For me it is Steve Carell in Little Miss Sunshine. I didn't want anything to do with that guy, nothing he made was good. I believe The Office was on, but I never liked it (like the British one.) LMS is so good, and he's so good in it, he totally won me over
shareAnother TV show example: I've always liked J. K. Simmons as an actor. He's played a lot of different characters, and all of them convincingly. His performance on the new Starz series, Counterpart, where he plays two different versions of the same character, Howard Silk, has magnified my admiration for him. There are two parallel Earths, physically identical in every respect, and a portal between them known to governments on both Earths, and tender truce between them. On Our Earth, Silk is a kind-hearted, mild-mannered government drone. On Their Earth, he is a dynamic, hard-hearted secret agent. EVERYTHING about these two men is different: posture, vocabulary, way of communicating, hell, even facial muscle tone. Even when dressed identically in the same scene, one instantly tells then kind-hearted from the hard-hearted. One reviewer has written that Simmons should be nominated for TWO Emmy awards.
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Great pick, he had shown glimmers of greatness before, My Own Private Idaho stands out to me, but that performance has its flaws. Neo showed us what he could do and began a whole new chapter in his career, I've enjoyed many of his performances since, notably Thumbsucker is a personal fav
shareKind of a weird choice, but Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, specifically Fellowship. I'd grown up watching him as a kid in films and always thought he was brilliant, but I feel like this was the transitional film that solidified in my mind that he wasn't just a great child actor - he was and is a great actor period.
I agree, though he’s been off the radar for a while now for some reason.
shareHe does all sorts of things that don't attract a lot of attention: Wilfred, his Maniac remake (nearly as good as the original) and one I just fell in love with is Netflix's I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
shareHe's doing Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency right now, which is still pretty highly rated despite Max Landis (not everyone's favourite person) being attached to it. But yeah he's not exactly lighting up the movie world anymore. I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore - that's on my to-watch list.
shareRichard Gere in the Hunting Party.
Before that film I always thought that Gere was a lousy actor who was only in some lame romantic movies. I actually started to watch a lot of his films after I saw the Hunting Party and I became a fan of his.
Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond. He went from this skinny teen idol in Titanic to a real leading man.
I like Steve Carell in The Big Short. Good ensemble cast in that one with actors stepping out of. Their typical roles - Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale.
Jennifer Aniston won me over in The Office. Hated Friends 🤮
Tim Robbins in Shawshank. Never like him much before, or after that film.
Robin Williams , rest in peace
We now remember him as a great comedian , ad-lib like his idol, Jonathan Winter
And , as a great actor.
However , when I saw " Moscow On The Hudson " , I had not seen him as an actor - I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and Robin proved he was also a great actor.
Then came " Dead Poets Society " and he gave what I consider an Oscar worthy performance
Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting and The Talented Mr. Ripley. I never disliked him, but those two movies cemented in my mind that he's a good actor.
shareTalented Mr Ripley is one of my favorites, Damon is so good and so is Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Jude Law and even Gwenyth Paltrow who I normally find boring. Even Cate Blanchett who never dissapoints it top of her game in a small role
shareAgreed. Everyone knocked it out of the park in that movie.
shareTom Cruise in Magnolia. Before that I just looked at him like some movie star -- not an actor -- who was a heartthrob.
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