Non-American Dopers, Biggest movie star where you're from?

WHAT! What about Penelope Cruz? Antonio Banderas? Javier Bardem?

(I notice the OP omitted all women from his list, but I’m ignoring that oversight.)

You’ve never heard of Penélope Cruz (and Mónica!), any of the other “Almodóvar girls” or the Bardem clan? Two of them are even married to each other! There are a few which work more in France than in Spain, and some who jump back and forth between Spain and Italy.

Often the director is the biggest draw for Spanish movies: Almodóvar, Amenábar (we share him with Chile, his country of birth)… Bigas Luna died at the start of this month; for many foreigners, he may at best be “a guy who directed several of Pe’s movies”; many people here will have no problem naming half a dozen of his movies but will have to think when asked to name the cast.

Then there’s the comics, including some of the aforementioned Almodóvar girls, but also many others which we don’t really see as “exportable” but which can be a very big draw. And a recent animation film starred - Ángel Iniesta, the guy who scored The Goal in the last World Cup. It had started as a cameo, but they liked his work a lot and he ended up doing one of the two main characters.

France. I’m affraid it’s Depardieu that they keep casting everywhere (*) providing they have the budget and who’s unashamedly willing to play in any movie, good or awfully bad. Besides he currently insists on making himself even more famous with his creative attempts to avoid taxes (he’s currently a Russian citizen theorically living in Belgium).

(*) He used to be a great actor, but nowadays I can’t even tell because I’ve seen him so many times that I can’t get any suspension of disbelief when I watch him onscreen. I can’t see a priest, or a police officer, or a sale manager…I can only see DEPARDIEU.

I would say your female actors stand taller these days – Juliette Binoche, Audrey Tatou, and I’ll share Kristin Scott Thomas with you in the spirit of Entente Cordiale.:slight_smile:

There have been several movies lately where I was pretty befuddled by the casting of him - it should have been listed as “Depardieu and a slew of visual effects people erasing wrinkles”.

Catherine Deneuve has aged quite gracefully, I recently caught a comedy of hers on the train (best thing about those train rides is often the movie). And yes, Depardieu was in it too. And Sergi López in a three-lines role.

Omar Sy became very exportable thanks to The Intouchables, I saw a poster for a recent movie of his just yesterday (it looked like a comedy about one of those soccer teams which are born for local tournaments). It seems as if Spanish distributors are willing to give any movie he’s in a try.

Can you tell us more about that?

I’m used to seeing Italian and Spanish actors in French movies but I had no idea that the same phenomenon existed between Italy and Spain. It makes sense but I had never thought about it.

To the OP:

The biggest stars are the same in Belgium as in the US. Local stars would include Benoit Poelvoorde, Cécile de France and Marie Gillain.

As far as French cinema is concerned, I agree with clairobscur’s comment on Depardieu though I think he was more ubiquitous 10-20 years ago. Same thing with Daniel Auteuil and Jean Reno. Among the younger actors, there’s Jean Dujardin, Kad Merad and Omar Sy. As far as actresses are concerned, Audrey Tatou and Marion Cotillard are definitely popular.

I forgot to mention Melanie Lynskey, Anna Paquin, and perhaps Alan Dale, who is originally from my home town.

It’s Andrés. Andrés Iniesta. As a culé I have to set that straight.

The OP wan’t asking for native movies stars, but for the biggest. And quite frankly, if you ask a hundred Spaniards who would they rather have a pic taken with, Brad Pitt or Javier Bardem, 99 would pick Brad Pitt and the one left would say ‘Javier who?’

Actually, nowadays, the popularity curve would be something like: Brad Pitt - the guy playing the priest in “Puente Viejo” - Javier Bardem… because nobody actually watches the mumbling indie flicks Bardem usually picks.

I propose Mads Mikkelsen for the Danes. The Swedes are spoiled for choice though; one of the Skarsgard’s?

Han Suk-kyu is probably the biggest movie star overall in Korea, if you don’t count foreign actors.

Former Yugoslavia - Rade Serbedzija

Why not all of them? :stuck_out_tongue:

I guess that among older actors the most well known outside Sweden would be Erland Josephson, Max von Sydow and Ingrid Bergman.

I think a lot of the responses here didn’t even bother to read the OP.

So you are saying that in Canada, all of those people are bigger box office draws and more famous than Brad Pitt, George Clooney or Robert Downey Jr?

the number 1 in India is Amitabh Bachchan. He is a senior actor, a great actor, has done many memorable roles and has a great voice. Shahrukh is also very popular but in terms of acting skills, he is relatively ordinary n there are plenty of actors who are better than him.
Check out thisold item number from an old movie featuring Shahrukh and Aishwarya.

If I understand your question correctly, I’d say Tom Cruise.

That’s based on the understanding that you’re asking me to name a big movie star, regardless of where they come from.

I’m a New Zealander living in the UK.