The Greatness of British Actors/Actresses.

[BusyMom]

In the other thread, someone mentioned how good the Brit actors/actresses are. I'm not really a movie buff but I always enjoy the powerful casts over the big budget movies. I read the article about the British Invasion in Hollywood in recent years. But I think British actors have already been a big part of Hollywood for the last 50 years.

For me, personally, I've been obsessed with Robert Carlyle since I watched the Full Monty. I love all of his works but Angela's Ashes is my favourite.

Also I love Judie Dench and Maggie Smith. Dench's Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love had less than 8 minutes screen times but it was the most memorable role in the entire movie plus won the Oscar too.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

You might enjoy this

http://youtu.be/3XcjsqnNNz4

 

[LRK]

Robert Carlyle is wonderful in Once Upon A Time, too.

I love so many of them, I don't know where to start. Especially if we are talking TV drama as well as the big screen. And especially costume dramas.

 

[BusyMom]

You might enjoy this

http://youtu.be/3XcjsqnNNz4

Thanx Sam

Robert Carlyle is wonderful in Once Upon A Time, too.

I love so many of them, I don't know where to start. Especially if we are talking TV drama as well as the big screen. And especially costume dramas.

Yeah especially BBC Original has so many great productions. I'm not really into the period drama but love 1995' Pride and Prejudice. Colin Firth..

If talking TV, Pie in the Sky was the one I had been followed from the beginning through the end. Richard Griffiths was brilliant.

 

[Meoima]

Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman, Hellen Mirren are still the bosses. I love Judi Dench very much.
Don't forget Emma Thompson, too fabulous for the Oscar.

As for the youngsters, we have Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Winshaw, Michael Fassbender, James Macavoy...

 

[BusyMom]

As for the youngsters, we have Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Winshaw, Michael Fassbender, James Macavoy...

McAvoy has very good potential but not quite there yet. Depends on his future projects, he needs to step away from the X-Men franchise first. For the young blood, Andrew Garfield is the one. His Broadway's Death of a Salesman was quite an accomplishment. My youngest is a big fan. He thought Garfield is a better Spidey.

 

[TMC]

David Tennant is also extremely good (though admittedly his American accent still needs work).

Gracepoint, the new version of the British drama Broadchurch, is about to start in the US and by the trailer, it's almost an exact copy. Tennant plays the lead in both editions. Broadchurch is absolutely brilliant! Apparently Gracepoint has a different ending/different culprit so it's worth watching even if you've already seen Broadchurch.

 

[LRK]

McAvoy has very good potential but not quite there yet. Depends on his future projects, he needs to step away from the X-Men franchise first. For the young blood, Andrew Garfield is the one. His Broadway's Death of a Salesman was quite an accomplishment. My youngest is a big fan. He thought Garfield is a better Spidey.

Why? It's not like he's only doing that - and it certainly did Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (talking about great British actors ) no harm.

 

[Olympia]

McAvoy has very good potential but not quite there yet. Depends on his future projects, he needs to step away from the X-Men franchise first. For the young blood, Andrew Garfield is the one. His Broadway's Death of a Salesman was quite an accomplishment. My youngest is a big fan. He thought Garfield is a better Spidey.

McAvoy has done some wonderful work in smaller pictures. He is a wizard with accents, including American. I especially liked him in Becoming Jane, in which he played a young man (based on an actual person) who had a brief tendre for Jane Austen. I don't know what theater work he's done, though.

 

[BusyMom]

Why? It's not like he's only doing that - and it certainly did Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (talking about great British actors ) no harm.

I knew after I post the last one that this question would show up somehow. Stewart and McKellen is a legend already by the time they joined the franchise. The XMen is all about Xavier and Magneto. They did a great job for that. But in First Class, McAvoy was kind of in the shadow of other characters especially J.Lawrence. Since I was lucky gotten to see his Macbeth, I think he really need more of a great acting to show off his abilities. On stage he captured every audiences attention to himself easily. Like in The last King of Scotland, he successfully hogged the screen.

 

[BusyMom]

McAvoy has done some wonderful work in smaller pictures. He is a wizard with accents, including American. I especially liked him in Becoming Jane, in which he played a young man (based on an actual person) who had a brief tendre for Jane Austen. I don't know what theater work he's done, though.

He did quite a lot of stage plays. Actually most of British actors have impressive works on stages. The Theatre Companies are not really died from the modern Society there.

He will be in next year Frankenstein with Daniel Radcliffe. Can't wait!

 

[LRK]

I knew after I post the last one that this question would show up somehow. Stewart and McKellen is a legend already by the time they joined the franchise. The XMen is all about Xavier and Magneto. They did a great job for that. But in First Class, McAvoy was kind of in the shadow of other characters especially J.Lawrence. Since I was lucky gotten to see his Macbeth, I think he really need more of a great acting to show off his abilities. On stage he captured every audiences attention to himself easily. Like in The last King of Scotland, he successfully hogged the screen.

He can do that. I don't know if many here have seen the BBC drama State of Play? (Which the Hollywood film - which I haven't seen - was based on.) Well, acting was excellent from everyone, but my favourites were he and Bill Nighy, even though their roles were not as big - they stole every scene they were in; even better for their playing son and father. Note: A bit on the grittier side than my tastes, but very good drama, and definitely recommended viewing, by the way.

 

[Meoima]

I have to say I still think of Benedict Cumberbatch as not a handsome man but damn, he is talented as hell. He is not hot in my eyes at all, but I like his acting. :yay: He could be the next Gary Oldman or Alan Rickman, who knows, he seems to be on the right track.

Tom Hiddleston seems to be more emotional off-screen, I like him very much but frankly I have to say his acting hasn't made me shiver yet. Still like him nonetheless, he is very nice.

Michael Fassbender is a great actor, better than Hiddleston in my opinion, he's handsome as well but there is something about him that put me off. Maybe the rumors that he was beating his girlfriends.

I love Ben Whishaw, he is by far, in my opinion, the best actor of his generation.

Jame McAvoy is okay, I like his face but not his acting. He seems to be type-casted.

 

[LRK]

I have to say I still think of Benedict Cumberbatch as not a handsome man but damn, he is talented as hell. He is not hot in my eyes at all, but I like his acting. :yay: He could be the next Gary Oldman or Alan Rickman, who knows, he seems to be on the right track.

Tom Hiddleston seems to be more emotional off-screen, I like him very much but frankly I have to say his acting hasn't made me shiver yet. Still like him nonetheless, he is very nice.

Michael Fassbender is a great actor, better than Hiddleston in my opinion, he's handsome as well but there is something about him that put me off. Maybe the rumors that he was beating his girlfriends.

I love Ben Whishaw, he is by far, in my opinion, the best actor of his generation.

Jame McAvoy is okay, I like his face but not his acting. He seems to be type-casted.

Out of curiosity - what type is that? (I'm struggling to find a type to fit the various roles I've seen him in - Tumnus, Leto Atreides, Professor X - and the Jane Austen drama Olympia mentioned, and the journalist in State of Play. Oh, yeah, and he was a male... er... person of negotiable affection and was killed by Poirot - I mean David Suchet - in the first Murder in Mind. [Note: this happened in the first few minutes of the episode, so I don't consider that a spoiler.] I think those are it?)

 

[Meoima]

Out of curiosity - what type is that? (I'm struggling to find a type to fit the various roles I've seen him in - Tumnus, Leto Atreides, Professor X - and the Jane Austen drama Olympia mentioned, and the journalist in State of Play. Oh, yeah, and he was a male... er... person of negotiable affection and was killed by Poirot - I mean David Suchet - in the first Murder in Mind. [Note: this happened in the first few minutes of the episode, so I don't consider that a spoiler.] I think those are it?)

I can't explain it correctly, it's just my feeling. Personally I like him off-screen, like Tom Hiddleston, they are awesome to watch in interviews, but their movies, not so much.

When I went to see Trance by Danny Boyle with my friend last summer, I coudln't tell why I dislike the movie, and his role in it. My friend just said: "Come to think of it, all his roles are like that, not bad at all but not strong and haunting enough."

I mean if you want some haunting effect, Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Fassbender both have more haunting effect on-screen than him. Or I would say it, they have more presence on-screen. Having said that, I don't like their faces that much.

If we are talking about off-screen, then Tom Hiddleston is loved the most.

 

[BusyMom]

Good look definitely is not the requirement in GB. Just a sided-benefit maybe. Most of them are not really the hot-hot guys but kinda cute and goofy hot (Jude Law is an exception obviously).

Since LRK brought up Bill Nighy, Love Actually is one good example how good the Brits are. Each one of them has a very small part but they were so good at it making the whole movie up the notch from the stereo-typed chick movies. Rickman and Andrew Lincoln characters are my favourite. Not so sure why but I never into Emma Thompson acting.

 

[LRK]

Bill Nighy is great - how good do you have to be to be able to bring personality and character - and charisma - with a squid on your face?

 

[Olympia]

Good look definitely is not the requirement in GB. Just a sided-benefit maybe. Most of them are not really the hot-hot guys but kinda cute and goofy hot (Jude Law is an exception obviously).

Friends and I have talked about this and have decided that in the U.S., actors are more likely to be chosen and become successful for their looks. This includes a handsome face of course, but also a well-toned body thanks to a personal trainer and lots of time at the gym. Training means muscle training rather than vocal technique; the quality of the voice is irrelevant. The opposite is true in the U.K., I think. Men train in all sorts of vocal and acting techniques, including accents, and if they're not gorgeous, they still can play leading men. (As you point out, Jude Law is an exception. Yum!) In fact, it's astonishing how many "American" roles on TV in the past few years have been played quite convincingly by Brits and Australians, including Steve McGarrett of Hawaii Five-0 and the lead in The Mentalist. There were recently two Bravo crime series set in American rural areas, The Glades (in Florida) and Longmire (set in the West), and both main actors were from I think Australia. By contrast, most Americans who affect a British accent sound just that: affected. I do think that Ann Hathaway did a splendid job as Jane Austen in Becoming Jane, though...but she is theater-trained and has a beautiful speaking voice to begin with.

 

[LRK]

Well, I believe most British actors are classically trained, and do theatre work - and all that Shakespeare is going to do wonders for your voice training. (Imagine someone droning on for five minutes or so in one of those monologues with a bad voice/no emotion/feeling... )

 

[TMC]

I have a soft spot for Simon Baker because he's the spitting image of an ex-boyfriend 10 years ago - seriously the best looking guy I'd ever seen live then and since No surprise it didn't last - no way I could have been that lucky