Best actor or actress ever...

Give me your guy or gal. But, I want factual proof (Box office success, cult following and critical success) that they are great, not just an opinion (I don't want anyone trying to sell me on Cuba Gooding Jr. again). If they don't have at least 10 movies under their belt as a headline name and have big box office and or critical support, they don't belong.

My choice...

Tom Hanks:
Movies as a headliner - 31, plus of course his success with animations in the Toy Story franchise and The Polar Express.
Box office busts - 6 (Burbs, Joe v. The Volcano, Bonfire Of The Vanities, Man With One Red Shoe, Volunteers and Ladykillers).

That leaves 25 movies out of 31 that were box office successes. He is capable of drawing huge audiences in either comedy or dramatic roles, which is rare for A listers... And he is one of the few in the $20,000,000 dollar club.

Nominations and wins for major critical awards: Academy Awards (Oscar) - 5 nominations and 2 wins for best actor. Golden Globe - 7 nominations and 4 wins for best actor.

Awards are a matter of opinion and not fact.

De Niro, Brando, Hanks, Depp, Paciano are 5 I like

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

De Niro, Brando, Hanks, Depp, Paciano are 5 I like

I take it you werent here when most of the board was hating on Depp for some reason...

Gilbert Godfrey
Miley Cyrus
John Cena

Can't have a subjective discussion based only on "factual proof". Sorry.

Also, Hollywood movie success does not equate to acting talent (e.g. Sam Worthington).

Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise and Leonardo Di Caprio are all great.

freakzilla316ftw wrote:

Awards are a matter of opinion and not fact.

That's why box office success plays a big part...

Acting ability is my only measuring stick here

I cannot claim one as the best.

Some of those mentioned and these,
Not in order

Harvey Keitel
Meryl Streep
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Denzel Washington
Gary Oldman
Christopher Walken
Sean Penn
Laura Linney
Paul Newman
Robert Duvall
Julianne Moore
Gregory Peck
Kevin Spacey

Kate Blanchet is great, never seen her in a bad role. She played Bob Dylan and nailed it!

But, of course, William Shatner is the undisputed greatest actor of all-time.

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

De Niro, Brando, Hanks, Depp, Paciano are 5 I like

DeNiro and Pacino have fallen off enough over the last decade that I think you'd be hard pressed to match their credentials with Hanks, but I could be wrong. Brando is a good add.

Oh yeah my dog Paul Newman, nice Walken too

LikesToFightGuy wrote:

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

De Niro, Brando, Hanks, Depp, Paciano are 5 I like

DeNiro and Pacino have fallen off enough over the last decade that I think you'd be hard pressed to match their credentials with Hanks, but I could be wrong. Brando is a good add.

Their overall credentials would still be above Tom.

I think Tom>DeNiro personally

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

I think Tom>DeNiro personally

You also think KD>Kobe..........

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

I think Tom>DeNiro personally

You also think KD>Kobe..........

That's proof that I'm right.

Thought of some more who I think are the best at what they do.

Mickey Rourke
Bill Murray
Sigourney Weaver
Sam Rockwell
John Malkovich
Joaquin Phoenix
Gary Sinise
Edward Norton
William Dafoe

Not many actresses come to mind right now.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Thought of some more who I think are the best at what they do.

Mickey Rourke
Bill Murray
Sigourney Weaver
Sam Rockwell
John Malkovich
Joaquin Phoenix
Gary Sinise
Edward Norton
William Dafoe

Rounders is awesome.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Thought of some more who I think are the best at what they do.

Mickey Rourke
Bill Murray
Sigourney Weaver
Sam Rockwell
John Malkovich
Joaquin Phoenix
Gary Sinise
Edward Norton
William Dafoe

Great list

Actor - Marlon Brando

Actress - Meryl Streep

Dana White and/or James Toney

Bogart
Wayne
Mitchum
Eastwood

If you take the AFI top 100 movies of all time and add up the person who has the most lead roles, it is a tie between Deniro and Jimmy Stewart.