25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (So Far)

25 Gael García Bernal

24 Sônia Braga

23 Mahershala Ali

22 Melissa McCarthy

21 Catherine Deneuve

20 Rob Morgan

19 Wes Studi

18 Willem Dafoe

17 Alfre Woodard

16 Kim Min-hee

15 Michael B. Jordan

14 Oscar Isaac

13 Tilda Swinton

12 Joaquin Phoenix

11 Julianne Moore

10 Saoirse Ronan

9 Viola Davis

8 Zhao Tao

7 Toni Servillo

6 Song Kang Ho

5 Nicole Kidman

4 Keanu Reeves

3 Daniel Day-Lewis

2 Isabelle Huppert

1 Denzel Washington

This list lost all credibility by #22.

Keanu should be immediately removed. Aside from that, it's a decent list.

Where is Gary Oldman?

Keanu FUCKING Reeves??? Ha!

Love to see the NYT trolling all the Streep loons.

Well, that was diverse.

Denzel?? He plays the same role every damn time.

I had never heard of Rob Morgan or Wes Studi, so I knew before looking them up that they would be people "of color". The NYT is so transparent.

Michelle Williams is a real chameleon -- her Gwen Verdon was fabulous and she really was superb in that film opposite Casey Affleck where she had basically one or two terrific scenes. How about Toni Collette or Cate Blanchett? Denzel Washington? So overrated. Replace him with Don Cheadle.

NYT just lost its credibility

Where is Laverne Cox?? Angelica Ross?? Indya Moore??

TRANS ACTORS MATTER!!!!!

[quote] Keanu: Can you name one film that has not been improved by his presence?

Oh. Dear. God.

DL hates Nicole, right ?

Actors are men.

Way too US-centric, overlooking brilliant actors outside the US, such as:

Antonio de la Torre

Vincent Cassel

Toni Collette

Javier Gutiérrez

Luis Tosar

Roberto Alamo

Koen de Bouw

Daniel Auteuil

Natalie Baye

Gong Li

Josef Hader

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

Lily Franky

Chen Daoming

Andy Lau

Trine Dyrholm

Nina Hoss

I concur with the NYT about Toni Servillo, who is one of the greatest actors working in this and the previous century.

where’s the british dames? frances mcdormand? cates/kates?

I think it’s great that Helen Keller gets to write for the NYT.

[Quote] NYT just lost its credibility

Just, dear?

Don Knotts should be on this list.

That list is HILARIOUS. It was created solely to trigger people. Period.

Shit, Toni Collette’s not outside the US much.

Zendaya

Haha no. Michael B Jordan isn’t a better actor than Meryl Streep.

R10? That list is US centric? I count ten US actors (though I'm not sure about a few more). If this list was made pre-woke? It'd be about 20 US.

I’d never heard of half of these master thespians, and half of the other half I HAD heard of made me laugh out loud.

Thanks for the chuckle, NYT. OK now where’s the real list?

Only #11, seriously?

Only #11, seriously?

[quote]Keanu: Can you name one film that has not been improved by his presence?

[italic]Much Ado About Nothing[/italic]

Denzel is very much a 90s actor, not really a 21st century one (despite the movies hes been since the 90s).

Ed Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Casey Affleck should be there.

Of course a black actor is number 1, couldn't have a white actor as number 1 now, could we.

What about Jennifer Lawrence? Amy Adams? Renee Z?

They really ticked all the boxes, didn't they?

Also can't remember the last time I saw a Denzel Washington movie and was impressed with his work. Consistent, sure, but never really interesting or creative.

Kind of surprised how triggered people are by the Streep ommission based on the reader comments.

especially since Glenn Close is the more consistently better actor. Streep can be great (Sophie's Choice) but she can also be downright bad (August: Osage County).

Hey! Timothée is not on this list.

R33 people don’t think of Denzel as “black.”

I heard Denzel Washington was good in the Oscar bait film "Fences", and with as much as I like Viola Davis, I didn't see it. I genuinely enjoyed the play, so I'll have to look into the film.

But whoever said Washington plays the same character in every film isn't completely wrong. When he won the Oscar for that awful film "Training Day", I rolled my eyes so hard, I almost went blind.

This is a shit list.

Naomi Watts should be in there

Today the New York Times was forced to do a follow-up article on why their critics left Meryl Streep out of the list of the 25 greatest actors. Their readers were incensed that she was omitted and they demanded an explanation from the manager. (Apparently if Datalounge ever closes down for good, you can just go over to the comment section of the New York Times to find kindred souls.)

Here are some interesting items from the new article-

[quote] A.O. SCOTT: I’ve been surprised by the intensity of the Meryl Streep loyalty. I thought people might be upset about Tom Hanks, but we haven’t heard a word about him. The male actor people are most upset that we left off is Leonardo DiCaprio.

[quote] MANOHLA DARGIS: I’m not going to say anything bad about Meryl Streep — we love her! Maybe if we’d had 26 slots, she’d be on it.

Thanks, Manohla, but we can smell the crap in your reply from here.

They did have plans to make the list even worse before those plans were scrapped-

[quote] A.O. SCOTT: One of my first lists had Will Ferrell, and I got a one-word response from Manohla: “No.”

A. O. Scott intended to send a shock message to the readers-

[quote]A. O. SCOTT: Keanu Reeves has been a controversial pick, but he was on the list from the beginning. Then we decided we were going to make a statement by putting him up there on the list [at No. 4].

Scott and Dargis will pay a terrible price for leaving Streep off the original list. Will they be forced to write Streep's name on a blackboard 25,000 times? Or will they instead.....

[quote] DARGIS: People keep yelling at us about how many Oscar nominations Streep has, as if that’s a metric Tony and I ever paid attention to. This is not a list of people who have been nominated for Oscars; this is our list of people we really, really respect and love. But we will be doing a 25,000-word ode to Meryl Streep at the end of the year, just so everyone knows.

Michael B Jordan was good as a child as Wallace on The Wire He serves his roles just fine, but he's stiff and not that dynamic. He shouldn't be on the list.

If it's a diversity list, fine, but try harder -- there are a lot better actors to fill the racial, gender, etc. categories.

Streep is not concerned, but they definitely seem to be trolling her fans. Melissa McCarthy and Keanu Reeves are better actors than her? Whatever

Nicole Kidman??? Good Lord...

Where’s the Jessica Lange troll? Suicide?

"When he won the Oscar for that awful film "Training Day", I rolled my eyes so hard, I almost went blind. "

That was a career Oscar (especially not winning for Malcolm X where he was actually great). Everyone said it even then. No one thought the role in Training Day itself was seriously being considered.

You Melissa McCarthy haters need to watch Can You Ever Forgive Me? for which she was robbed of an Oscar.

Denzel? Zzzzz. I liked a few of his films, but I agree that his roles/performances are kind are similar. I'm on board with Viola Davis, however. I know she gets a lot of criticism for her snot cries, but she really is phenomenal in everything she does.

I also would like to see Melissa McCarthy in another dramatic role. A movie that her obnoxious husband doesn't make an appearance.

Denzel and Keanu in the top 4. I don't think so. The list is a little tired.

I've never heard of any of these people.

Barf at Denzel, Keanu, Kidman, and DDL rounding out the top five. Is this list from 1995?

They meant KERRY Washington #1, this is a mix-up

This list seems like their personal favorites. Calling it the best was stupid.

Nicole Kidman is a better actress than Cate Blanchett or Judy Davis? Wake me when it's over.

The NYT critics are insufferable. We didn’t include Meryl but we are doing a 250,000 word article on her. What ungrateful cunts.

It served it's purpose. It got people chatting about it. Of course they know not everyone is going to agree.

I agree Melissa McCarthy is a very good actress R48, but she usually plays the same two characters over and over. A clown, or a “beat down” woman.

Melissa McCarthy is the very definition of a one-trick pony. Ugh. And she did NOT deserve an Oscar for Can You Ever Forgive Me.

Jennifer Lawrence being left off is nuts. She was fantastic in Winter's Bone and she has been very good in other films as well. Let's see Nicole Kidman pull off a character like Katniss Everdeen as well as more serious dramatic characters. I love Catherine Deneuve but can't remember the last film of hers I saw.

This entire list is a bad joke.

Is this more for acting or star power - if acting, Keanu should definitely not be on the list, and am not sure he should be for star power either, but that I could at least see.

If it is focused on acting, Christian Bale should be on the list.

I know a couple of his signature roles were technically in the 20th century, but Matt Damon should probably be included as well.

Gael Garcia Bernal? Sonia Braga? Catherine Deneuve? Really ? I haven't seen them in anything in years..... Nicole Kidman is a very good actress. But "Greatest of the 21st Century???" No. I agree Christian Bale ought to be on that list. Chadwick Boseman ought to be on that list...I've been watching all his movies and he was on his way, baby. We really lost a brilliant actor. And Amy Adams ought to be on that list. Definitely. Cate Blanchett is a brilliant actor. They invalidate themselves by their omissions.

This NYT list reminds me of the Harpers magazine "how dare you cancel us, cancel culture!" editorial from earlier this year: it's backfiring in the most embarrassing way for its authors. (Like the Harpers article, it should merely be ignored.) The last thing the NYT needs is more proof of utterly out of touch they are with their readers and with the real world.

You're right, R62. Christian Bale is an even bigger omission than Streep. I would put him as number one on the list. He is super talented.

It's not backfiring at all. Unless the authors get fired, it hasn't backfired. Clicks, retweets, social media debate with links to the article. That's all they care about.

Collins Dictionary's opinion of Denzel...

I'm excited for Kim Min-Hee and Zhao Tao because they're both the muses for two of my favorite directors. I just don't get their point of view. It wants to be something of an International Cinephile list but with the exception of the two mentioned above and Isabelle Huppert, it doesn't make sense. No Juliette Binoche? Really? She's made great movies with Hou Hsiao-hsien, Abbas Kiarostami, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke. The volume alone should put her neck and neck with Isabelle Huppert.

And then some of the inclusions do come off as virtue signalling, but there are objectively better choices. I love Alfre Woodard, but other than TV guest work and Clemency, what has she done in the 2000's that put her here. I could see her on this list if it was about the 90s.

What about Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett (who I don't always think is great, but usually very fun to watch). Robert Pattinson has delivered amazing performances in the last decade. Lesley Manville? Jim Broadbent? etc etc. The list didn't have to be only 25 maybe.

Tilda Swinton is already on the list! It's one of the few good things about the list.

You're right! Somehow I missed her in NYT's unnecessary dynamic articles.

I think this list is bullshit. They claim to have looked at the actor’s body of work, but many of these people appeared in dud films (maybe not DDL, but he rarely worked and retired). They really just wanted to troll and rightfully ended up with negative attention.

Meryl doesn’t give a fuck. The list is very PC and was probably very carefully put together.

No trans women of color?

Laverne Cock.

Well of course.

What is this shite?? It makes no sense! Best actors of the 21st century means actors who had done no work before that, or negligible work. Who cares about most of the actors on the list, apart perhaps from Saorse Roinan??? Seriously! And I love Julianne Moore, but she is an actress who had already delivered career-defining performances by the mid-90s.

So, my list comprises Julia Garner, so far. There were a couple other young actors, but I forgot.

Make that Julia Garner, Ben Whishaw, and maybe Andrew Garfield (perhaps).