I have made a similar list for directors, but for this list I require that I have seen twenty or more full-length feature films that an actor has appeared in, including voice work. I have listed every actor that I have seen in at least twenty movies, listed from top to bottom by most-seen to least-seen.

In the notes I have written a little blurb considering each actors' work as a whole and what I think is their best performance. These best performances reflect the actual movies chosen for this list. In the cases where I think a performer has given the best performance in the same movie as another actor, I have noted it and chosen their second best performance to stand in as the movie in the list. Also, in the notes I have noted exactly how many films I have seen starring each actor and the top four highest rated movies I have not seen starring that actor.

The purpose of this task is to help me consider how these actors specifically contribute to cinema and commonalities in their roles. I was surprised to discover that almost every actor plays variations of the same kind of character in most of their roles. I suppose this may be the case, not because they couldn't act as very different kinds of people, but because they become a part of the greater cultural consciousness of being a certain kind of character and so filmmakers use that to cast their roles.

I will continue to update this list as I watch more movies and I will make a note if I ever replace a favorite performance.

10/31/22: Replaced Cate Blanchett's performance from I'm Still Here with her performance in Tár.

12/9/23: Replaced Natalie Portman's performance from Black Swan with her performance in May December.

9/12/25: Replaced George Clooney's performance from Ocean's Eleven with his performance in Jay Kelly.

1-/14/25: Replaced Channing Tatum's performance from Magic Mike with his performance in Roofman.