Top ten, huh? That's hard, because there are so few good actors, and so many terrible ones. Here is my list of good actors, I don't think I'll be able to name ten, but here they are.
MARLON BRANDO Anyone who has seen his movies cannot deny his talant.
DENZEL WASHINGTON The finest African American actor in hollywood. Many argue Samuel L. Jackson is the best, but I think Jackson only can play the badass. Washington has shown his range in everything from Glory to Crimson Tide. Washington will be around for a long time.
BRAD PITT People call him a pussy for crying in a lot of his roles. I happen to think he's one of hollywoods finest. I think he draws an audience because he's supposed to be the hot dude, but I see him as a fine talant. I think Seven and Seven Years in Tibet are his best movies. But even the movies that havn't been good, HE was good in: Fight Club, Meet Joe Black, The Mexican (and others). Pitt will win an Oscar someday.
JOHNNY DEPP He's good. Damn good. Need I say more?
VAL KILMER I was pretty surprised to see that no one had him on their list. Kilmer hasn't done so many roles, as much as he's done so many roles so well. Kilmer's performace in Tombstone has got to be one of the greatest ever captured on film. Top Gun, The Saint, At First Sight: all perfect performaces for the character he played. He hasn't made a movie for a while. I expect him to make a big comeback.
and finally (we all knew it was coming to this):
TOM HANKS Unquestionably the best actor working today. His early work in the 1980's found him as a quarky character always playing the same kind of role. I think his breakthough role came in A Leauge of Their Own, in which he played an alcoholic ex-pro ball player. I still think it's one of the finest characters ever written and played for the screen (by Hanks and any other actor). Of course, Hanks won back to back Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, which doesn't mean a damn thing, unless you've seen the movies; if you have, you'll understand why he won.
Since A Leauge of Their Own, Hanks has put together a film collection of GREAT movies. He hasn't been in a bad movie, and he certainly hasn't given a bad performace. Apollo 13, both Toy Story films, Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail, The Green Mile, Road to Perdition.
Of course, OF COURSE, his best performace was in Cast Away. I think this was the best acting job by anyone, in any movie, in hollywood history. Hanks ability to carry a two hour film almost by himself and keep the interest in the viewers, in incredible.
Tom Hanks has a gifted abiltiy to transform into the character he is playing. I never see Hanks in a role, I see the character he is playing. I think he will go down as the greatest actor of all time.