Greatest Film Performances (US/UK)

[Dubrow555]

Criteria: these film performances are ranked based on initial and lasting acclaim, popular and cultural recognition, plus influence. In order to qualify for this list the performance has to come from a predominately English-language film produced or co-produced by American or British production companies.

1. Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront (1954)
2. Robert De Niro - Raging Bull (1980)
3. Marlon Brando - The Godfather (1972)
4. Laurence Olivier - Hamlet (1948)
5. Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice (1982)
6. Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood (2007)
7. Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove (1964)
8. Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard (1950)
9. Orson Welles - Citizen Kane (1941)
10. Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver (1976)
11. Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
12. Al Pacino - The Godfather Part II (1974)
13. James Stewart - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
14. Bette Davis - All About Eve (1950)
15. Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
16. Charlie Chaplin - City Lights (1931)
17. Alec Guinness - The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
18. Vivien Leigh - Gone with the Wind (1939)
19. Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
20. Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
21. Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump (1994)
22. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (2008)
23. Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
24. Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot (1989)
25. Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story (1940)
26. Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
27. James Dean - Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
28. Denzel Washington - Malcolm X (1992)
29. Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man (1988)
30. Ben Kingsley - Gandhi (1982)
31. George C. Scott - Patton (1970)
32. Al Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
33. Gene Hackman - The French Connection (1971)
34. Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator (1940)
35. Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca (1942)
36. Katharine Hepburn - The African Queen (1951)
37. Diane Keaton - Annie Hall (1977)
38. Shirley MacLaine - The Apartment (1960)
39. Kevin Spacey - American Beauty (1999)
40. Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight (1944)
41. Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
42. Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity (1944)
43. Henry Fonda - 12 Angry Men (1957)
44. Judy Garland - A Star Is Born (1954)
45. James Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
46. Jack Lemmon - Some Like It Hot (1959)
47. Peter O'Toole - The Lion in Winter (1968)
48. Katharine Hepburn - The Lion In Winter (1968)
49. Charlie Chaplin - The Modern Times (1936)
50. Clark Gable - Gone with the Wind (1939)
51. Shirley MacLaine - Terms of Endearment (1983)
52. Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
53. Elizabeth Taylor - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
54. Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday (1953)
55. F. Murray Abraham - Amadeus (1984)
56. Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves (1996)
57. Laurence Olivier - Henry V (1944)
58. Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons (1966)
59. Richard Burton - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
60. Dustin Hoffman - Midnight Cowboy (1969)
61. Jack Nicholson - Chinatown (1974)
62. Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote (2005)
63. Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine (2013)
64. Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln (2012)
65. Anthony Quinn - Zorba the Greek (1964)
66. Paul Newman - Cool Hand Luke (1967)
67. Natalie Portman - Black Swan (2010)
68. Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
69. Charlize Theron - Monster (2003)
70. Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds (2009)
71. Tom Hanks - Cast Away (2000)
72. James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
73. Paul Newman - The Hustler (1961)
74. Cary Grant - North by Northwest (1959)
75. Ingrid Bergman - Casablanca (1942)
76. Humphrey Bogart - The Maltese Falcon (1941)
77. Rod Steiger - In the Heat of the Night (1967)
78. Sidney Poitier - In the Heat of the Night (1967)
79. Ellen Burstyn - Alice Don't Live Here Anymore (1974)
80. Gena Rowland - A Woman Under Influence (1974)
81. Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York (2002)
82. Al Pacino - Serpico (1973)
83. Jane Fonda - Klute (1971)
84. Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind (2001)
85. Anthony Hopkins - The Father (2020)
86. James Cagney - The Public Enemy (1931)
87. Daniel Day-Lewis - In the Name of the Father (1993)
88. Dustin Hoffman - Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
89. Peter Finch - Network (1976)
90. Al Pacino - The Godfather (1972)
91. Marlon Brando - Last Tango in Paris (1972)
92. Glenda Jackson - Women in Love (1969)
93. Jon Voight - Midnight Cowboy (1969)
94. Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field (1963)
95. Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
96. Kenneth Branagh - Henry V (1989)
97. Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie (1982)
98. Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men (2007)
99. Frances McDormand - Fargo (1996)
100. Holly Hunter - The Piano (1993)
101. Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
102. Cary Grant - Bringing Up Baby (1938)
103. Bette Davis - Jezebel (1938)
104. Geoffrey Rush - Shine (1996)
105. Greta Garbo - Camille (1936)
106. Bette Davis - Of Human Bondage (1934)
107. Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory (1933)
108. Tom Hanks - Philadelphia (1993)
109. Meryl Streep - The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
110. Dennis Hopper - Blue Velvet (1986)
111. Gary Cooper - High Noon (1952)
112. Malcolm McDowell - A Clockwork Orange (1971)
113. Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
114. Johnny Depp - Ed Wood (1994)
115. Peter Sellers - Being There (1979)
116. Hilary Swank - Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
117. Sissy Spacek - The Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
118. John Hurt - The Elephant Man (1980)
119. Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream (2000)
120. Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich (2000)
121. Adrien Brody - The Pianist (2002)
122. Robert De Niro - The Deer Hunter (1978)
123. Jack Nicholson - The Last Detail (1973)
124. Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune (1990)
125. Morgan Freeman - The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
126. Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters (1998)
127. Kathy Bates - Misery (1990)
128. Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction (1994)
129. Gene Hackman - Unforgiven (1992)
130. Edward Norton - American History X (1998)
131. Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth (1998)
132. Denzel Washington - Training Day (2001)
133. Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda (1948)
134. Paul Newman - Hud (1963)
135. Anthony Perkins - Psycho (1960)
136. Clark Gable - It Happened One Night (1934)
137. Jack Lemmon - The Apartment (1960)
138. Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
139. Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland (2006)
140. Helen Mirren - The Queen (2006)
141. Jack Nicholson - The Shining (1980)
142. Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond (1981)
143. Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend (1945)
144. Gary Cooper - Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
145. Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond (1981)
146. James Cagney - White Heat (1949)
147. Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night (1934)
148. Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
149. Greta Garbo - Anna Christie (1930)
150. Norma Shearer - The Divorcee (1930)
151. Joe Pesci - Goodfellas (1990)
152. Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
153. Jeff Bridges - The Big Lebowski (1998)
154. Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
155. Olivia De Havilland - The Heiress (1949)
156. Leonardo Dicaprio - The Aviator (2004)
157. Robert De Niro - The King of Comedy (1982)
158. William Holden - Stalag 17 (1953)
159. Jamie Foxx - Ray (2004)
160. Willem Dafoe - Platoon (1986)
161. Robert De Niro - The Godfather Part II (1974)
162. Michael Douglas - Wall Street (1987)
163. James Stewart - Vertigo (1958)
164. Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter (1978)
165. Burt Lancaster - The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
166. Al Pacino - Scarface (1983)
167. Barbra Streisand - Funny Girl (1968)
168. Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
169. Jack Nicholson - As Good As It Gets (1997)
170. Meryl Streep - Silkwood (1983)
171. Laurence Olivier - Richard III (1955)
172. Cate Blanchett - Tar (2022)
173. Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry (1960)
174. Alec Guinness - Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
175. Anjelica Huston - The Grifters (1990)
176. Jon Voight - Coming Home (1978)
177. Joaquin Phoenix - Joker (2019)
178. Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
179. Henry Fonda - Once Upon A Time In the West (1968)
180. James Cagney - Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
181. Susan Hayward - I Want To Live! (1958)
182. Brad Pitt - Fight Club (1999)
183. Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate (1967)
184. Joan Fontaine - Suspicion (1941)
185. Benicio Del Toro - Traffic (2000)
186. Robert Downey Jr. - Chaplin (1992)
187. Simone Signoret - Room at the Top (1959)
188. Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady (2011)
189. Leonardo Dicaprio - The Revenant (2015)
190. Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker (1962)
191. Burt Lancaster - Atlantic City (1980)
192. Emma Thompson - Howards End (1992)
193. Robin Williams - Good Will Hunting (1997)
194. Anne Bancroft - The Graduate (1966)
195. Brie Larson - Room (2015)
196. Jane Fonda - Coming Home (1978)
197. Robert Mitchum - Night of the Hunter (1955)
198. Cate Blanchett - Carol (2015)
199. Kirk Douglas - Spartacus (1960)
200. Barbara Stanwyck - The Lady Eve (1941)
201. Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies (1983)
202. Laurence Olivier - Wuthering Heights (1939)
203. Michael Caine - Alfie (1966)
204. J.K. Simmons - Whiplash (2014)
205. Robert De Niro - Mean Streets (1973)
206. Paul Muni - I Am a Fugitive from the Chain Gang (1932)
207. Gene Hackman - The Conversation (1974)
208. Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
209. Katharine Hepburn - Adam's Rib (1949)
210. John Wayne - The Searchers (1956)
211. Gene Kelly - Singin' in the Rain (1952)
212. Sylvester Stallone - Rocky (1976)
213. Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce (1945)
214. Russell Crowe - The Insider (1999)
215. Maggie Smith - The Prime Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
216. Julie Christie - Darling (1965)
217. Bette Davis - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
218. Sally Field - Norma Rae (1979)
219. Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain (2005)
220. Russell Crowe - Gladiator (2000)
221. Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby (2004)
222. Greta Garbo - Ninotchka (1939)
223. Emil Jannings - The Last Command (1928)
224. Lee Marvin - Cat Ballou (1965)
225. Frances McDormand - Nomadland (2020)
226. Albert Finney - Under the Volcano (1984)
227. Sally Field - Places in the Heart (1984)
228. Robert De Niro - Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
229. Robert De Niro - Goodfellas (1990)
230. Robert Duvall - Apocalypse Now (1979)
231. Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman (1992)
232. Marlon Brando - Viva Zapata! (1952)
233. Anthony Quinn - Viva Zapata! (1952)
234. Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen (1951)
235. Joseph Cotten - Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
236. Jennifer Jones - The Song Of Bernadette (1943)
237. Faye Dunaway - Network (1976)
238. Jodie Foster - The Accused (1988)
239. Michael Keaton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
240. Tom Hanks - Saving Private Ryan (1998)
241. Katharine Hepburn - Long Day's Journey into Night (1962)
242. Spencer Tracy - Boys Town (1938)
243. Anna Magnani - The Rose Tattoo (1955)
244. Robert Mitchum - Out of the Past (1947)
245. Robert Mitchum - Cape Fear (1962)
246. William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
247. Gary Oldman - Sid & Nancy (1986)
248. Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler (2008)
249. Sean Penn - Milk (2008)
250. Jack Lemmon - Save the Tiger (1973)
251. Sissy Spacek - Carrie (1976)
252. Naomi Watts - Mulholland Dr. (2001)
253. Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction (1987)
254. Dustin Hoffman - Lenny (1974)
255. Al Pacino - ...And Justice for All (1979)
256. William Holden - Sunset Boulevard (1950)
257. Bette Davis - Dangerous (1935)
258. James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story (1940)
259. Christian Bale - American Psycho (2000)
260. Robert Duvall - The Apostle (1997)
261. Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
262. Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour (2017)
263. Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
264. Charles Laughton - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
265. Kate Winslet - The Reader (2008)
266. Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music (1965)
267. Audrey Hepburn - My Fair Lady (1964)
268. Nicolas Cage - Adaptation. (2002)
269. Jack Nicholson - About Schmidt (2002)
270. Geraldine Page - The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
271. Adam Driver - Marriage Story (2019)
272. Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything (2014)
273. Joaquin Phoenix - The Master (2012)
274. Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking (1995)
275. Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking (1995)
276. Joan Crawford - Sudden Fear (1952)
277. Ian McKellen - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
278. Jane Fonda - They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
279. Robert Duvall - The Great Santini (1979)
280. Olivia Colman - The Favourite (2018)
281. Julie Christie - Away from Her (2006)
282. Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
283. Kristen Stewart - Spencer (2021)
284. Brendan Fraser - The Whale (2022)
285. Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine (1943)
286. Peter O'Toole - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
287. Christian Bale - The Fighter (2010)
288. Colin Firth - The King's Speech (2010)
289. Christian Bale - Vice (2018)
290. Casey Affleck - Manchester by the Sea (2016)
291. Katharine Hepburn - Holiday (1938)
292. Cary Grant - Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)
293. Jessica Lange - Blue Sky (1994)
294. Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
295. Clint Eastwood - The Unforgiven (1992)
296. Edward G. Robinson - Little Caesar (1931)
297. Laurence Olivier - Sleuth (1972)
298. Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
299. Sidney Poitier - The Defiant Ones (1958)
300. Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music (1965)