Who is the best contemporary star of movies and shows? Why?

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A while ago I made a comment in the “Best Science Fiction Shows” thread on one truly great contemporary actress I much admire and has had some big roles in at least two science fiction films.

And having done that, in turn, has given me the idea to start this thread.

These days we are all doing a lot of streaming of movies and shows, and book-reading is taking a toll. I do have, for example, a backlog of more than twenty books unread, both printed on paper, or waiting my visit on the Web and in my folder of “Books” as epub and pdf copies. For as far as I can remember, I have been reading, annually on average, some 10 -12 books, but recently that number has gone down to about half, and even that when counting some re-reads.

So watching movies and shows, and what one watches and with whom in it and why, is a topic that everyone here may have something to say about.

This is where that comment I’ve made and that has also inspired me to start this thread can be read in full:

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/this-is-the-best-science-fiction-show-ever/#post-2426465

It begins as follows:

“Now let’s say a word, or two, or three about an Aussie actress who’s one of the brightest stars of the silver screen and the theatrical stage of our day:

Cate Blanchet, who among her many different movies has had, to her credit, memorable performances in at least two interesting science fiction movies:

Years ago, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Chrystal Scull”, and now the recently released for streaming by Netflix: “Don’t Look Up.”

As a personal note: First time I came across Cate Blanchett was when I watched her in “Kingdom of the Chrystal Scull”, a very unappreciated Indiana Jones’ movie, where she simply stole the show.”

At 52, she already has a string of awards in movies and the theater, as well as official accolades and honors the world over, longer than she is tall (and she is not petite):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cate_Blanchett

So who’s your favorite actor or actress?
Don’t be shy.

And “contemporary” here means: “making movies as recently as a few years ago.” Which means that one of the great among the greatest: Sophia Loren, who just over a year ago starred in Netflix’s “The Life Ahead”, is definitely in the run. But not Gary Cooper. Sorry about that.

Tell us who and why.

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As is common, the rating of “best” will always be subject to the personal appreciation and taste of each viewer and may even differ with respect to the various disciplines that the star faces. Thus, a good singer can be, simultaneously, a good actress, or not.

The foregoing led me to think of the work carried out by three people who should be candidates for the qualification of best contemporary star in both disciplines, and I propose them for the consideration of the forum (not necessarily in order of preference):

1.- Cher (Films: “Chastity”, “Tea with Mussolini”, “The witches of Eastwick”, “Moonstruck”, etc.)
2.- Dolly Parton (Films: “Nine to five”, “Steel magnolias”, “Rhinestone”, etc.)
3.- Barbra Streisand (Films: “Hello Dolly”, “Yentl”, “A star is born”, “The Prince of Tides”, etc.)

Finally, and with respect, allow me an irony to exemplify the case of good singers with good shows who, unfortunately, have not succeeded as good actresses: Mrs. Madonna Louise Ciccone.

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OscarCP

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migongo: You do have a point: considering the subjective aspect of judging who is the best in anything that interests millions.

I would consider also the objective side of choosing the best: the actor or actress, in this case, with both great personal appeal and a most distinguished career.

Dolly Parton might fit both categories because, same as Cate Blanchett, she is a six-sigma person: like there is no one else in her class. And, besides, for the USA, Dolly is a true national treasure. And one who is beloved by the world.

But, although I agree the movies where she has appeared are memorable, in good part thanks to her being in them, she has had a short filming career, unsurprisingly, as she has been rather busy doing other things.

I do agree on Madonna, but I am keeping an eye on Lady Gaga: I suspect she has what it takes and she’ll get there. (So far: A Star is Born; House of Gucci.)

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Good
Tom Hanks – he’s been in a varied scope of demanding acting roles who succeeded in capturing the audience that just seem to come naturally.
A very humble likeable guy that hasn’t been in a bad movie IMO

Bad
Gary Oldman – never completed a movie for many years in his career as he was often killed off before the movie end. An exceptional bad guy actor portrayed with a streak of unpredictability, menace and destruction.

Ugly
Robert De Niro – ’cause he publicly viewed his distain for DT ROTFL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fJ0FgPSQk
Great mafioso actor with a long distinguished career.

As I’ve already covered ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’, that only leaves Clint Eastwood but only in the spaghetti westerns.

Keeping IT Lean, Clean and Mean!

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Just a moment: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” is one of the best action movies ever made, deals with some serious historical issues underneath all the comedy, and is a landmark of USA cinematography. Who agrees with me on that? Quentin Tarantino, among others. That’s who.

And Clint Eastwood is one of the best and most important of movie makers, actors and directors of this and the previous century and not only from being “The Man with No Name” in Sergio Leone’s justly famous spaghetti Westerns. I don’t quite agree with his politics, but that is neither here nor there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Leone

Excerpt (the emphasis at the end of it is mine):

“Sergio Leone; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the creator of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema.

Leone’s film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots. His movies include the Dollars Trilogy of Westerns featuring Clint Eastwood A fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966); and the Once Upon a Time films: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Duck You Sucker! (1971), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984).”

About “TGTBATU”, also in Wikipedia:

“Roger Ebert, who later included the film in his list of Great Movies, retrospectively noted that in his original review he had “described a four-star movie, but only gave it three stars, perhaps because it was a ‘Spaghetti Western’ and so could not be art.“

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And Morricone’s music score for “TBTBATU” is one of the most famous music scores of all time.

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Limiting us to just 3 years really narrows it down but I think you’ll agree with me on these:   Nathan Fillion – Firefly, Castle, The Rookie;  Tom Hanks – many;  Kristen Bell – Veronica Mars;  Jolene Blalock – Star Trek Enterpise;  Michael J. Fox – Family Ties, Back To The Future;  Morena Baccarin – Firefly, Stargate, The Endgame.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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Charlie: Good choices all, although I was aiming at just the one or two top personal choices. But no need to limit it to the last three years, in my opinion. Anything in the last twenty years, with actors still performing sometime in the last decade, would fit the bill.

And since we are looking here also at the small screen, I would like to point out two actresses that gave stunning tour-de-force performances in just about every episode of two shows quite different in genre, but equally memorable in achievement, seven seasons long each:

Kyra Sedgwick in the police procedural “The Closer” (2005 – 2012) and Sarah Michelle Gellar in the highly innovative fantasy and horror series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997 – 2003). Both supported by very good ensemble actors.

And all along Sedgwick (that produced hers) and in the end Gellar, both called the shots when deciding to end their respective shows after the seventh season. Doing that probably cost Gellar a promising career and Sedgwick has not played such an unforgettable role since then. But both made TV history as did their respective shows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyra_Sedgwick

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Michelle_Gellar

And among male actors and still in the “contemporary” time window, David Suchet that, besides a distinguished theater and movies’ acting career, on TV most famously portraid Agatha Christie’s “Poirot” (1989 – 2002).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Suchet

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I’m pretty sure my wife and I have watched all of the Poirot episodes on PBS and we really enjoyed them.  Another person I enjoyed watching very much was Amanda Tapping in her Stargate role as Samantha Carter.  Brains and beauty, not to mention that she could hold her own in a combat situation.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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One male actor that fully deserves mention as one of the best around and one has been that already for quite sometime (he started in the movies, as the main character in a very successful one, at age 19, winning an Oscar) is Leonardo DiCaprio:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_DiCaprio

I’ve seen DiCaprio in some of his big movies, but his most impressive performance in those that I’ve seen, to my taste, was as the cunning and repulsive plantation owner and cruel slave master that plays host to Django, played by Jamie Foxx, and his state licensed body-hunter mentor, played by Christopher Waltz, in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” His character was evil through and through, and had a casual, dark, velvety air of menace that made me feel chills running down the spine.

(And Waltz was pretty scary himself as an intelligent, sadistic, murderous and opportunistic Nazi SS officer in charge of finding and, if possibly, killing Jews in hiding, in Tarantino’s WW II- themed movie “Inglorious Basterds.”)

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