Theron's "Monster". The performances of these actors were of such quality that I cannot imagine anyone else in the rolls.

Whose impressive performances are on your list?

BTW, in a lesser roll, how many of you knew that W. Earl Brown, aka Dan Dority of Deadwood fame, played Mary's brother Warren in "There's Something About Mary"?

Daniel Day Lewis in just about everything but especially Lincoln.

Casey Affleck as Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

This reflects my feelings- "Born to play the role":

I believe that Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour" fits the bill.

I was always impressed with many of the performances Marylin Chambers performed.

Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart.

Glenn Ford in the original 3:10 to Yuma.

Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday. Amazing resemblance!
And Jeff Bridges is consistently good. He is The Dude.

Heath Ledger as the Joker.

I first saw Leonardo Dicaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and I was floored. As annoying as he can be, I've respected his work since. He's had good advice on selecting scripts so that helps.

Jennifer Lawrence moved me just as much in "Winter's Bone". She's been increasingly harder to enjoy since, not a disaster but yeah, a pantload for sure and it's hard to see past the reality of Jennifer Lawrence.

Jim Gandolfini as Tony Soprano.

Also:

Melinda Dillon as Theresa, in Absence of Malice.

Sean Penn in Mystic River.
John Hurt in the Elephant Man.
Wilhelm Dafoe in Platoon.
Kathleen Turner in Body Heat.
Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke.
Denzel Washington in Training Day.
Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Melinda Dillon as Theresa, in Absence of Malice.

Good pick. That's an awesome flick.

Deniro in Taxi Driver.

Bale in American Psycho.

Daniel Day Lewis and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in anything they’ve done.

Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People.

Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone. He frankly never really impressed me as an actor but he OWNS that role!

George C. Scott as Patton.

Sir Anthony Hopkins in "Remains of the Day".

Jeff Bridges in just about any role he plays and Ian McShane as Al Swearengen.

Christian Bale in The Fighter.