# Best acting by actors who aren't actors. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2006, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178 "2006-11-05T11:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/101 "2008-02-12T14:46:26Z")
Uh… guys? Zombie thread. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/102 "2008-02-12T16:40:33Z")
Yeah, but it’s a fun one. Alex Karras also went on to play Webster’s dad in the TV show of the same name, and Dick Butkus played the guy who owned the shop downstairs and was pretty good in that role too. Two that haven’t been mentioned are Justin Timberlake, who was better that one might think in Alpha Dog and Adam “Adrock” Horowitz from the Beastie Boys who was in Lost Angels and the sublime Roadside Prophets. ---
**Author:** ![mike\_ahndembroak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mike\_ahndembroak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike_ahndembroak)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/103 "2008-02-12T17:13:44Z")
The “Hanson brothers” pretty much Slapshot a hit and they were just hockey players. Also I was fond of the performance by Martin Scorcese’s mother in Casino and I beleive she was also in Goodfellas ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/104 "2008-02-12T17:17:53Z")
Wilhelmenia Fernandez did a fine job playing the opera diva in _Diva_. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/105 "2008-02-12T17:46:32Z")
Marky Mark rapper morphed into Mark Wahlberg, respected actor. Jerry Orbach was a song-and-dance man before Prince of the City. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/106 "2008-02-12T17:58:16Z")
[QUOTE=kelly5078] Tom Waits does good work. Wnough people have figured that out, and he’s been in enough movies, that by now maybe he qualifies as an actor. [/QUOTE] [unrelated]Am I the only one to notice that Tom Waits & Ron Perlman have never been phtotgraphed together?[/unrelated] ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/107 "2008-02-12T18:03:29Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] … Two that haven’t been mentioned are Justin Timberlake… [/QUOTE] _Au contraire_. See post 89. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/108 "2008-02-12T19:36:22Z")
Just saw \*\*James Carville \*\* as the governor in “The Assassination of Jesse James…” – great acting! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/109 "2008-02-12T20:06:43Z")
Zombie, schmombie. This is Cafe Society, where we don’t discriminate against the undead. Except Patrick Swayze. [QUOTE=Le Ministre de l’au-delà] Jeff Healey as a musician in **Road House**. Not that it’s saying much, but he was much more convincing than Patrick Swayze. [/QUOTE] Some earlier thoughts on the matter from [this thread:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=335151) > [@](#): > > It’s not surprising that Patrick Swayze never made it as an action star. He’s supposed to be kicking the shit out of the bad guys, but he looks like he’s going to go pirouetteing off into the sunset. > Good backgrounds for aspiring action stars: Martial arts, boxing, professional wrestling. > Bad background for aspiring action stars: Ballet. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/110 "2008-02-12T22:45:47Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] _Au contraire_. See post 89. [/QUOTE] You thwart me at every turn my friend. Don’t make me turn this into a Justin Timberlake Haiku thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/111 "2008-02-13T04:45:34Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] You thwart me at every turn my friend. Don’t make me turn this into a Justin Timberlake Haiku thread. 😃 [/QUOTE] Promises, promises… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/112 "2008-02-13T04:46:43Z")
Keith Richards in Pirates 3 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/113 "2008-02-13T05:52:37Z")
Justin Timberlake was also fantastic in **Black Snake Moan** , and pretty good in **Southland Tales**. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a note of his music, but I certainly respect him as an actor. One that can be seen in the theaters right now is Dillon Freasier, who plays Daniel Day-Lewis’s son in **There Will Be Blood**. The casting director went around to schools and asked the principal if they could recommend “an old soul in a young boy’s body” and one of them said “I know exactly who you’re looking for” and introduced her to Dillon. He’s so good in the role! [QUOTE=Baldwin] Director Sidney Pollack does a good job when he occasionally steps in front of the camera. [/QUOTE] Sydney Pollack started out as an actor, on TV. His first film role was in **War Hunt** (1961), a very good film that I’m shocked isn’t more well-known, considering it was also Robert Redford’s first movie, as well as Tom Skerritt’s first movie. Pollack had directed some TV episodes (The Fugitive, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Ben Casey) but his first feature directing job was in 1965 with the tense and well-made **The Slender Thread** , starring Anne Bancroft as a woman who’s just taken pills and Sidney Poitier as a suicide hotline worker who has to keep her on the phone talking while the authorities try to track her down. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/114 "2008-02-13T11:16:02Z")
Nicole Kidman has an Oscar and you can’t tell me she’s any kind of actor. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/115 "2008-02-13T15:10:28Z")
Most of the cast of **Cidade de Deus** ( **City of God** ) were actually recruited from the neighboring favelas (slums), including a few from the actual City of God. Many had been or are still gangsters. Phenomenal job from most of them, though of course, the material is pretty close to their own lives. Still, faking it convincingly is well worthy of praise. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/116 "2008-02-13T15:38:20Z")
[QUOTE=Windwalker] Most of the cast of **Cidade de Deus** ( **City of God** ) were actually recruited from the neighboring favelas (slums), including a few from the actual City of God. Many had been or are still gangsters. Phenomenal job from most of them, though of course, the material is pretty close to their own lives. Still, faking it convincingly is well worthy of praise. [/QUOTE] Funny that you should mention City of God… I just came into the thread to mention Brazilian musician [**Seu Jorge**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seu_jorge), who was one of the featured actors in City of God and also had a great role in The Life Aquatic. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/117 "2008-02-13T15:41:20Z")
Oh, and I’d also like to add \*\*Glen Hansard \*\* and \*\*Marketa Irglova \*\* in last year’s fantastic film **[Once](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_%28film%29)**. Neither had ever really acted before and were originally signed to just do the music. They had such great chemistry that the director made them the stars of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/118 "2008-02-14T13:29:43Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] Nicole Kidman has an Oscar and you can’t tell me she’s any kind of actor. [/QUOTE] Ditto Juliette Lewis ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/119 "2008-02-14T15:29:04Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] …Sydney Pollack started out as an actor, on TV… [/QUOTE] He was very funny as Dustin Hoffman’s agent in _Tootsie_. Didn’t too badly in a very different role in _Eyes Wide Shut_, either. David Lynch played a kinda funny, hard-of-hearing FBI supervisory agent in _Fire Walk With Me_, and did OK in the role. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Mood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/120 "2008-02-14T17:21:19Z")
\*\*Oprah Winfrey \*\* was great in “The Color Purple.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178.md?page=7)