Who are the best actors & actresses of the past 20 years?
IMDB is celebrating it’s 20 year anniversary and with it comes their list of the top performers in those 20 years. The list reads of a who’s who in Hollywood. It’s a combination of method artists and movie stars. While I have some disagreements with the list, in all it’s pretty close to what I thought. Here is who IMDB considers to be the best actors/actresses since 1990.
20 BEST IN 20 YEARS – ACTORS:
1) Tom Hanks
2) Russell Crowe
3) Denzel Washington
4) Johnny Depp
5) Sean Penn
6) Tom Cruise
7) Will Smith
8) George Clooney
9) Leonardo DiCaprio
10) Brad Pitt
11) Daniel Day-Lewis
12) Kevin Spacey
13) Jim Carrey
14) Ian McKellen
15) Morgan Freeman
16) Nicolas Cage
17) Christian Bale
18) Robert Downey Jr.
19) Heath Ledger
20) Jeff Bridges
This is a very strong list, but some names caught my eye and some names that I didn’t see surprised me. I can’t believe they left out Edward Norton, Anthony Hopkins, Matt Damon, John Travolta, Mel Gibson and Robin Williams. As fantastic an actor Heath Ledger was, did he make the list because of his untimely death? He didn’t start working in Hollywood until 1999 and I’m not sure if he did enough to be a part of this group. Christian Bale is one of the best working actors right now, but he is the only one on the list without either an Oscar nomination or Golden Globe nomination. Nicolas Cage? Really? I think having won an Oscar in 1995 saved him. Jim Carrey is pretty suspect too, but he did win two Golden Globes.
20 BEST IN 20 YEARS – ACTRESSES:
1) Julia Roberts
2) Meryl Streep
3) Cate Blanchett
4) Kate Winslet
5) Jodie Foster
6) Nicole Kidman
7) Sandra Bullock
8) Halle Berry
9) Emma Thompson
10) Angelina Jolie
11) Julianne Moore
12) Susan Sarandon
13) Helen Mirren
14) Gwyneth Paltrow
15) Hilary Swank
16) Cameron Diaz
17) Renee Zellweger
18) Meg Ryan
19) Jennifer Aniston
20) Judi Dench
Hard to find many faults with this list. Although I think the rankings are a bit off here and there. Not sure if Aniston is worthy and I wonder where are Reese Witherspoon and Catherine Zeta-Jones. IMHO the biggest snub is Annette Bening, who has rarely given a bad performance since 1990.
