Guess you never saw him play Caligula in I, Claudius…
Billy Zane, at least in *Titanic *and The Phantom. We call him “The Tree Who Acts.”
And the equally somnambulent William Hurt. His default expressing is a faraway look in his eyes, like a dog taking a dump.
Lee Majors
David Caruso
Gregory Peck
That guy who plays Cho in The Mentalist
I came here merely to express my contempt for the man they call Keanu Reeves.
Imagine if The Matrix had had a real actor playing Neo.
Oh, I’ve got another one! Charlyne Yi on House. I’m not sure whether she’s doing it on purpose. I certainly hope so. Otherwise there are a lot of perfectly good out of work actors who should be feeling grumpy that she’s got a steady gig.
Exactly who first came to mind for me. Always projecting the face of a Big Dumb Fish, no matter what.
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I recall reading a review of one of the Matrix movies (can’t recall which one) that contained the observation that it was easy to tell the difference between the live and CGI Neos: the CGI Neo could express emotion.
My contribution: Zooey Deschanel. Granted that I haven’t seen everything she’s been in, from what I have seen her idea of emoting is a shrug and a “yeah, so?” expression. Sort of a live(?)-action Daria.
His style did work wonderfully in at least one movie- The Long Riders.
Two Keaches, two Guests, two Quaids, three Carradines… and David steals the movie.
Ha. I saw what you did, and I respectfully disagree. Kev’s part in The Big Chill was an example of perfect casting.
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The interesting thing is that some - some - of these non-expressive folks are still interesting to watch. That guy who plays Cho on the Mentlist for example, and for me, Keanu.
Tom Cruise. The best I can tell he considers displaying emotion to be the same as sticking his chin out.
Back when *Remmington Steele *was still on the air, I was completely unable to think of the star as anything other than “Stephanie Zimbalist, Jr.”
Or the final scenes from Devil’s Advocate (the ones starting here). In one afternoon your wife has killed herself, your mom just revealed that your boss is your dad is Satan, who raped your newly dead wife, and the woman you’ve had a hard-on for since you moved to NYC is your half-sister and devil dad wants you to mount her and make the anti-Christ in exchange for which he’ll make you the happiest and most powerful man on the planet. I know all of this takes some processing, but it’s alright to change expression and show some emotions while doing it.
I would probably say to blame the director more than the actor.
I got the impression from the OP that he was asking what actors/actresses do this kind of acting to good effect.
When I read the title, I immediately thought of Giancarlo Esposito in Breaking Bad, and that was in no way whatsoever a bad performance. He milked more mileage out of a raised eyebrow and a minute tilt of his head than Keanu Reeves’ entire acting resume.
Actually, Bryan Cranston is much the same way throughout most of the series.
I can’t think of any Brando movies where he was particularly “over the top,” but I haven’t seen his entire body of work.
Keanu Reeves may be the poster boy for the thread, but he is a good fit for the first Matrix movie.
Andrew McCarthy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a movie with any expression other than vague worry.
John Travolta. He looks bored, insanely happy, or bummed out.
Gary Cooper? ETA: OK, the OP says “are,” and he’s been out of the game for some time.