16 Days of Birthday, Day 5: My Favourite Male Performances

You know me, I consider myself a bit of an actress. Okay, maybe not. Yes, I take drama as one of my subjects, and it is definitely my favourite part of the day (I don't have it on my birthday though, which sucks balls). Yeah, I've been in a few shows, but that was just for fun. Do you know what's weird though? Is that I used to think that acting was just reading lines. Like, I didn't understand why everyone said it was so hard and stuff. Once I actually got into the acting myself, I learnt that acting was more than just reading lines. Also, I started to realise just how good some performances are...

So tonight, I'll be taking a look at my favourite performances from actors of the male species. First of all, I have 20 performances which I really liked/thought were scene-stealing, but aren't necessarily the big daddies of performances (in alphabetical order). Then I'll count down my five favourite performances. My favourite performances.

Performances in which I liked:

Christian Bale in American Psycho

Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire

Sharlto Copely in District 9

Tom Cruise in Magnolia



Hugh Dancy in Adam

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder

Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network

Colin Firth in A Single Man

Cary Grant in His Girl Friday

Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump

Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto

Liam Neeson in Schindler's List

Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Guy Pearce in Memento

Brad Pitt in Fight Club

Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life

Mark Strong in Kick-Ass

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Right, now time for my five favourite male performances...


5. Adrien Brody in The Pianist
Of course, I only watched this movie recently, but that doesn't really change much. I can't believe that so many people were doubting his win at the Oscars. To quote my very own review of the movie: "Brody, who I imagine hadn't been in such a weakened state in his life before, is just so goddamn believable it hurts to watch him. And trust me, I felt his performance in my bones. I don't think a performance has ever had that effect on me before." Yeah, and that's all I have to say about that.

4. Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Many times before, I may have said that my favourite Leo performance was in The Aviator. But no, I've come to realise that his performance in What's Eating Gilbert Grape is definitely it's best. Half for the fact that every time I think of him in this film, I find it hard to believe that he's the same guy that has since been in such films as Titanic, The Departed and Inception. However, in the other half, I love his performance in this because he completely transformed himself into his character and he still seemed to be having a lot of fun. I really like performances of characters who are mentally challenged...and this one is the best.

3. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
This performance never fails to blow my mind. How someone could possibly involve themselves in a mindset that is so crazy, so villainous and so outrageously colourful is beyond me. Heath had his characterisation right down to the last little feature...every facet of his performance was so carefully put together. It's this kind of attention to detail which I wish I could emulate in some way, but it's pretty much impossible.

2. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Is there really anything that I can say that is any different to what everyone else has said about this performance? No, not really. It's just an all-out amazing performance. Everything from Day-Lewis' voice to his posture and to his attitude towards greed and power is just perfect. Plus, he makes a line as weird as "I drink your milkshake!" sound pretty cool.

1. Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List
Why do I love this performance the most? I can't even count the reasons why. I tend to enjoy villainous performances a lot, but this one has to be my favourite. The way that Ralph throws himself into this role is pretty damn remarkable. But the best thing is the fact that in the close-ups, it looks like he is dead inside, as if he's just made to kill. You really can't have any sympathy for the guy. There are just so many things that make me so damn jealous about Ralph's performance. It's freaking ridiculous that he missed out on an Oscar.

So, what are your favourite performances from members of the male species?