What do you look for in an Actor?

[Attitude]

Now with my last couple of threads there has been a whole lot of debate going on back and forth between a few of us. Basically my last threads were about Comedians not winning Oscars and Greatest Actor not to win an Oscar (which I chose a comedian). With those threads we had some pretty good debate going on why or why shouldn't particular actors such as comedians or Jim Carrey be winning Oscars. This thread is not about that though. It did make me realize something though. We have very opinionated people on here about the type of movies and actors they like and what makes a good actor. That's the Idea for this thread.

We all basically have different opinions on what makes a good actor. We all look for different things in actors. I like comedies. Some people like drama. Some people like Horror. Some people like romance. Well you guys get the point now. So what do you personally look for in an actor.

Are you a fan of Everything and look for an actor who can play a part in any genre?

Or do like just one genre and look for someone who is good at one particular genre?

What do you see in those actors?

What draws you into those Actors?

What is it that makes these actors that makes you like them so much?

What do you look for in an actor? What makes an Actor good?

Use examples.

And Last use examples.

P.S. I want to hear from the people I debated with from the last threads.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Versatility - A good actor can be versatile. Look at someone like Johnny Depp (I will use him a lot in examples because I think he is a great actor). He's done pretty much everything. His first movie was a horror film. He's done suspense, action, drama, artsy, comedy, pretty much everything. Not that everything he's ever done is great, but he's done a lot of really good stuff to where you never really know what he's gonna come up with next.

One of my favorite things is when someone like Jim Carrey, a comedy staple, does a movie like 23 or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Because I like to see how actors, who are cast in one light usually, do when they're out of their element. Jim Carrey is really funny IMO, but Eternal Sunshine was awesome I thought. Stuff like that really helps me respect actors and want to see more of the stuff they do.

Development - I mean this in a sense of an actor giving their own spin on their characters. Look at Jack Sparrow. Whether his character was written as permadrunk (better word?) or high or whatever, the way Johnny Depp portrayed that character is absolutely amazing. He developed a character who could be confident, yet childish. He was cunning, but could still be cowardly. Insane, but trustworthy. IMO one of the greatest portrayals ever and no one could even come close to playing Jack Sparrow better.

Improv - Writers in general don't write lines very interesting at all. Good dialogue is one thing, but individual lines are generally pretty boring. So an actors ability to spice up their lines and even their actions can really help add to a character. This is an area where your boy Jim Carrey is pretty much a king. It's much more apparent in the comedy genre in general, but Jim Carrey can just go off sometimes and make scenes hilarious. Even better usually is the stuff they leave on the cutting room floor.

What sucks about this area is it's one of those things that if done in a good way, the actor rarely gets credit for. But if it's not done at all and the movie bombs, partly because of poor writing, they're crucified. Showgirls, while a horrid movie anyways, was ripped because of it's poor writing and dialogue. And part of that reason is because they wouldn't let the actors change any of their lines.

But despite the things I have listed here there are still people out there who do none of them and still make some decent movies. Keanu Reeves does absolutely nothing I have listed here. He's not versatile in any way because his characters from one movie to the next, whether action, comedy, etc, are pretty much all the same. Since they're the same his development of them is nil. And that pretty much goes for his improv too. I still like The Matrix.

It's kinda whatever though. So many people could say so many things on this topic. There's also the general point that if an actors in a comedy I want him/her to be funny. Action they should be a badass. So on and so forth. This is honestly my short take on this topic.