Favorite Male Actors (Living)
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1.
Robert De Niro
Actor, Goodfellas
Robert De Niro, who is thought of as one of the greatest actors of his time, was born in New York City in 1943 to two artists. He was trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop. He first gained fame for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly, but he gained his reputation as a volatile actor in Mean Streets...
2.
Anthony Hopkins
Actor, Hannibal
Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both half Welsh and half English. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, he moved to London and joined the National Theatre...
3.
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Twisleton Wykeham Fiennes was born on December 22, 1962 in Suffolk, England to Mark Fiennes, a photographer, and Jennifer Lash, a novelist, the eldest of six children. Four of his siblings are also in the arts: Martha Fiennes, a director; Magnus Fiennes, a musician; Sophie, a producer; and Joseph Fiennes, an actor...
4.
Liam Neeson
Actor, Schindler's List
Born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, UK, Liam Neeson worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, truck driver, assistant architect and an amateur boxer. He had originally sought a career as a teacher by attending St Mary's Teaching College, Newcastle. However, in 1976, Neeson joined...
5.
Clive Owen
Actor, Children of Men
British actor Clive Owen is one of a handful of stars who handles artistically challenging roles and as well as tough guys in big-budget shoot 'em ups - including, appropriately, the campy, trigger-happy Shoot 'Em Up - with equal measures of grace and skill. Owen typically is cast as characters whose primary traits are a balance of physical strength...
6.
Joaquin Phoenix
Actor, Gladiator
Joaquin Phoenix was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Arlyn (Dunetz) and John Bottom, and is the middle child in a brood of five. His parents, from the continental United States, were then serving as Children of God missionaries. His mother was originally from a Jewish family in New York, while his father...
7.
Jude Law
Actor, Sherlock Holmes
Jude Law was born on December 29, 1972 in southeast London, England. He started acting with the National Youth Music Theatre at the age of 12, and, at 17, he dropped out of school completely, to star in the Granada daytime soap opera Families. In 1992, Jude began his stage career. He starred in many plays throughout London...
8.
Sean Penn
Actor, Mystic River
Powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints, California-born Sean Penn is the second son of actress Eileen Ryan & director Leo Penn...
9.
George Clooney
Actor, Gravity
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, as son of Nick Clooney, a TV newscaster of many years, who hosted a talk show at Cincinnati and often invited George into the studios already at the age of 5. Avoiding competition with his father, he quit his job as broadcast journalist after a short time. George studied for a few years at Northern Kentucky University...
10.
Michael Fassbender
Actor, Inglourious Basterds
Michael Fassbender was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a German father, Josef, and an Irish mother, Adele (originally from Larne, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland). Michael was raised in the town of Killarney, Co. Kerry, in south-west Ireland, where his family moved to when he was two years old. He is based in London...
11.
John Malkovich
Actor, Dangerous Liaisons
In 1976, John Malkovich joined Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, newly founded by his friend Gary Sinise. After that, it would take seven years before Malkovich would show up in New York and win an Obie in Sam Shepard's play "True West". In 1984, Malkovich would appear with Dustin Hoffman in the Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman"...
12.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor, Inception
Leonardo DiCaprio is an American actor whose portrayal of doomed suitor Jack Dawson in Titanic made him a generation's definition of a heartthrob. Throughout his career, DiCaprio has demonstrated a high level of dramatic versatility, from his breakout film role as a mentally-challenged teenager in What's Eating Gilbert Grape...
13.
Brad Pitt
Actor, Inglourious Basterds
Brad Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri. His mother's name is Jane Etta Hillhouse. His father, William (Bill) Pitt, worked in management at a trucking firm in Springfield. He has a younger brother, Douglas (Doug) Pitt and a younger sister Julie Neal Pitt...
14.
James Franco
Actor, 127 Hours
Known for his breakthrough starring role on Freaks and Geeks, James Franco was born in Palo Alto, California on April 19, 1978. His mother, Betsy Franco, is Jewish, and his father, Doug Franco, was of Portuguese and Swedish descent. Growing up with his two younger brothers, James graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996 and went on to attend UCLA...
15.
Christian Bale
Actor, The Dark Knight
Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to a English parents Jennifer James and David Bale. Christian's father was a commercial pilot, and the family lived in different countries throughout Bale's childhood, including England, Portugal, and the United States. Bale acknowledges the constant change was one of the influences on his career choice...
16.
Colin Firth
Actor, The King's Speech
Born into an academic family - his father is a history lecturer at Winchester University College (formerly King Alfred's College) in Winchester and his mother is a comparative religions lecturer at the Open University - Colin Firth's first acting experience came in infant's school when he played "Jack Frost" in a Christmas pantomime...
17.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Actor, There Will Be Blood
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the only person in film history to win the Oscar award for Best Actor three times. Born in London, England, he is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis (A.K.A. Nicholas Blake) (Poet Laureate of England) and his second wife, Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon...
18.
Peter Sarsgaard
Actor, Jarhead
Illinois-born actor Peter Sarsgaard is a graduate of St. Louis' Washington University where he majored in history and literature. He was a co-founder of the comedy improvisational group Mama's Pot Roast and trained initially with the Actors' Studio in New York. Such off-Broadway productions included...
19.
Ray Winstone
Actor, The Departed
Ray Winstone was born on February 19, 1957, in Hackney Hospital in London, England, to Margaret (Richardson) and Raymond J. Winstone. He moved to Enfield, at age seven, where his parents had a fruit and vegetable business. He started boxing at the age of twelve at the famous Repton Amateur Boxing Club...
20.
Michael Caine
Actor, The Dark Knight
Born Maurice Micklewhite in London, Michael Caine was the son of a fish-market porter and a charlady. He left school at 15 and took a series of working-class jobs before joining the British army and serving in Korea during the Korean War, where he saw combat. Upon his return to England he gravitated toward the theater and got a job as an assistant stage manager...
21.
Steve Buscemi
Actor, Fargo
Steve Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He became interested in acting during his last year of high school. After graduating, he moved to Manhattan to study acting with John Strasberg. He began writing and performing original theatre pieces with fellow actor/writer Mark Boone Junior. This led to his being cast in his first lead role in Parting Glances...
22.
Ben Affleck
Actor, Argo
Benjamin Geza Affleck was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California, USA, and was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. His father, Tim Affleck, is a social worker, and his mother, Chris Affleck (née Boldt), is a school teacher; the two are now divorced. Ben also has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck...
23.
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor, Pulp Fiction
Samuel L. Jackson usually played bad guys and drug addicts before becoming an action hero, as the character Mitch Henessey, in The Long Kiss Goodnight and in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. From character player to leading man. His performance in Pulp Fiction gave him an Oscar nomination for his character Jules Winnfield...
24.
Ben Kingsley
Actor, Schindler's List
Ben Kingsley was born in England. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was of Gujrati Indian descent, and his mother, Anna Lyna Mary (Goodman), was British. Ben began to act in stage plays during the 1960s. He soon became a successful stage actor, and also began to have roles in films and TV. His birth name was Krishna Bhanji...
25.
Jeff Bridges
Actor, The Big Lebowski
The son of well-known film and TV star Lloyd Bridges and his long-time wife Dorothy Dean Bridges, Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California, and grew up amid the happening Hollywood scene with big brother Beau Bridges. Both boys popped up, without billing, alongside their mother in the film The Company She Keeps...
26.
Jeremy Renner
Actor, The Hurt Locker
Jeremy Lee Renner, son of Valerie and Lee, was born in Modesto, California. After a tumultuous yet happy childhood with four younger siblings, Renner graduated from Beyer High School and attended Modesto Junior College. He explored several areas of study, including computer science, criminology, and psychology, before the theater department, with its freedom of emotional expression, drew him in...
27.
William Hurt
Actor, Into the Wild
William Hurt was trained at Tufts University and The Juilliard School and has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including the most recent nomination for his supporting role in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. Hurt received Best Supporting Actor accolades for the role from the Los Angeles Film Critics circle and the New York Film Critics Circle...
28.
Bradley Cooper
Actor, Silver Linings Playbook
Bradley Cooper was born in Philadephia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Gloria (Campano), is of Italian descent, and worked for a local NBC station. His father, Charlie Cooper, who was of Irish descent, was a stockbroker. He has a sister, Holly. Immediately after Bradley graduated from the Honors English program at Georgetown University in 1997...
29.
Tim Roth
Actor, Pulp Fiction
Often mistaken for an American because of his skill at imitating accents, actor Tim Roth was born Timothy Simon Smith in London, England on May 14, 1961 to mother Ann, a teacher and landscape painter, and father Ernie, an American born journalist who changed the family name to "Roth". Tim grew up in Dulwich...
30.
James Woods
Actor, Once Upon a Time in America
James Howard Woods was born on April 18th, 1947 in Vernal, Utah, the son of a United States Army intelligence officer. Leanly built, strangely handsome actor-producer-director with intense eyes and a sometimes untrustworthy grin has been impressing audiences for over three decades with his compelling performances...
31.
Paul Giamatti
Actor, Sideways
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti was born June 6, 1967. He graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall prep school, majored in English at Yale, and obtained his Master's Degree in Fine Arts, with his major in drama from the Yale University School of Drama. Paul is the youngest of three children. His older brother...
32.
Colin Farrell
Actor, Phone Booth
Colin Farrell is one of Ireland's best rising stars in Hollywood and abroad today. His film presence has been filled with memorable roles that range from an inwardly tortured hit man, to an adventurous explorer, a determined-but-failing writer, and the greatest military leader in history. Farrell was born on May 31...
33.
Jeremy Irons
Actor, The Lion King
Elegant and handsome British lead actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, which is a small island just off the south coast of England. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic School for two years, then joined Bristol Old Vic repertory company where he gained much experience working in everything from Shakespeare to contemporary dramas...
34.
Forest Whitaker
Actor, Platoon
Forest Steven Whitaker was born in Longview, Texas July 15, 1961. His family moved to South Central Los Angeles in 1965. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Keisha and his children. American actor, producer, and director. Whitaker won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland...
35.
Jason Bateman
Actor, Horrible Bosses
Jason Bateman is an American film and television actor best known for his role as Michael Bluth on the television sitcom Arrested Development, as well as his role on Valerie. He was born in Rye, New York, USA. His father, Kent Bateman, is a film and television director and founder of a Hollywood repertory stage company...
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