Top 10 Male Performances of ALL TIME

This is harder than it sounds...  So many incredible performances over the years, how can you pick just 10?   Well, over a couple of reds and much deliberation Guy and I have created our top 10. 

Let us know what you think and if we missed one that you reckon deserves a spot.

These 10 are in no particular order.


Daniel Day-Lewis - The Butcher
From the movie 'Gangs of New York'.   The Butcher is one of our favourite characters ever.  Every second he is on screen he just captures your attention. 


Heath Ledger - The Joker
From the movie 'The Dark Knight'.   R.I.P Heath, such a shame.  He was only getting better and better and it's painfully ironic that his dark and disturbed Joker seemed to take him over the edge in his own personal life.  Such an incredible interpretation of the character though...Jack Nicholson WHO?  Nah that's not fair, Nicholson's Joker was damn good as well in a completely different way.


Christian Bale - Dicky Eklund
From the movie 'The Fighter'.  This character blew us away.. how can this be Christian Bale?  We have seen him drop the weight before in 'The Machinist' but this wasn't just weight it was a complete transformation.  He must have got himself hooked on crack for real as nobody can act THAT well can they?  Watch him even in the background of shots, he never breaks character for a second.  Incredible.


Russell Crowe - John Nash
From the movie 'A Beautiful Mind'.   People have a lot of different opinions about Crowe but you cannot deny his performance here.  God damn, that speech at the end...


Al Pacino -Tony Montana
From the movie 'Scarface'.   There is damn good reason why this performance would probably show up in every top 10 list in the world.  Pacino is always good but this still remains his absolute standout in our opinion.  "Revenga!!!"


Geoffrey Rush - David Helfgott
From the movie 'Shine'.   To be honest we are not huge fans of the film... find it quite slow especially in the last couple of acts.  But regardless of the movie as a whole Rush is brilliant playing Helfgott.


Christoph Waltz - Colonel Hans Landa
From the movie 'Inglorious Basterds'.  What a character!!  He is simply incredible for the entire film however the standout is the scene in farm house while he interrogates the farmer. You wouldn't f$%k with him.


Dustin Hoffman - Raymond Babbitt
From the movie 'Rain Man'.  There are a number of great performances over the years of actors playing 'special needs' characters.  Leo should get an honourable mention for "What's eating Gilbert Grape" and of course Tom Hanks in 'Forest Gump'.  But we feel Hoffman is the stand out here.


Daniel Day-Lewis - Daniel Plainview
From the movie 'There Will Be Blood'.  It's hard not to put D.D.L for ALL his characters.  Daniel Plainview is just another transformation for him,  completely unique compared to other roles such as the Butcher and more recently Lincoln.  What an incredible performance and movie.


Denzel Washington - Alonzo Harris
From the movie 'Training Day'.   Again another brilliant actor with many stand out performances.  The reason we chose Training Day though is he simply dominates every scene.  Perfect casting putting the mild Ethan Hawke next to him though, works so well.



Honourable Mentions

A lot of damn good performances made it close but we could only pick 10.  These ones nearly made it though...

Robin Williams - Both for Aladdin (voice over) and Dead Poets Society
Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs
Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
Sam Rockwell - Green Mile
Eric Bana - Chopper
Mel Gibson - Brave heart
Andy Serkis - Lord of the rings (Gollum)
Tom Hanks - Forest Gump
Ed Norton - Primal Fear + American History X
Johnny Depp - Pirates of a Carribean
Leo DiCaprio - Basketball Diaries
Micky Rourke - The Wrestler
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Forest Whittaker - The last king of Scotland.




Now.. to start working on the top 10 female performances...