A lot of actors give “understated” performances, often to excellent effect. Giancarlo Esposito in Breaking Bad comes to mind: his character, Gus, is one of the coolest, calmest, most composed people you’ll ever meet, so much so that it seems like Esposito isn’t even trying to give him any personality. Later you find out that still waters don’t just run deep but they run bloody, and that the actord definitely knows more expressions and emotions than “calm, cool, and collected”, but that’s part of what makes his performance so outstanding.
There are other actors whose “understated” performances seems, at least to me, to derive from the fact they couldn’t act the part of a coma victim if first they took a handful of Xanax. January Jones (Mad Men) is a queen of this category; what I first thought was an amazingly effective portrayal of a "so repressed she doesn’t even understand that she is somebody other than a wife and mother, let alone who she is besides that person; now I’m convinced from seeing her in some scenes in that series and in other roles and, worst of all, guest hosting on SNL, that she just can’t. Your mileage may vary.
Kevin Costner is another one who is best when he’s playing the very low-key barely breathing white collar professional next day. He’s made action movies and had action scenes but never seems to change expressions.
My mother used to refer to some actors as “Fellows of the Drake Hogestyn School of Theatrical Arts” after a soap opera actor from Days of Our Lives and other shows who, according to her, knew “clinch your teeth” (anger, confusion), “look down” (sorrow, grief, contemplation), and Just Say It for everything else. I haven’t seen enough of his work to judge, but Casper Van Dien has definitely latched on to the “clinched teeth=anger” lesson and otherwise has pretty much the same expression throughout.
Keanu Reaves is another one who doesn’t believe in stretching facial muscles any more than he absolutely has to, though he will yell from time to time.
Are there any others who often seem to play mannequins masquerading as human regardless of the plot? And of course (like I need to say it) feel free to disagree with any of the above.
