To a certain degree, what makes a great actor is a very subjective question. What I might think makes a great actor you might think is complete rubbish. And I might think the same thing about your criteria. And as long as you are enjoying the performance, who’s to say who has the “right” definition? Nevertheless, this weekend we have the annual Oscar award show going on in L.A. crowning what the Academy deems to be the highest achievement in acting for the past year. And so since the Oscars have already asked the question, as a movie-going member of our culture I have formed my opinions and join the many voices who will debate back and forth on who deserved what. Here now is what I consider to be what makes a great film actor.
A bad performance is easy to spot. It’s not right and everybody knows it. Like a bad meal, we know it tasted bad and didn’t nourish us. Even if we’re not thinking about it at the moment, we have an almost instinctual reaction that knows it wasn’t good.
A great performance is a little tougher to spot. Because a great performance is no different than watching a real person’s life play out in front of us, a perfectly natural thing of beauty. We believe it to be real, we don’t even question that it isn’t real. We are watching a genuine human experience. The role of a great actor is to literally breath life into these characters and their performance. And the actor illuminates a story that we can enjoy because we believe it. The actor doesn’t pull us out of the experience by reminding us that it’s all fake and they aren’t at all who they pretend to be.
My favorite actors are the ones who dive so deep into a role that you forget about who they are when the makeup comes off. You completely believe they are the person they are being presented as. And it’s an effortless and natural performance. The truly great ones can do this over and over again with an amazing range of roles. In one movie they are a penniless stoner and in the next they are hyper mental patient. And both roles are done so well that it’s simply dazzling how the actor can pull these rich people from somewhere inside them. I am always most impressed when an actor takes on such a wide variety of work and somehow manages to be fantastic every time.
Actors that I would put into this group include Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Jodie Foster, Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington, Russel Crowe, Bette Davis, Tom Hanks, and Katherine Hepburn. A lot of Oscar winners. Tom Hanks amazes me when he can go from Philadelphia to Forrest Gump, and so naturally be great in comedies, dramas, and anything you put in front of him. Russel Crowe going from Gladiator to A Beautiful Mind. Brad Pitt going from Interview With A Vampire to Se7en to Twelve Monkeys, Fight Club to Snatch.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying an actor that doesn’t have any range is a bad actor. There are many out there who are very good at playing the same person over and over. And that’s not a bad thing. John Cusack for example is the same guy in every movie he has ever made, but I like what he does. And he has made many movies I enjoyed a lot. But there is zero range there.
Another example of a one-note good actor is Julia Roberts. She’s pretty much always Julia Roberts. There are slight variations, but it’s mostly just a costume change. However if the movie she’s in is the perfect fit for her type of acting, she can win an Oscar! But I would not say these types of actors are great. They are very, very good at what they do, but not great.
Another thing that I definitely appreciate in an actor is when they take a step out of their comfort zone and do a very unexpected role. It’s a risky move, but if they succeed everyone looks at them in a much different light. A good example is Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning role in Monster. She was pretty much eye candy in the majority of her roles leading up that. But after Monster, people had to take her seriously because she pulled it off.
Another great example is Will Smith in Six Degrees Of Separation. At the time of its release, Will Smith wasn’t the big blockbuster king he later became. He was the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. So when he appeared in this relatively under-the-radar art film playing a gay character with mental health issues, it was a very bold move. And he was absolutely brilliant in it. He nailed it and I was very impressed. I had never thought much of him before that but he caught my attention. So it was no surprise later on when he would balance his blockbuster hits with stronger roles like the Pursuit of Happyness.
So who will win at the Oscars this year? Hopefully it will be a group of actors who are genuinely great at what they do. And there are definitely some great ones nominated. Hopefully it will be the kind of Oscar winner where everyone says “Of course, it had to be them.” and not “Sweet fancy moses, how did THAT person win!?”
