Top 10 Favorite Actors:

1:   Johnny Depp.  Honestly, not so much with his work lately where Tim Burton keeps making him over-the-top for the sake of being over-the-top.  But as far as actors who are versatile and creative and somehow GOOD no matter what they’re doing, he’s my favorite. There’s no reason Jack Sparrow should have been so loveable except that Depp made him so.  And I laughed ridiculously hard at the simplest thing – trying to put on a glove – in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which I wouldn’t recommend for any other reason.
2:   Michael Fassbender.  I love when an actor can make me root for a bad character. Young Magneto is of course on that list.  I’m looking forward to Fassbender as MacBeth.  In Shame he was impressive for…obvious reasons, but also the depth of internal conflict Fassbender was able to convey was amazing.  And he makes a very convincing robot who’s trying to look like Lawrence of Arabia, which made him the only forgivable thing for me about Prometheus.
3:   Bill Murray.  Be it crazy comedy or a more subdued role, Murray always makes me happy.  His delivery is always spot on.  Every time I see a sailboat, I think (or yell, let’s be honest), “I”m sailing!”  Also, if you haven’t seen St. Vincent, go see it now.
4:   Will Smith.  As a teen of the 90s, I watched a lot of Fresh Prince.  Then Independence Day happened, and I became a devoted fan.  It doesn’t hurt that he chooses to do a lot of Sci-Fi (my favorite genre of…any media form), but he always brings a bit of reality to his characters that I appreciate.
5:   Daniel Day-Lewis.  Is there anything he can’t do?  I mean, anything?  I feel like he’s the more serious version of Johnny Depp as far as versatility goes.
6:   Tom Hardy.  He’s been around for way longer than I was consciously aware of, but at some point I noticed a pattern:  Whenever I was impressed by an actor and asked, “Who is that guy?”, it kept being Hardy.  If you haven’t seen Warrior – OMG, watch it!  Yeah, I didn’t think I’d like a movie about UFC fighting either, but I might have sobbed.  A lot.  In a good way.
7:  Michael Caine.  Whenever I see he’s in a movie, I enter into it with a certain level of trust – at the very least, I know HE is going to be good.  And admit it, he’s kind of like the British grandpa we Americans all wish we had.
8:  Kevin Spacey.   I can’t think of another actor who can equally seem like an everyday man and then also seem completely evil at the same time.  He can play these completely warped men, and there’s something that much scarier about them because he looks so normal.  Think Se7en and House of Cards.
9:   Gary Oldman.  I grin immediately whenever I see him in a movie.  I don’t even know why I like him so much, except that he’s always convincing…which I guess is the whole job of an actor, but hey.  Again, this guy has range.  Think about it – the same guy was in The Fifth Element and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
10: Robert Downey, Jr.  Wit and sarcastic humor will win me over every time.  I can’t picture anyone else as Tony Stark.  And his narration in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang will always be one of my favorite things in film.

(On any given day when my tastes are slightly different, switch up with Tom Hanks, Ralph Fiennes, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Patrick Stewart, Paul Rudd, Bryan Cranston…)

Anybody have their own list?   Comment below!