Even better, both Irish actors actually made the top ten!
Ask anyone to name their favourite actor, and everyone will likely have someone who immediately comes to mind. But narrow that down to a performer who has consistently delivered great performances in the 21 century. That kind of knocks the classics like De Niro and Pacino off the list, doesn’t it?
The New York Times have taken it upon themselves to create such a list, featuring a fantastically varied, international selection of 25 of the best performers of the last 20 years, and two of the entries happen to be Irish.
As the NY Times themselves put it, this is how the list was decided upon:
“Some of these performers are new to the scene; others have been around for decades. In making our choices, we have focused on this century and looked beyond Hollywood. And while there are certainly stars in the mix and even a smattering of Oscar winners, there are also character actors and chameleons, action heroes and art-house darlings. They’re 25 reasons we still love movies, maybe more than ever.”
There some surprising, but well-argued, entries such as Melissa McCarthy arriving at No.22, and Keanu Reeves making it into the top five, but there is no real surprise in the two Irish entries that have been selected.
Saoirse Ronan makes it in at number ten, with the 26-year-old having already been nominated for four Oscars (and a fifth likely on the way), while Daniel Day-Lewis lands in the top three, with special mention given to his once-in-a-lifetime performance given in There Will Be Blood.
The full top ten is as follows:
- Denzel Washington
- Isabelle Huppert
- Daniel Day-Lewis
- Keanu Reeves
- Nicole Kidman
- Song Kang Ho
- Toni Servillo
- Zhao Tao
- Viola Davis
- Saoirse Ronan
And you can check out the full top 25 right here.
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