Top 40 Most Popular Method Actors Of All Time

 

Method acting is one such discipline of acting that requires not only unquestionable performing skills but also an unmatched level of commitment and endurance.

 

Therefore, Method actors often allow themselves to get consumed by their roles; roles that require an unprecedented amount of competency, research, and audacity to be brought to life while facing the camera.

 

While attempting to study the characters that they portray, these performers go a level beyond acting and strive to become the characters themselves; at least for a given time period.

 

Needless to say, they spend a lot of time trying to explore the peculiarities of the roles they are designated to play.

 

Indeed, the Method is the most mysterious acting technique in the world, which naturally makes it the most contentious one as well.

 

While it permits actors to disappear into their roles and deliver nuanced performances, it also tends to make them aloof and difficult to handle on set at times.

 

That said, there’s also a strong possibility that it can take a toll on the minds of the performers. Sure, it prompts them to inhabit the psyche of their characters, but it also, sometimes, goes on to undermine a director’s control of a play or film.

 

This is because Method performances can risk becoming self-absorbed and indulgent.

 

Since not every entertainer believes in this exclusive school of acting, there are only a few privileged stalwarts who have managed to embrace it in some of their most unexpected performances.

 

So, let’s get better acquainted with some talented screen performers who are credited with making the technique mainstream in the true sense of the word.

 

 

 

1. Marlon Brando

 

 

 

Considered by many to be one of the most influential actors in the history of motion pictures, Marlon Brando was known for immersing himself in the roles that he portrayed on celluloid.

 

His unique performing technique inspired his colleagues and aspiring actors to take the discipline of Method acting forward. He is known to have fallen under the influence of Stella Adler and Stanislavski’s system during the early 1940s.

 

The legend played the character of a murderous psychopath on his Broadway debut in Truckline Cafe in 1946. A scene showed his character emerging from a cold lake.

 

To do justice to his role, Brando would run up and down behind the scenes and allow a bucket of ice water to be thrown on his head.

 

Needless to say, he developed a knack for reading his characters deeply before he started portraying them in front of the camera and consistently anticipating where scenes flowed. 

 

Over time, his dedication is exactly what earned him two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, one Cannes Film Festival Award, and three British Academy Film Awards.

 

Also an activist for civil rights and various Native American movements, he was arguably the first mainstream entertainer to have familiarized the audience with the Stanislavski system of acting.

 

Some of his finest motion pictures are The Godfather, On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One, and Julius Caesar.

 

 

 

2. Robert Anthony De Niro Jr.

 

 

 

Robert De Niro started his acting career by playing an uncredited role in the 1965 feature film Three Rooms in Manhattan. However, he soon went on to establish himself as one of the greatest movie stars in the history of mainstream cinema.

 

The legendary actor is known to have studied acting at HB Studio, Stella Adler Conservatory, and Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio.

 

It’s been reported he drove a taxi for hours at a stretch in New York to prepare for his role in the award-winning motion picture Taxi Driver; one that propelled him to fame.

 

He is also known to have participated in three legit boxing matches to buckle up for his character projection of a boxer in Raging Bull.

 

Sure, he does a fair bit of research to play his serious characters, but he also often allows his instincts to take precedence during the shoot.

 

De Niro has been a part of cult classics such as The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, The King of Comedy, Casino, A Bronx Tale, The Irishman, Mean Streets, and Heat.

 

He is also known for his superb TV role in The Wizard of Lies and for having produced the Netflix limited series When They See Us.

 

For his performance in the latter, he earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie nomination.

 

He has been a recipient of two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, respectively.

 

 

 

3. Sir Daniel Day-Lewis

 

 

 

Daniel Day-Lewis commenced his acting career by playing the uncredited role of a child vandal in 1971’s Sunday Bloody Sunday.

 

Today, the world recognizes him as one of the most serious and preeminent screen performers to have ever graced the silver screen.

 

He shifted to Greenwich from Kensington when he was very young. There, a young and naive Daniel was taunted by other kids for being too posh.

 

Therefore, to fit in with the group, he started emulating their accents and mannerisms. Years later, the acting legend was heard calling it his maiden acting experience.

 

Day-Lewis and Method acting are often talked about in the same breath for he took to the technique as fish takes to water.

 

The actor is said to have stayed away from his wife to feel a sense of isolation while shooting for The Ballad of Jack and Rose. Similarly, he insisted on being carried around and spoon-fed by the crew members on the sets of My Left Foot; a film in which he was playing a young man with cerebral palsy.

 

These iconic performances were not surprising if you take into account the fact that he excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre for years before trying his hands at mainstream cinema.

 

Best known for films such as There Will Be Blood, Gangs of New York, In the Name of the Father, and Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis is the only actor to have won the Academy Award for Best Actor thrice.

 

 

 

4. Al Pacino

 

 

 

There’s no denying that Al Pacino is one of the most impactful screen performers of the 20th century.

 

He is yet another actor whose name has become synonymous with Method acting over the years. It’s been reported that the actor pulled over a lorry driver with a damaged exhaust and threatened to arrest him while playing the conscientious undercover cop in Serpico.

 

Furthermore, he was seen closing his eyes or using other strategies to keep them closed while portraying a blind and retired Army lieutenant colonel in Scent of a Woman.

 

Like a few other legends on our list, Pacino has also attended classes at HB Studio and the Actors Studio, where he was taught in the most profound manner by both Charlie Laughton and Lee Strasberg.

 

One of the few performers to have ever achieved the Triple Crown of Acting, he can be seen in cult classic movies such as Scarface, Heat, The Insider, Danny Collins, The Irishman, and, of course, The Godfather trilogy.

 

The screen icon has also made his presence felt in the acclaimed series Hunters in the recent past.

 

 

5. Christian Bale

 

 

 

Those who’ve followed Christian Bale’s film career closely would know that he usually participates in interviews when one of his motion pictures is ready to hit the cinemas.

 

However, what’s most interesting about him is the fact that he uses the accent of the characters he’s playing while doing those interviews.

 

A splendid screen performer by all means, Bale put his health at risk by consuming only an apple and a can of tuna a day while shooting for The Machinist.

 

Sooner than later, the iconic actor was seen bulking up to be able to portray Batman in 2005’s Batman Begins.

 

A recipient of an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, he can be seen in acclaimed movies such as American Hustle, American Psycho, The Prestige, Ford v Ferrari, and The Dark Knight trilogy.

 

 

6. Jack Nicholson

 

 

 

Given that Jack Nicholson is among the greatest Hollywood actors of all time, it’s not hard to believe that he is a hardcore fan of the technique of the Method.

 

Even though the man has the gift of being incredibly instinctive and spontaneous, he still used to spend a lot of time studying his roles in terms of Strasbergian “polarities”.

 

It’s been reported that the actor was so involved during the shoot of The Shining that he was only able to sleep when driven to and from the set.

 

To ensure that he does justice to his role, Nicholson only ate cheese sandwiches for two straight weeks because there aren’t a lot of things he hates more in the world than cheese sandwiches.

 

He is also said to have spent a lot of time in the hospital while filming One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

 

 

7. Edward Montgomery Clift

 

 

 

One of the first actors to be invited to train with Lee Strasberg, Montgomery Clift is considered to be among the original Method actors of Hollywood.

 

Best remembered for his roles in features such as From Here to Eternity, A Place in the Sun, and Red River, he was a natural actor who happened to be quite subtle in his approach.

 

He could feign vulnerability so well that the viewers were compelled to empathize even with his rogue characters. Not only did Cliff learn about the cowboy life before starring in Red River but he also spent a night locked in the San Quentin Pen death house before shooting for his execution sequence in A Place in the Sun.

 

Additionally, he is said to have learned to box and drill military-style for his Oscar-nominated performance in From Here to Eternity.

 

 

8. Kamal Haasan

 

 

 

A true pioneer in introducing many new technologies and cosmetics to the Indian film industry, Kamal Haasan is a performer unlike any other.

 

To prepare for his role in Apoorva Sagodharargal, the actor tied his legs and walked on his knees; all while keeping his arms in a manner that matched the “tiny” legs. This was done to ensure that he came across as a dwarf on the big screen.

 

Similarly, the superstar actor has played several challenging roles throughout his career; most of which no other Indian actor can possibly think to duplicate.

 

His fantastic performances in titles such as Chachi 420, Pushpak Vimana, Nayakan, and Dashavataram have cemented his position as one of the greatest performers in the history of Indian cinema.

 

 

9. Dustin Hoffman

 

 

 

Dustin Hoffman is an acting genius who shot to fame after portraying a flabbergasted college graduate in the iconic drama, The Graduate.

 

However, the actor took to Method acting while shooting for Marathon Man. He avoided sleeping at night and jogged before shooting certain sequences to come across as disheveled and anxious.

 

It is also said that Hoffman tried to insult Meryl Streep on the sets of Kramer vs Kramer. This was to ensure that their on-screen turmoil looked real.

 

 

10. Tom Hanks

 

 

 

Tom Hanks is one of the most beloved screen performers in the history of cinema. He’s known to have gained and lost over 50 pounds to ensure that his role play in Cast Away looked credible.

 

Also, he refused to crop his hair short and bathe for a good few days. You’d be shocked to learn that this led to him developing a staph infection.

 

Furthermore, Hanks stayed in character as prison guard Paul Edgecomb off-screen while shooting for The Green Mile as well.

 

 

11. Gary Oldman

 

 

 

Known for his versatility and intense acting style, Gary Oldman is one of those performers who can get into the skin of any character that he is portraying.

 

The prosthetics used and his knack for different accents have helped him transform dramatically in his daring cinematic endeavors. Also, we’ve heard that the actor keeps a “pain bag” to do justice to his emotionally vulnerable characters.

 

The bag supposedly has photos of his first marriage, son, and his absent father. Oldman also smoked a lot of cigars and developed stomach issues while playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

 

 

12. Om Puri

 

 

 

One of the greatest Indian actors of all time, Om Puri perfected his many roles in commercial potboilers and arthouse cinema.

 

It is said that during the shoot of Bhavni Bhavai, the actor used to keep sheets of Devanagari scripts under his pillow to access them whenever he could. He apparently used to do this to both memorize and comprehend his lines better.

 

One of the most prominent faces of the parallel cinema movement, Puri had the ability to set the screen on fire without uttering a single word.

 

The actor, who also participated in British productions, seemed to capture the soul of the characters he portrayed on celluloid.

 

 

13. Dilip Kumar

 

 

 

Described by master director Satyajit Ray as “the ultimate Method actor”, the ‘Tragedy King’ of Indian cinema, Dilip Kumar, was famous for living his roles to the absolute fullest.

 

While not a lot has been revealed about how he prepared for his roles, the fact that he mastered every character that he played on celluloid made him a perfectionist of the highest order.

 

For his performance in the classic film Ganga Jamuna, Dilip traveled the state of Uttar Pradesh for months. He not only got familiar with the lifestyle of the people there but he also managed to learn the Purabia and Awadhi dialects.

 

 

14. Toshiro Mifune

 

 

 

Arguably the most popular actor in the history of Japanese cinema, Toshiro Mifune was an expressive, intelligent, and creative actor who could get into the skin of any character.

 

He used to be so convincing and confident that one could easily forget the last role he played.

 

The actor performed best while working with genius director Akira Kurosawa, and shocked the global audience with his amazing range, versatility, and charisma.

 

Some of his best performances came in features such as Red Blood, Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, Rashomon, High and Low, and Record of a Living Being.

 

 

15. Joaquin Phoenix

 

 

 

Joaquin Phoenix is one of the most distinguished screen performers to have graced the silver screen in the past four decades.

 

The actor can be seen giving it all to the characters he plays. It is not surprising then that he has mastered the craft of Method acting so well.

 

Phoenix not only learned to play the guitar but also honed his singing skills for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.

 

The Quills actor stunned fans and critics across the globe with his outstanding portrayal of Joker in the 2019 classic of the same title. He lost 52 pounds for the role and developed a disorder while doing so.

 

The very next year, he bagged the Academy Award for Best Actor for his character play in the aforementioned movie.

 

 

16. Naseeruddin Shah

 

 

 

The extraordinary Naseeruddin Shah is a film and stage actor who is best known for his work in Indian parallel cinema.

 

He has been a recipient of three National Film Awards and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.

 

What’s special about Shah is the fact that he does not care about socio-economic or political boundaries while playing a character.

 

In his mind, there is only one religion and that is good cinema. Some of his finest performances have come in features such as Paar, Pestonjee, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Masoom, and Sparsh.

 

 

17. Forest Whitaker

 

 

 

Forest Whitaker is often seen playing military/political/law enforcement roles on the big screen. He made his acting debut both on television and in the movies in 1982.

 

The splendid performer was seen portraying Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 2006’s The Last King of Scotland. It’s been said that, in order to get into the skin of his character, Whitaker learned Swahili, ate nothing but bananas and beans, and remained in character even when he was off-camera.

 

He has been a recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, respectively.

 

Some of Whitaker’s best movies include The Last King of Scotland, The Butler, Platoon, Black Panther, Panic Room, and Good Morning, Vietnam.

 

 

18. Irrfan Khan

 

 

 

Recipient of a National Film Award, an Asian Film Award, and the Padma Shri (India’s fourth-highest civilian honor), Irrfan was a fabulous Method actor.

 

In fact, it’d be safe to say that his identity is pretty much the characters he has played on the big screen to date.

 

A well-known Indian actor, he was also acknowledged for his appearance in Hollywood flicks such as Jurassic World, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Inferno.

 

Irrfan won the National Award for his mind-blowing performance in Paan Singh Tomar.

 

 

19. Heath Ledger

 

 

 

This Australian superstar will always be remembered for the sensational performances that he gave in motion pictures such as Brokeback Mountain and The Patriot.

 

However, Ledger became immortal in the true sense of the word after having portrayed the complex and insanely popular Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

 

His adroit performance ensured that Joker became arguably the most popular on-screen villain of the 21st century. It is said that the actor’s insomnia skyrocketed while he prepared for the role.

 

 

20. Philip Seymour Hoffman

 

 

 

Philip Seymour Hoffman was a great screen performer who gathered his memories and life experiences to ensure that his roles came across as original and challenging on the big screen.

 

The actor played several real-life characters on celluloid during the course of his career. In order to do justice to his characters, he banked on his technical expertise and nuances.

 

Some of his best performances came in motion pictures such as The Talented Mr. Ripley, Capote, Synecdoche, New York, and The Master.

 

 

21. Sean Penn

 

 

 

Sean Penn is one of those actors who has developed a reputation for being difficult on set courtesy of his dedication to keeping things real.

 

Writer Cameron Crowe once mentioned that the young upstart actor wished to be called by the name of the character that he was playing on the sets of Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

 

This was because he wished to stay in character even when he was not facing the camera.

 

For better or for worse, actor John Leguizamo said that Penn slapped him for real while working on Causalities of War because he was deeply engrossed in his character.

 

 

22. Adrien Brody

 

 

 

Adrien Brody has been performing in the movies since the late 1980s. He took to Method acting to deliver an impressive and highly acclaimed performance in his most ambitious project to date.

 

Not only did he lose more than 30 pounds to do full justice to the character sketch of Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist but he also learned to play the piano for real.

 

To comprehend the survivor’s sense of loss, Brody gave up his apartment, sold his car, disconnected his phone, and moved to Europe for some time.

 

 

23. Nicolas Cage

 

 

 

Nicolas Cage has delivered some of his finest performances in motion pictures such as Pig, Moonstruck, Adaptation, Leaving Las Vegas, and Joe.

 

He was playing the role of a Vietnam War vet in Birdy. To feel the pain that his character would endure for real while at war, he got a few of his teeth pulled out without using anesthesia.

 

As expected, the actor had to survive weeks with his face wrapped in bandages.

 

 

24. Leonardo DiCaprio

 

 

 

Not a lot of actors have had a career as diverse and successful as that of Leonardo DiCaprio. The superstar may have grabbed an Oscar for his portrayal of Hugh Glass in The Revenant, but he had to withstand a ton of difficulties to bring his character to life.

 

The actor, an avowed vegetarian, consumed raw bison and slept in an animal carcass to ace his role play.

 

In addition, DiCaprio also endured cold temperatures to portray the frigid frontiersman on celluloid.

 

 

25. Denzel Washington

 

 

 

Widely regarded as a movie star who redefined “the concept of classic movie stardom”, Denzel Washington is one actor who has impressed everyone with his incomparable performances over the years.

 

He was named by The New York Times as the greatest actor of the 21st century. Unsurprisingly, he’s known to live, eat, breathe, and sleep the characters that he is portraying.

 

An A-lister like Ryan Reynolds has publicly spoken about finding Washington’s Method approach to acting both inspiring and endearing.

 

 

26. Choi Min-sik

 

 

 

One of South Korea’s finest screen performers, Choi Min-sik is said to have resorted to Method acting for some of his most demanding roles to date.

 

However, his character play in the blockbuster film Oldboy is the one that stands out in the true sense of the word. 

 

While he walked around off-camera with the bizarre haircut that he had in the movie, he also devoured a living octopus as per the requirement of the script.

 

That said, his performance in I Saw the Devil is also worth checking out.

 

 

27. Edward Norton

 

 

 

Edward Norton’s debut performance in Primal Fear was a declaration of a splendid actor making it to the mainstream.

 

During the shoot of Fight Club, the actor is known to have punched his co-star Brad Pitt directly into his ear.

 

Pitt was supposed to take a meek punch on his shoulder, but Norton had other ideas to generate a more accurate response.

 

Also, Norton gained 30 pounds and hit the gym rigorously while preparing for his role of a neo-Nazi in American History X.

 

 

28. Billy Bob Thornton

 

 

 

Billy Bob Thornton has had the experience of participating in over 100 productions, thus far. In some of them, he has resorted to to using the Method to get things right.

 

The Monster’s Ball actor apparently put crushed glass in his shoes to ensure that his limping for the character that he played in Sling Blade looked authentic.

 

Needless to say, the diligent actor received critical acclaim for writing, directing, and starring in the aforementioned independent drama.

 

 

29. Sir Michael Caine

 

 

 

This British film icon is one of the only few performers to have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in five different decades.

 

Caine has admitted to rehearsing his lines as many as 1,000 times before turning up on sets. He has also gone on to confess that he uses a secret painful memory to bring out the best in characters that require him to put his best foot forward.

 

 

30. Manoj Bajpayee

 

 

 

Awarded India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, the Padma Shri, actor Manoj Bajpayee has delivered some of the finest performances by a mainstream Indian actor in the 21st century.

 

He once stated that after having shot for the cult film Shool, he was in a state of psychological turmoil and found it difficult to sleep at night.

 

In fact, his psychologist friend had to alert him to not get too deeply involved with the characters that he was portraying on celluloid.

 

Bajpayee’s extraordinary performance in motion pictures such as Aligarh and Satya are a testament to his greatness.

 

 

31. Jamie Foxx

 

 

 

Jamie Foxx has been a recipient of numerous awards throughout his acting career so far.

 

For his performance in Ray, the actor is said to have glued his eyes shut on set for close to 14 hours to portray the blind musician Ray Charles.

 

He also lost over 30 pounds during the shoot of the film to convey the musician’s battle with heroin addiction.

 

 

32. Nawazuddin Siddiqui

 

 

 

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a noted Indian actor whose several extraordinary performances have ensured he finds a spot on our list.

 

The Sacred Games star revealed that he had to undergo both physical and emotional transformation while shooting for his critically acclaimed project, Manto.

 

Siddiqui believes in getting deeply and emotionally involved with his characters. He’s also been a part of some great Bollywood entertainers such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Gangs of Wasseypur, and Psycho Raman.

 

 

33. James Dean

 

 

 

James Dean may not have worked in a lot of features, but he was able to establish himself as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and alienation with his adroit character projection in Rebel Without a Cause.

 

The star is credited with making the ‘Method’ more instinctive and attractive. He managed to play his roles by merging his personal experiences with that of the characters he was enacting.

 

Dean used his own quirks and banked on his personal life and instincts to nurture his performances.

 

 

34. Johnny Depp

 

 

 

One of the best-known versatile actors in Hollywood, Johnny Depp is another superstar who has resorted to the discipline of Method acting to perform some of his most complex roles.

 

He is known to have stayed in character off-set while filming Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, the actor reportedly studied author Hunter S. Thompson for quite some time to do justice to the character of the gonzo author that he was supposed to enact in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

 

It is said that Depp even took the call to shift to the author’s basement to spend as much time with him as possible.

 

 

35. Shia LaBeouf

 

 

 

We agree that Shia was popular among the teens for playing a significant character in the Transformer movie franchise, but he has also gone on to put his acting prowess on display on more occasions than one.

 

He took to Method acting to deliver astonishing performances in motion pictures such as Disturbia, Nymphomaniac, and Charlie Countryman.

 

It’s been reported that the actor took drugs to make a scene look authentic in Charlie Countryman. However, he went a step ahead when but he allegedly had intercourse for real on-screen in Nymphomaniac because the script instructed him to do so.

 

 

36. Jared Leto

 

 

 

I don’t think it’d be an exaggeration to claim that Jared Leto is one of the most underrated mainstream performers today.

 

Yes, his Method acting quirks are not appreciated as much, but the actor is known to have delivered remarkable performances in features such as Dallas Buyers Club, Suicide Squad, Blade Runner 2049, House of Gucci, and Morbius.

 

In fact, to do full justice to his character in Requiem for a Dream, Leto refused to have intercourse for over two months.

 

In addition, he decided to live on the streets of Brooklyn for some time to get a gist of how the homeless drug addicts survived out there.

 

 

37. Jim Carrey

 

 

 

I’m certain that not a lot of you would’ve expected to chance upon Jim Carrey in our story. Sure, he arguably is one of the biggest comedic stars in history, but he has also gone Method in more instances than one.

 

While his most remarkable character projections came in movies that were true-blue comedies, the actor also went on to demonstrate his versatility in classics such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show.

 

Carrey resorted to Method acting for his role as Andy Kaufman in Man On The Moon. It is said that he was avoided by his pals and family during the film’s shoot. This is because he continued to spend his time off-set in character.

 

 

38. Val Kilmer

 

 

 

Val Kilmer is a seasoned performer who has been making his presence felt in popular Hollywood productions since the mid-1980s.

 

The actor apparently spent thousands of dollars to produce an eight-minute-long music video of himself, which showed him singing the songs of Jim Morrison.

 

Kilmer did this to ascertain that he gets to play the musician in Oliver Stone’s The Doors. So, after having grabbed the role, the man was seen wearing the artist’s costumes and frequenting places visited by Morrison himself.

 

 

39. Mickey Rourke

 

 

 

Mickey Rourke made his acting debut in the feature film, titled 1941, in 1979.

 

Even though the actor may not have been considered to be a Method actor during the 1980s and 1990s, his performance in the critically acclaimed The Wrestler demonstrated that he could truly resort to Method acting to do full justice to his character sketch.

 

Needless to say, Rourke insisted on performing his own stunts in the wrestling-themed motion picture and ended up injuring himself more often than not.

 

 

40. Dennis Hopper

 

 

 

The talented and unconventional Dennis Hopper took a rather different approach to Method acting. To ensure that his portrayal of a photojournalist trapped in a jungle cult in Apocalypse Now came across as authentic, the actor resorted to doing drugs to be able to deliver one of the most talked-about monologues in cinema history.

 

While some considered it an unconventional strategy of acting, others had no option but to see it as a mere excuse to do drugs.