Five Best Actors and Their Lesser-Known Roles

For my first post ever on Right Cinema I wanted to take a look at 5 actors that I think are on the top of their game today, right now, as we speak. As we take a closer look at these great actors, I’ll spend the next week or two reviewing some of their lesser-known roles.

I struggled awhile deciding on what factors to consider when putting this list together, but I thought I should trust my instincts. So, off the top of my head and in no special order (except for my honorable mention), here are my favorite five actors along with their respective movies that I’ll be reviewing:

1. Ryan Gosling – “The Believer”
2. Christian Bale – “Empire of the Sun”
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman – “Love Liza”
4. Daniel Day-Lewis – “The Boxer”
5. Don Cheadle – “A Lesson Before Dying”

Honorable Mention: Heath Ledger – “Candy”

The common thread that holds these actors together in my mind is that they all create new characters that shine and that we as viewers gravitate towards, as opposed to letting their celebrity cast a shadow on the characters. This is no easy task because there is a very thin line every famous actor walks where either they become the character, or unfortunately the character becomes them. Some of the best actors have spent most of their careers in the first category only to wake up one day in the second (see, Jack Nicholson).

There has already been a lot of Oscar success with this group: Daniel Day-Lewis (2 Oscars and 4 total nominations), Philip Seymour Hoffman (an Oscar and 2 nominations), and Don Cheadle, Heath Ledger, and Ryan Gosling have all been nominated for an Oscar for Actor in a Leading Role for their respective roles in Hotel Rwanda, Brokeback Mountain, and Half Nelson. However, what I truly respect and love about these guys is that they are never afraid to take on a completely different role and give themselves to the character to the point that you forget you are watching the actor, and all you see is the character they are playing. I can’t wait to pop some popcorn and watch these movies!

First up will be Ryan Gosling and a review of his movie “The Believer.”

See the trailers for these six lesser-known movies below.