List of most popular drama actors (all time)

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American actor.

Henry Jaynes "Hank" Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor with a career spanning more than five decades.

Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), better known by his stage name Michael Keaton, is an American actor, producer, director and comedian. He is currently a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.

Pierce Brendan Brosnan, (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist who after leaving comprehensive school at age 16, began training in commercial illustration. He then went on to train at the Drama Ce...

Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (October 20, 1958) is a Danish American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of t...

Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian actor and producer. He portrayed Michael Bergen on the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001), Billy Simpson in the YTV Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–93), as...

Patricia Rooney Mara (born April 17, 1985) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in 2005, and went on to star in films such as Tanner Hall, the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Social Network and Trash. In 2011...

David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960), known professionally as Mark Rylance, is an English actor, theatre director and playwright. He was the first artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, from 1995 to 2005...

Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, and director. He is well known for his Hollywood action roles, particularly boxer Rocky Balboa, the title character of the Rocky...

Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, model, chanteuse, and fashion icon, known for her work in European arthouse films in three languages, English, French, and Italian. A four-time César Award nom...

Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy (born 15 September 1977) is an English actor, screenwriter, and producer. He made his debut in Ridley Scott's 2001 war film Black Hawk Down. Hardy's other notable films include the science fiction film St...

Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress and producer. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990), which grossed $464 million worldwide. She has won three Golden...

Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg, Jr.; April 21, 1947) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He is the vocalist of influential proto-punk band The Stooges, who reunited in 2003, and has been known for his outr...

Kristen Carroll Wiig (born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedienne, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (2005–12), and such films as Knocked Up (2007), Walk Hard:...

Saoirse Úna Ronan (born 12 April 1994) is an Irish actress. She came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring as Briony Tallis in the film Atonement, for which she received nominations for the Academy Award for Best S...

Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress, singer, and director. Larson began her career as a teenage actress. On television, she was a series regular on the 20...

Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known as J. Lo, is an American actress, author, fashion designer, dancer, producer, and singer. She became interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry following a mi...

Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless (1995), Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Anchorman:...

James Paul Marsden (born September 18, 1973) is an American actor, singer and former model. Marsden began his acting career in multiple television shows such as Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Touched by an Angel and Party of Fi...

Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress and dancer who was a child actress, playing the role of Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children (1987–97). In her adult years, Applegate establishe...

Katherine Matilda "Tilda" Swinton of Kimmerghame (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress, performance artist, model, and fashion icon, known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She began her career in films directed by Der...

Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor, writer, producer and screenwriter. His older brother Andrew and his younger brother Luke are also actors. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Ander...

Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor, screenwriter and musician. He is known for his frequent collaborations with Wes Anderson, such as Rushmore (1998), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr...

Benicio Monserrate Rafael Del Toro Sánchez, better known as Benicio del Toro (born February 19, 1967), is a Puerto Rican actor. He has won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for his p...

Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is an English actress. She has appeared in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Young Victoria (2009), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Looper (2012), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Into the...

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He rose to fame by appearing in epic fantasy, historical epic, and fantasy adventure films. His best known roles include Legolas in The Lord of the Rings...

Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. Craig trained at the National Youth Theatre and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991, before beginning his career on stage. His film debut w...

Eric Bana (born Eric Banadinović; 9 August 1968) is an Australian actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before appearing in the biographical crime film Chopper (2000). After a decade of...

Kate Garry Hudson (born April 19, 1979) is an American actress. She rose to prominence in 2000 for playing Penny Lane in Almost Famous, for which she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Ac...

Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress and director. She is known for her film roles in Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Norma Rae (1979), Places in the Heart (1984), Murphy's Romance (1985), Steel Magnol...

Jessica Claire (Biel) Timberlake (born March 3, 1982) is an American actress. Biel began her career as a vocalist appearing in musical productions until she was cast as Mary Camden in the family-drama series 7th Heaven, for which...

Christopher Ashton Kutcher (born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, investor and former model. Kutcher began his career as a model. He began his acting career portraying Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Sho...

Demi Guynes (born November 11, 1962),[n 1] known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress, filmmaker, former songwriter, and model. She appeared on the soap opera General Hospital and subsequently gained recognition fo...

Patrick Wayne Swayze (August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. Having gained fame with appearances in films during the 1980s, Swayze became popular for playing tough guys and roma...

Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He frequently takes roles as a supporting character actor, often playing villains of unstable nature. He has appeared in over eighty films, and was nominated for the Ac...

Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor, film producer, dancer, and model. Tatum made his film debut in the drama film Coach Carter (2005). His breakthrough role was in the 2006 dance film Step Up, which...

Demián Bichir Nájera (born August 1, 1963) is a Mexican actor, from a well-known family of Mexican actors, the Bichir family, which include his parents Alejandro Bichir and Maricruz Nájera and his brothers Odiseo Bichir and Bruno...

Timothy Simon "Tim" Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and director. He made his debut in the 1982 television film Made in Britain and the 1984 film The Hit, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award. He gained more at...

Walton Sanders Goggins, Jr. (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor. He played Shane Vendrell on The Shield and Boyd Crowder on Justified. He also appeared in films, such as Django Unchained, Machete Kills, Lincoln, The Apos...

Jennifer Jason Leigh (born February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She has appeared in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Easy Money, Flesh + Blood, The Hitcher, The Hudsucker Proxy, Single White Female, Dolores Claiborne, Last Exit...

Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killer...

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and director. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records...

Sir Sidney Poitier, (born February 20, 1927), is a Bahamian-American actor, film director, author and diplomat. In 1964, Poitier became the first Bahamian and first African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, for his...

Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) is an American actress. Since 2012, Washington has gained wide public recognition for starring in the ABC drama Scandal, a Shonda Rhimes series in which she plays Olivia Pope, a cris...

Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for directing the horror film Hostel and its sequel, Hostel: Part II. He is also known for his role as Donny "The Bear Je...

Christoph Waltz (born 4 October 1956) is an Austrian-German actor. He is best known for his works with American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, receiving acclaim for portraying SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (...

Kyra Minturn Sedgwick (born August 19, 1965) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won he...

John Holland Cazale (August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978) was an American actor. He appeared in five films during six years that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: P...

Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner. He is also a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. H...

Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor, singer and producer. He comes from a prominent acting family, and appeared on the television series Sea Hunt (1958–60), with his father, Lloyd Bridges and b...