Actors with the Greatest Range

Yet another nomination for Gary Oldman. And for his partner-in-crime from one of my all-time favorite movies (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead) Tim Roth.

And he played a convincing Arnie in Gilbert Grape, IMO.

I agree with Frances McDormand for female vote.

Range is his voice over work too. I think he does more work on the Simpsons than anyone. And he can sing and dance on stage too.

You all have mentioned Hank Azaria and Bryan Cranston but have forgotten Tom Hanks, **Robert DeNiro ** and Anthony Hopkins. WTF?

I won’t get into their qualifications. I think their respective bodies of work speak clearly.

For my money, the finest, most versatile american actor working who has never won an Oscar is Ed Harris. He is good at action, melodrama and even comedy.

A close second for me is Randy Quaid. His forte is comedy, but he can also be menacing as in Brokeback Mountain.

The late, great Jerry Orbach.

Agreed. After seeing him in Carlito’s Way, it took me a long time to stop hating him and remember that he was acting. He just owned that character through and through.

I think DeNiro is a classic example of a guy with limited range.

Great actor for what he does, but it’s within a pretty narrow spectrum.

When he does do something out of his element (like the stroke victim), it’s too obviously out of his element.

Funny, I would have mentioned him in a thread titled Actors with the Greatest Lack of Range. In my opinion, he’s a binary state- comedy (wild, goofy, overcaffienated zany motormouth), and drama (cornball deadpan visibly-trying-to-restrain-his-overcaffienated persona).

Oldman, Hanks, Pacino, Hoffman (Dustin), Hoffman (Philip Seymour), Nicholson, Helena Bonham Carter, Blanchett, Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Streep.

Same here, but I didn’t want to get into it.

Carrey is sort of the same way.

When people talk about these two “acting”, they really just mean, “they’re not hamming it up”.

And when they’re hamming it up, I think Carrey has a better ability to create new personas than does Williams. I have very little respect for Williams out side of some of his stand-up.

I’d like to chime in with Gary Oldman - even when he was playing “himself” in Friends I never thought he could be funny, he was hilarious!

I also thought Philip Seymour Hoffman was excellent in 24th Hour (Ed Norton was good too), Boogie Nights and Scent of a Woman

I had a hard time even believing that was him. He looked and acted sooo different.

**Leonard diCaprio ** can really immerse himself into a role as can Ed Norton.
**Helen Mirren ** captivates me every time she’s on the screen.
**Charlize Theron ** is the female equivalent of Brad Pitt.

And someone who surprises me with his versatility is Steve Carrell. He’s very good looking but you don’t notice it because he can act like such a buffoon. I’d love to see what he could do with a non-comedic role.

Don’t forget about The Talented Mr. Ripley and Boogie Nights.

I think Johnny Depp has great range has an actor. He is amazing.

I would agree with many of the folks mentioned in this thread - but not Jack Nicholson. He comes on the screen and it’s just “there’s Jack Nicholson” again for me. Yep he’s got movie star charisma, but I don’t see that he’s a great actor.

Can I add Tim Curry - I did not recognize him in Legend. Granted that was an elaborate costume, but I still thought it was pretty good

Which reminds me of another that has surprised me with his talent: Matt Damon.

Knowing him from Good Will Hunting (smart, but a reckless social moron fratboy mentality) and Dogma (fratboy mentality vengeful fallen angel), or even inexperienced conman and thief (Oceans Eleven and Twelve), I would never have expected a nuanced kid rattled by war (Saving Private Ryan) or calculating assassin with an undercurrent of heart (Bourne Identity and Supremacy) or just plain evil (Talented Mr Ripley). Not to mention his hilarious cameo in Eurotrip.

When watching Bourne Identity, it would not cross my mind “this is the same guy as Good Will Hunting.” And from what I’ve heard about The Good Shepherd (which I’ve not yet seen, but not from lack of desire), Damon’s evolved quite a long way from a bizarre Kevin Smith character.

He also (convinvingly) played Buzz Aldrin in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

The Two Kevins (Kline and Spacey), as well as Cary Elwes, have all played a wide variety of roles convincingly. But my vote goes with Gary Oldman; he’s consistently more villainous than Alan Rickman (yet one more actor with good “range”).

Kline: comedy, drama, comedy-drama, romantic comedy, stage (singing and Shakespeare)

Spacey: dunno about his stage career, but his Bobby Darin impersonation in Beyond The Sea was moving. He is Keyser Soze!

Elwes: comedy, drama, good guy, bad guy, you name it, he’s done it.

Rickman: same as above, with the ability to go “over the top” or to tone it way down to totally understated.

I feel ashamed that I forgot Tim Curry. Truly ashamed.

I agree. And I would say the same of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I don’t know what people see in this guy. From what I see, he always just seems to be playing a slight variation on… Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

I know some people are gonna barf, but…

Eddie Murphy

Yes, he uses a lot of latex to create his characters, but he really does transform into another person. For what it’s worth I’m a film/acting snob from way back, but I give props to Eddie.