There have been many great actors in the last hundred years, so this list was actually very hard to put together. It was harder than I thought to pick only 10, and a lot of actors that I like weren't included in the list. Anyways, I hope you like it!
1. Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson is considered one of the best and most successful actors of all time. He earned the studios over 8 billion dollars throughout his career. He is star of such films as: Star Wars, Iron Man, Pulp Fiction, The Incredibles and many others. He was born in 1948 in Washington D.C., USA. His career
started off slow, until he met Morgan Freeman. From then on, he gained critical acclaim for his roles in Jungle Fever, Jurassic Park and others. In 1994, he received several nominations for his performance in Pulp Fiction. To this day he played in more than 100 movies which made him the highest grossing actor at the box office.
2. Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro was born in 1943 in New York City. As a son of two artist he was trained from an eary age at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop. His first notable role was in Bang the Drum Slowly. In 1973 he began his collaboration with one of the best directors, Martin Scorsese and starred in his movie Mean Streets. A year later, he received and Academy Award for best supporting actor for the role of Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II. After initial success, he played in a number successful movies, such as Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter and Cape Fear, for all of which he was nominated for Academy Award.
3. Edward Norton
Edward Norton was born on August 18, 1969 to parents Edward, an attorney, and Robin Norton, a teacher who passed away in 1997. He attended Yale University, where he acted in university production. After he graduated in 1991, he moved to New York City to pursue his dream. He began his acting career in Off-Broadway theater, but his breakthrough was in film Primal Fear, in which he got a role which Leonardo DiCaprio turned down. That role got him Academy Award nomination and he won a Golden Globe. Soon after that, he was offered roles in many successful movies and his career went uphill. In 1998 he received another Oscar nomination, for his movie American History X, and a year later he starred in Fight Club. Since then, he played and produced a number of movies, such as 25th Hour and The Incredible Hulk.
4. Al Pacino
Al Pacino was born on April 25, 1940 in New York City.
He found school to be boring and found his interest in school plays, which quickly became his career. He is famous for playing the roles of mobsters. His most notable roles are that os Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor seven times, until he finally won it in 1992 for his role of Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman. His greatest breakthrough was with the movie The Godfather in 1972. He was chosen for the role, even though he wasn't acclaimed and was competing against the likes of Jack Nicholson and Robert Redford. Al Pacino to this day stays active in the movie world and is one of the best actors of all time.
5. Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt is an American actor and film producer who was born in 1963. He has often been described as one of the world's most attractive men, which got him a lot of media attention. He started his career in a CBS soap opera Dallas in 1987, but his first recognition came from a road movie Thelma & Louise in 1991. A year later, he got his first leading role in a movie A River Runs Through It. In 1995, he starred in a crime thriller Seven for which he received a lot of good reviews. Later on, he played in a lot of successful movies, such as Fight Club, Ocean's Eleven (and its sequels), Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Inglorious Basterds. He was nominated for the Academy Award three times and five times for Golden Globe Award. Also, he owns a production company, Plan B Entertainment, which had a few critically acclaimed movies, such as The Departed.
6. Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio was born on November 11, 1947 in Los Angeles, California. His acting career started in television commercials before he transitioned to soap operas. His first film was Critters 3 in 1991, but it wasn't until he played in This Boy's Life that he got notable critical praise. He achieved world wide fame with James Cameron's Titanic in 1997, which is one of the highest grossing films of all time. After that, he played in a number of movies, most notable of which are Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator (which got him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), The Departed. His latest successes are Shutter Island and Inception- Besides his Golden Globe Award, he was also nominated for the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. DiCaprio owns a company Appian Way Productions, which produced films such as Gardener of Eden and Orphan-
7. Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood is an American actor, director, producer and composer. His career skyrocketed in the '60s, when he played in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). During the 70's he was most known for his character Harry Callahan (also known as Dirty Harry) in movies Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool). He received numerous awards including Academy Award for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture as well as nomination for Best Actor for his films Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. Some of his other notable films include Play Misty for Me, In the Line of Fire, Letter from Iwo Jima, Mystic River and others. He owns a production company which produced most of his films. Eastwood is one of the best and productive figures in the movie industry in general.
8. Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando is often considered the best actor of all time. He is also one of the most influential people of the 20th century, as he was named by Time magazine (along side Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, he is the only actor on the list). During the '50s he was nominated for Academy Awards five time as the Best Actor, and three times consecutively he won BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He was his second Academy Award for his role of Vito Corleone in The Godfather. The same year (1972), he played in Last Tango in Paris, which was another hit movie. Brando influenced a lot of actors and cultural icons, such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Elvis Presley and others.
9. Christoph Waltz
Christoph Waltz is and Austrian actor who was born on October 4, 1956. He wasn't internationally famous until 2009, when he played in Tarantino's film, Inglorious Basterds. He portrayed Hans Landa, a SS officer who had a job to catch hiding Jews during the World War II. That role got him Best Supporting Actor in 2009 award on BAFTA, Golden Globe, Academy Awards and Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
10. Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp was born on June 9, 1963. He is an actor, producer and musician. He started his career in television series 21 Jump Street during the '80s before he transitioned to film and starred in the Edward Scissorhands in 1990. Following that film, he played in Sleepy Hollow, Charlie adn the Chocolate Factory and others. His most successful movies are the ones in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He is also known for his collaboration with Tim Burton, a famous film director and his close friend. His latest movie hit was Alice in Wonderland. He won many awards includin the Best Actor Award from the Golden Globes for his role as Sweeny Todd.
