Most Underrated Actors/Actresses

[huskyrob1]

Sam Rockwell.
Cillian murphy.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Ben Mendelsohn, though he's gotten more pub lately.

Sam Neill. Relatively acclaimed, but hasn't really won any significant awards. One of the best actors of his generation.

Tom Skerritt, Phillip Bosco, Brian Dennehey, John Turturro, Wilford Brimley. Especially Turturro, one of the great actors of our time.

 

[businesslawyer]

You almost have to give the reason why you think someone is underrated if you are going to put them in this thread.

Shailene Woodley for me. She is awesome in everything she does, yet despite being a box office star and having proven she can carry some dodgy scripts, she is still not quite A list. She has been nominated for 2 Golden Globes and an Emmy, so you could argue whether she is underrated, but she still feels like she is one dud from being this generation's Molly Ringwald. I think part of it is that she is not classically beautiful.

Natalie Portman - She is only remotely underrated because she has been awful so often for an A list actress that some people don't know what to make of her. She follows up an Oscar WIN in Black Swan with hot garbage like No Strings Attached. What the is going through her mind when she reads scripts?


Couple of tiers down:

Mark Strong - A classic "that guy" actor that can do everything from a Guy Ritchie shoot-em-up to a blockbuster to playing a closeted spy.

Natalie Dormer - smoking hot and very interesting. Not sure why she hasn't gotten a major leading role yet.

Toby Jones - weird looking guy that is an excellent actor

Giancarlo Esposito - Everyone getting a residual on Breaking Bad owes it to Esposito. This would have been a good, not great, show without Gus Fring.

There is no list that should ever exist in which Natalie Dormer is not at the top of it. Just sayin ....

 

[Kolumbo]

HH.

 

[Tommyboy]

Jim Paxson (Aliens, Weird Science, Tombstone). Guy was great in every supporting role he took.

Bill Paxton is your guy. He is great though. I was watching Apollo 13 again the other day and he is great (along with Hanks, Harris, and Bacon).

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Bill Paxton is your guy. He is great though. I was watching Apollo 13 again the other day and he is great (along with Hanks, Harris, and Bacon).

Bill Paxton is OK. He didn't have a lot of range, and he couldn't carry a movie or show by himself, despite getting some really good parts. Big Love was really good the first few seasons because of Harry Dean Stanton, and it lost a lot of momentum when Stanton left the show. A Simple Plan was a really good movie, but Billy Bob Thornton did the heavy lifting in that film. He wasn't bad, but I wouldn't say he was underrated.

 

[Mano]

Just thought of one: Garret Dillahunt.

He was great as the coward who killed Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood. And has showed a great comedic flair in stuff like Raising Hope and The Mindy Project. If I had to guess he probably loses a bunch of parts to Michael Shannon, who himself should get a mention in this thread.

 

[Kolumbo]

Lake Bell. Or Amanda Peet. Either one, or both. Both fine.

 

[huskyrob1]

Bill Paxton is your guy. He is great though. I was watching Apollo 13 again the other day and he is great (along with Hanks, Harris, and Bacon).

I'll always remember Paxton from "Aliens". It was his first big break, and though he only had a supporting role, he stole every scene he was in. I thought he was terrific in that movie the first time I saw it in the theater.