Have I been wooshed? I’ve never seen Hugh Grant play anyone else besides Hugh Grant. He’s exactly the same in ever damn movie of his I’ve endured.
Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights gets my vote.
Have you seen Kind Hearts and Coronets?
Carrie-Ann Moss in Memento
Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive
Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago
Marshal Mathers in 8 Mile. Most of your votes are at least actors and actresses.
Al Pacino in Serpico, a film I had never seen until recently. Pacino’s acting for the past two decades has consisted of being big eyed and screaming, it was nice to see him capable of more subtlety.
He’s also amazing in Dog Day Afternoon - although he screams a lot in that movie, there’s a lot of depth to his performance.
Gary Sinese impresses me in a surprising way every time I see him on the screen. He even stands out in that terrible made for TV miniseries, The Stand.
The most impressed I’ve been by him was when he played the double-amputee Vietnam war veteran in Forrest Gump.
I wanted to chime into this thread because I always try to give big ups to great supporting actors. I think that 99.99% of the time, they’re overlooked…particularly when there’s a great lead/leads (think of Antonio Bandaras in “Philidelphia”…he was stellar in that role, but Hanks and Denzel overshadowed him.)
Anyway, Sinise is amazing in Forrest Gump, but I don’t think that’s his best role. I think he captured astronaut Ken Mattingly very well in “Apollo 13,” but my absolute favorite, favorite, favorite Sinise role was in a PBS filmed version of “True West” back in the 80’s. Starred Gary Sinise and John Malkovich and OH MY GOD is it amazing. Just about every week I try to find a copy of that movie online, but so far no luck.
Another supporting actor that is consistently good is comedian Kevin Pollack. His turns in the Grumpy Old Men movies and “A Few Good Men” put him on my radar, but I found his performance as the lead in “Deterrence” (co-starring Sean Astin) outstanding.
I’m free-associating now, so some of the following will be leads, but:
Anything Chris Cooper does. I watched “Breach” last night and it’s just out of this world what that man can do without saying a word. Then, tonight, I watched “American Beauty” for the first time in years, forgetting that he was in it as well. (Incidentally, thought I’m by no means a fan of Ryan Phillipe, he was great in “Breach” as well…which I wasn’t prepared for.)
Someone mentioned Val Kilmer in “Tombstone,” and while I agree (and Doc is my favorite character in that flick) I have to give a shout out to Billy Bob Thornton as Johnny Tyler, the faro dealer that Wyatt slaps around. For such a small part, he was memorable. Likewise Charlton Heston in the same movie.
Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne.
Daniel Craig as 007 (release the hounds, I know.)
Mel Gibson as Hamlet. I much prefer his version to Branagh (and I like it almost as much as Olivier’s version.)
Reese Witherspoon in “The Man in the Moon” has already been mentioned, but I’ll gladly second that. Behind “Walk the Line,” her best role ever.
There are many others, I’m sure, but that’ll do for now.
There ain’t no hounds to be released besides all of Daniel Craig’s slobbering lapdogs. (I kid.) (Kind of 
). But in seriousness, as one of the people here that hated Craig’s performance, I’m in a minority. Most people liked it.
Leo DiCaprio in The Departed. Definately impressed. I’m not on the he-was-in-titanic-so-he-sucks bandwagon, I mean I knew he was a good actor from Gangs of NY, The Aviator, and Catch Me if You Can, but DAMN he blew me away in The Departed.
Now for the one you didn’t see coming… and I’m embarrassed to admit to even viewing this movie: Colin Farrell in Daredevil. Stupid movie, stupid story, and Ben Affleck was horrible. But as corny as the ‘Bullseye’ character was, he was the only thing that made the movie watchable. Oh wait, I also learned a valuable lesson from watching that. To dodge bullets all you have to do is perform a backflip. Bullets cannot ever hit someone who is backflipping.
Go back and watch Boiler Room and see him steal the hell out of that show. (You’ll probably never seem him littler, either.) I think it’s weird and a shame that The Rock and Vin Diesel haven’t been in more (and more interesting) movies. They’re both obviously smart guys who are fun actors, and I’m surprised I don’t see more of them. (The Rock obviously has a whole nother career to take care of, and I guess Vin Diesel just cries himself to sleep on a big pile of money when he thinks about how it’s too bad he hasn’t done enough serious work.)
Also, I knew John Goodman is a fantastic actor, but until a few years ago I didn’t realize what a great singer he is.
He plays slimy Hugh Grant in the Bridget Jones movies. Charming somewhat clueless “ordinary guy” Hugh Grant in most of his roles (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Sense and Sensability), and “Rich British” Hugh Grant in other roles (Love Actually, Two Weeks Notice). I think that shows remarkable range.
(I think he actually does a very good job playing variations on Hugh Grant - its far more natural than watching Keanu Reeves or Orlando Bloom try to act.)