Jennifer Lawrence
Amy Adams
Jeff Bridges
Robert Downey Jr.
Benedict Cumberbatch
Chris Pine
Matt Damon
Josh Brolin
Ryan Reynolds
Jake Gylenhall
Seth Rogan
James Franco
Bradley Cooper
They certainly get around, don’t they? But not to worry - we still have:
Tom Cruise
Meryl Streep
Jessica Chastain
Martin Freeman
Kevin Kline
Steve Carrell
Tina Fey
Jamie Foxx
Will Smith
Keira Knightley
Olivia Wilde
Morgan Freeman
Billy Bob Thornton
Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt
…and of course, Kevin Bacon!
Had to Google Benedict Cumberbatch. Now it’s time for the avalanche of “what about so-and-so?” posts.
Carrell definitely belongs on my first list. Between all the comedy work and Oscar bait drama
As for Benedict, someone at work yesterday said the same thing.
Smaug
Khan
Sherlock Holmes
Will almost certainly get an Oscar nomination this year.
He’s also quite good and nominated for a Golden Globe as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, now playing.
That would have been a good line-up for the Dwarves in The Hobbit. They could always CGI Bilbo and Galdalf.
I had to google seven from the OP’s list, plus five from EH’s addendum. Cumberbatch, however, was not one of them, as my sister-in-law is a big fan.
Don’t you mean Jaden Smith?
And thank God that Michael Cera has fallen out of favour…
Scarlett Johanssen , Anne Hathaway, and Zoe Saldana also come to mind.
I was just wondering about this recently. Why is it that some actors get so many parts? Is it only their agents?
There are plenty of great actors who have successful careers, yet don’t experience the same saturation.
Gotta replace Ryan Reynolds with Chris Pratt.
Kevin Kline is one of the last actors I think about when I think of appearing in a ton of movies.
And the list needs Samuel L. Jackson.
I thought of Cameron Diaz, who at one stage seemed to be in every Hollywood movie made. I looked her up and she is in 3 or 4 movies a year as are most of the people listed. It seems like more.
I was expecting Channing Tatum’s name to appear in somebody’s list.
Of course, there are more movies and more TV being produced today than ever before. There are probably more “regularly working actors” today than at any point in history.
There always is a small group of actors in any period of film. Typically 8 to 12 stars and maybe a dozen character actors.
I went through a period renting movies from the 30’s and 40’s. At first none of the character actor’s faces were familiar. I learned their names and faces very quickly. For example, Sydney Greenstreet was a great character actor and easy to spot. He’s in at least ten movies I’ve seen.
I always assumed this was by design. The public prefers seeing familiar faces. They enjoy seeing John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and Jimmy Stewart over and over again.
Today is no different. People are drawn to the theaters to see their favorite actors.
I was trying to think of what a list from 1970-1975 might look like. Definitively?
Elliot Gould is really all I can think of. I could throw out other names, but they don’t have that sense of being in every damn film that, say, Jennifer Lawrence has.
Maybe James Caan.
Paul Newman, Burt Reynolds, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, Redford, Sally Field, Faye Dunnaway, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep would be on my 70’s list.
Character actors are harder to recall. Michael J. Pollard, Estelle Parsons are two I recall. But they didn’t appear in a bunch of films like the classic character actors.
Nicolas Cage.
When I’m at the video rental store, my eyes automatically look away from any video with the words “Nicolas Cage” on the cover.