Don’t you discriminate at all?
It may be a common choice, but I think Johnny Depp is up there with the best of them (Gary Oldman). He always disappears into roles, whether he’s playing Edward Scissorhands, Edward D. Wood Jr., Captain Jack Sparrow, or what I think is his most underrated performance, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
Lucy Lawless: The cite is in ‘Leading With My Chin’ by Bruce Campbell, where she, as a blonde, surprises him at a book signing. You can see it for yourself in Spider-Man I, where she’s the woman in the short-interview-reaction scene.
Daniel Day Lewis is an actor who I am almost never able to recognize.
Y’all are overlooking Meryl Streep. It’s not just the accents - she manages to look very different with each role.
Kate Winslett is becoming quite the chameleon actor, as is Ewan Macgregor.
I’ll ditto the aforementioned Oldman, Depp and D’onofrio as amazing chameleon actors.
Men have an advantage in this, what with the facial hair.
He does disappear in his roles, but there is always a sort of… Depp-ness to them.
I think he is a great actor, but I wouldn’t call him a chameleon.
You will always recognise him instantly as Johnny Depp.
Gary Oldman and Vincent D’Onofrio are in a league of their own in that respect.
Crikey, I was going to say Gary Oldman and Johnny Depp, but my hat’s off to Vincent D’Onofrio - I had no idea it was him in all those different roles.
I had to check wikipedia to be sure it was the same actor in Law and Order Criminal Intent that we saw flunking then excelling with the Marines :o
A couple more:
Benicio Del Toro, who is hardly recognizable in some roles, for example, in The Pledge and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Also Jeffrey Wright, who disappears into his roles in Basquiat, Broken Flowers, Ride With the Devil, and Syriana.
But not Casino Royale. He didn’t disappear into his role there. He was all too apparent.
I’m not sure if he would count, but I didn’t recognise Rodrigo Santoro from Love Actually in 300 
Gillian Anderson does a pretty good “Norn Iron” (ie Northern Irish) accent in The Mighty Celt .
Another vote for Cate Blanchette, and an add-on for Minnie Driver. You can’t hide that chin, but she can do accents amazingly.
Just in case the OP didn’t make it clear enough, this thread’s concept is purely one of appearance. Being able to become various characters and to play a wide variety of roles is not the main concept. Being able not to be recognized is. Many of the entries are indeed exceptional actors in terms of their range and some have played a noteworthy variety of character types. However, some of these people would never be mistaken for anybody but themselves. In many ways that’s what helps distinguish a Movie Star from a competent actor.
So far, Gary Oldman (or Billy Bob Thornton) and Cate Blanchett (or Toni Collette) are my picks for the leaders in the category. Gillian is in the top 1/3 of the list of women, for sure.
One clue to your choice being in the running is how often you have failed to recognize him or her without looking at the credits. That’s what happened to me with Gillian, and what prompted the thread.
Just one more point: although Brando played a huge range of types, from Napoleon to Zapata, from the Asian in Teahouse of the August Moon to Don Corleone, it would never be said that Brando “disappeared” into a role. How could that unique face ever dissolve into another?
But Gary Oldman or Billy Bob? Do you even have an idea what they really look like?
Hard to disagree with Gary Oldman, but I’ll go ahead and nominate:
Lisa: [sotto voce] Dad, do you notice anything strange?
Homer: [sotto voce] Yeah, his hairdo looks so queer –
Burns: I heard that!
Homer: [defensively] It was the boy!
