The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

By: Erik Davis

Some make us laugh, some swoon, some thrill and some do it all. We asked you to name your favorite actors of the past decade in a recent survey. Here are your top 10 leading men for making it a movie night—time after time.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

10. Will Ferrell

The only career comedian to make your top ten list is Will Ferrell, who spent much of the last decade doing what he does best—making us chuckle. Ferrell graduated from SNL in 2002 and scored playing one of the guys with serious arrested development in Old School. More hits followed, like Elf, Anchorman: The Legend or Ron Burgundy, Starsky & Hutch, Blades of Glory, Step Brothers and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the latter of which he won an MTV Best Kiss award for his lip lock with fellow funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen. It seems that even when Ferrell lets out the occasional stinker (think Bewitched or Land of the Lost), you forgive him and line up for more.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

9. Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt broke out in the ‘90s after his steamy scene with Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise and spent most of the 2000s trying to be seen as a serious actor, not one half of tabloid target Brangelina. Pitt was effortlessly cool in Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve and got Greek as Achilles in Troy before teaming up with future baby mama Angelina Jolie in the hit Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt divorced Jennifer Aniston and now raises (at last count) six children with Jolie, both adopted and biological. After his third stint as Rusty Ryan in Ocean’s Thirteen, Pitt closed out the decade on a high note by doing the time warp in the critically acclaimed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and as a Nazi-loathing lieutenant in Quentin Tarantino’s brilliant Inglourious Basterds.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

8. Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman broke out with his role in 2000’s X-Men as Wolverine, a comic-book mutant with lethal metal claws and an uncanny ability to heal himself after being injured. The appealing Aussie who is equal parts brawn and charisma grew those killer sideburns and played Wolverine three more times in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In between he made an impression as a vampire-hunter in Van Helsing, a magician in The Prestige, a singer and dancer in Australia, and a man who would cross oceans of time to save his dying wife in The Fountain. The beefy Broadway-friendly actor has hosted the Tony Awards three times and was the only person keeping people awake when he hosted the 81st Academy Awards in 2009.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

7. George Clooney

After starring as the Dark Knight in the disastrous Batman & Robin in 1997, the 2000s could only get better for philanthropist, award-winning actor and sexiest man alive George Clooney. As the smooth criminal Danny Ocean in the three Ocean’s Eleven movies, Clooney made ripping off casinos look stylish and sexy. In 2005 he directed the critically acclaimed Good Night, and Good Luck and starred in Syriana, for which he won an Oscar. He followed that up with the lauded Michael Clayton and closed out the decade with the romantic dramedy Up in the Air as a corporate job terminator with more commitment issues than, well, Clooney.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

6. Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio is a case study in how to overcome the teen-heartthrob stigma and be taken seriously in Hollywood. After repeat viewings by screaming young girls caused Titanic to become one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, DiCaprio took a detour into more serious roles by acclaimed directors. He kicked off the 2000s with Danny Boyle’s The Beach and went on to become Martin Scorsese’s muse in Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed and Shutter Island. He earned more awards and nominations for his roles in Blood Diamond, Catch Me if You Can and Revolutionary Road, in which he reunited with Titanic co-star Kate Winslet. With Christopher Nolan’s dreamy Inception on the horizon, DiCaprio has not only transcended teen stardom, he’s blown it out of the water.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

5. Russell Crowe

Aussie man’s man Russell Crowe started off the 2000s with a roar—and a Best Actor Oscar—for his role as Maximus “The Spaniard” in Ridley Scott’s sword-and-sandal blockbuster Gladiator. Crowe picked up another Oscar nomination for his role in Ron Howards’s A Beautiful Mind, which won Best Picture, and came back for Howard’s Cinderella Man. Aside from staying in the news for his temper tantrums (watch out for flying phones!), his fluctuating waistband and that little Meg Ryan thing, Crowe spent most of the decade as Scott’s leading man in A Good Year, American Gangster, Body of Lies (opposite Leonardo DiCaprio) and, most recently, in Robin Hood. Scott—it does Russell’s body (of work) good.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

4. Matt Damon

In the 2000s, Matt Damon began to make a name for himself apart from BFF Ben Affleck, with whom he shared a Best Original Screenplay Oscar back in 1997 for Good Will Hunting. Damon was a subtle player in the three Ocean’s Eleven films (did everyone on this list star in that trilogy?), but he proved to be a blockbuster action hero that some proclaimed was “better than Bond” in the three Jason Bourne spy thrillers: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Other memorable Matt moments include his shifty double agent in The Departed, his role as a soccer champion in Invictus, and his disturbingly funny portrayal of corporate whistleblower Mark Whitacre in The Informant! You love his work, so here’s to hoping he’ll be Bourne again.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

3. Robert Downey Jr.

After his cinematic success in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Robert Downey Jr.’s very publicized struggle with substance abuse threatened to destroy his promising career. The gifted actor was treading water in the early 2000s, taking supporting roles in movies like Wonder Boys and Gothika, and the lead in what one critic called an “interesting failure,” The Singing Detective. All this changed toward the end of the decade after a brilliant turn as journalist Paul Avery in Zodiac, which led to Downey headlining two new blockbuster franchises: Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. Now it seems like anything Downey touches turns as gold as Iron Man’s suit—he even earned an Oscar nomination for his hilarious politically incorrect role as an actor playing a jive-talking black man in Tropic Thunder, which takes serious talent.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

2. Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington is a class act who has been nominated for more Oscars than any other person of African descent in history. He started off the 2000s with Remember the Titans and became the second man to win a Best Actor Oscar for his role in Training Day. More awards and nominations came for John Q, Antwone Fisher, Out of Time, Man on Fire, The Manchurian Candidate, Inside Man, American Gangster and The Great Debaters. By the end of the decade, Washington to court more mainstream moviegoers with the action flick The Taking of Pelham 123 and the apocalyptic The Book of Eli. Look for him next in Tony Scott’s unstoppable troubled action flick Unstoppable.

The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

1. Johnny Depp

After debuting onscreen in 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street and cementing his teen-heartthrob status on TV’s 21 Jump Street, Depp spent most of the ‘90s downplaying his great looks and trying to make an impression with his acting. Guess what? It worked. His roles last decade in Chocolat, Blow, From Hell and Once Upon a Time in Mexico couldn’t be more different, and yet blockbuster status still eluded him. All that changed with Depp’s role as Jack Sparrow—the rum-loving, oddball pirate in 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Not only was the movie a smash hit, it earned Depp an Oscar nomination. He played Sparrow in the film’s two successful sequels and also struck box office gold every time he teamed up with longtime friend Tim Burton, such as in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. Depp might bring the crazy on-screen, but his broad appeal makes total sense.