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He Really Can Act (Sugar Wiki): Difference between revisions
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The in-universe version is [[Master Actor]].
{{tropelist}}
* [[Kevin Bacon]], commonly known as a teen movie star for most of his career, had almost ended that career when he starred in ''[[A Few Good Men]]''.
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** She was also excellent in ''A Prairie Home Companion'', as Meryl Streep's daughter. She more than holds her own both acting-wise and vocal-wise, measuring up against actors like Streep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, and Virginia Madsen.
* [[John Wayne]] is an older example of this. After seeing ''[[Red River]]'' (directed by Ford's friend, Howard Hawks) [[John Ford]] famously said, "I didn't know the big lug could act."
* In his review of ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'', [[Moviebob]] captioned the photo of [[Eli Roth]] with the phrase "When did ''he'' learn to act?" There was also Mike Myers' [[One
* Brendan Fraser has appeared in movies ranging from crap like ''[[Monkeybone]]'' to comedies like ''[[George of the Jungle]]'' to campy blockbusters like ''[[The Mummy Trilogy]]'' and ''[[Journey to The Center of The Earth]]''. While his acting was fairly good, his role on ''[[Scrubs]]'' seriously shows his chops as an actor. He also turned out to be a man of a thousand voices - listen to the audio books he's narrated.
** ''[[Gods And Monsters]]'', anyone? If you're sharing the screen with Sir Ian McKellen, just holding your own has to qualify.
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** Not to mention his performance in ''[[The Manchurian Candidate]]''.
* Doc Hammer of ''[[The Venture Bros]]'' had this reaction to ''himself''. In the [[DVD Commentary]] to ''The Invisible Hand Of Fate'', he says that normally he and Jackson Publick are reading the lines for [[Man of a Thousand Voices|their many side characters]], they're pretty much just reading the lines in a funny voice without even trying to act. In that particular episode, Doc discovered his acting chops, pointing out the scene where Billy Quizboy angrily confronts the people manipulating him.
* ''Edward Scissorhands'' got this kind of attention for [[Johnny Depp]]. During his ''[[
* Dick Powell was a regular song-and-dance man in the forties used to doing lighthearted musicals, but his turn as a jaded and cynical private detective in ''[[Murder My Sweet (Film)|Murder My Sweet]]'' was spot-on.
* [[Vincent Price]] is normally thought of a quite a [[Large Ham]], more campy than generally scary. Even in straight-up horror suspense pictures like ''[[House On Haunted Hill (Film)|House On Haunted Hill]]'', there's a fun quality to his character. Until you watch ''Witchfinder General'' (aka ''The Conquerer Worm''), where he's utterly [[Nightmare Fuel|terrifying]].
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* Billy Connolly in a number of smaller roles, but the breakout is probably the film ''Mrs Brown''. As well as [[The Boondock Saints]] franchise in which he plays the stoic, [[Badass Grandpa|aging yet ruthless]] [[Hitman With a Heart]].
** Anyone who's surprised by Billy Connolly's acting ability obviously hasn't seen his stand-up, where he plays hundreds of characters of varying voices and accents. There's an early video of him playing a man doing a quiet [[Anguished Declaration of Love]], only to let off a fart in the middle of it.
* Neil Patrick Harris is an odd example. He's re-invented himself as a comedic actor in the last decade after being known as a child star in the 80s. Then came [[Doctor
** He was also very touching as a disturbed, socially-awkward murderer in ''[[Law and Order Criminal Intent]]''.
* Firass Dirani was wasted on ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force|Mystic Force]]'', as demonstrated by his recent (Logie Award-winning) appearance on ''[[Underbelly]]: The Golden Mile''. Similarly, [[Power Rangers Jungle Fury|Anna Hutchison's]] fantastic performance as Allison Dine on ''Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities''.
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** Power Rangers is actually pretty good for these moments. Considering that one of the prerequisites for being a Ranger is being a "Teenager with Attitude" (or at least a young adult), you end up with very young people who are doing their very first big job, and have little experience otherwise. It could be said that they become good actors ''because'' of their time on ''Rangers.''
** Melody Perkins jumps in leaps and bounds from her first appearance as Astronema in [[Power Rangers in Space]]. In her first few appearances, she [[Chewing the Scenery|chews]] and [[Evil Is Hammy|hams]] more than the [[Power Rangers Turbo|previous season's]] villain [[Meaningful Name|Divatox,]] including a great amount of [[Large Ham|Shatner speech.]] A few episodes and she'd gotten better, and then came the epic 'Secret of the Locket' arc, where she portrayed Astronema teetered between good and evil so well that the viewer honestly didn't know where she would end up in the end. And THEN, after turning her back on being a bad guy, she is downright [[Nightmare Fuel|TERRIFYING]] when she is reprogrammed back into her Astronema persona.
** Olivia Tennet, and her performance as Dr. K, are just a couple of the reasons why ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' is so awesome. Let's review: At first, she is totally deadpan and hardly changes facial expressions or displays emotions. (It's in character, so it's justified. Dr. K only loses it whenever [[Berserk Button|someone mentions that the suits are made of spandex]], including a little kid.) And then there's the episode [[Day in The Limelight|"Doctor K"]], where Olivia really gets to shine. Holy cow. That she portrayed the various emotions her character felt throughout the episode, especially the [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|guilt she faced over her mistakes]], with seeming effortlessness was awesome enough--especially considering how difficult it would be to portray a [[Teen Genius]] that [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds|accidentally destroyed nearly the whole world]]. That she did it at only 17 years old (when ''RPM'' began production) makes it a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for her.
* Jackson Rathbone's performance in ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]''? [[Narm|Hilariously terrible]]. His performance in ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]''? Very believable. In ''Criminal Minds'', he played a shy, troubled, perennially mumbling, drug-addicted janitor {{spoiler|and said janitor's split personality}}. What makes this even more impressive is that {{spoiler|the other personality was a serial-killing woman with a Southern accent, contrasting with the normal personality in every possible way}}. To top that off, Rathbone had to {{spoiler|transition between personalities in the middle of a scene}}, and he pulled that off as well.
** There are a ''lot'' of surprisingly good turns for UnSubs. [[Dawsons Creek (TV)|James Van Der Beek]] as a killer with three personalities, Jamie Kennedy as an unrecognizable cannibal, and Frankie Muniz as a haunted comic book artist are just three examples.
* Even though it was just voice-acting, ''Andy Dick'' (in)famously known for his shock-value comedy, gave a truly tragic performance as [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Nuka in his last moments]] in ''[[The Lion King]] II''.
** He was also very good in the English dub of ''[[Castle in The Sky]]''. Maybe he should stick to voice overs.
* Somewhat subverted in the case of [[Eliza Dushku]] and ''[[Dollhouse]]''. Most fans agree that her acting skills at the show's beginning were, while not awful, very limited. But then came the season 2 finale {{spoiler|in which she hits it out of the park, when the realization of Paul's death finally hits her}}.
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* Most people wrote Orlando Bloom off as basically worthless because of his [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|popularity with]] [[Unfortunate Implications|girls and women]] until his [[Take That Me|self-deprecating]] appearance on an episode of ''Extras'' and his performance as a near-suicidal failed writer in the London play ''In Celebration.'' Fans could have told these people that all they needed to do was watch him in ''Ned Kelly'' or ''Haven'' to see what he can do.
** Or ''Elizabethtown''.
* [[Bruce Willis (Creator)]] in ''[[Twelve Monkeys]]''.
** Eh, we'd already seen ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''.
*** ''[[The Sixth Sense]]'' is arguably a better example, proving just how much range he really has.
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** ''[[Chasing Amy]]'', particularly the car scene.
** ''Hollywoodland'' also got plenty of mileage in this department.
** He manages to be a legit [[One
*** ''[[The Town (Film)|The Town]]'', is also an example of this. Also, Blake Lively reveals that she can do more than ''[[Gossip Girl]]'', and Jeremy Renner, while not being considered anywhere near a bad actor, reveals that he has much more than ''[[The Hurt Locker]]'' in him, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the academy award, his second nomination after his first for Best Actor in The Hurt Locker.
** While We're on the subject of the Affleck Brothers, let's not forget Casey. After bit parts in comedies such as ''[[The Last Kiss]]'' and the ''Oceans'' Films, no one expected much. Then in ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James]]'', he delivers an absolutely stunning and brilliantly understated performance as Bob Ford, the much reviled murderer of Jesse James, who wants nothing more than to be famous. His role in ''[[Gone Baby Gone]]'' shows that he's only going to get better!
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* [[Professional Wrestling|The Rock]], while [[Kayfabe|technically an actor]], was hardly what most people would have thought of as one. [[Dwayne Johnson]], on the other hand, is quite successful.
** Interestingly, when the idea for the movie ''[[The One (Film)|The One]]'' was first put forward, the role of the good and evil protagonists ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) was written for Dwayne Johnson. However, he opted to do ''[[The Scorpion King]]'' instead, and the script was re-written for [[Jet Li]]. While YMMV on the how good ''The One'' is, there's no denying the awesomeness of seeing Jet Li kick his own ass. Seeing the Rock do that would probably not be as cool. Besides, Jet Li and [[Jason Statham]] make a great team. The role of a Conan-like barbarian suits the Rock better.
* [[Michael Cera]]'s constantly mocked for his typecasting ("Hey, have you seen that Michael Cera film where he plays an awkward teenager who falls in love with a quirky girl?"), but he's starting to be seen in a new light after playing [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] [[Scott Pilgrim (Film)|Scott Pilgrim]]. In fact, it could be said that once Scott [[Took a Level In Badass|takes a level in badass, so does Cera.]]
** [[Youth in Revolt]], that's all.
* [[Alyson Hannigan]]. She did okay in films, and looked decent in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', but the episode "Dopplegangland" was where she showed she could really, really act. Evil Vampire!Willow was darn impressive, but then Good!Willow tries to imitate Vampire!Willow, and Vampire!Willow tries to imitate Good!Willow. It was a tour de force performance.
* Brenda Song does as well in ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'' and the sequel series ''[[The Suite Life On Deck]]'' as anyone can be expected to do in a Disney Channel series. She'd basically played the same character in everything she'd done: dumb, spoiled rich girl with a penchant for snobbery. These series turned that [[Up to Eleven]] and she's gone with it. Everyone who has seen her act before is therefore in for a very pleasant surprise should they see ''[[The Social Network]]''; Christy's a slutty, jealous, and sometimes downright scary bitch, and you ''will'' respect her for it.
* When Nina Dobrev was cast in the roles of Elena and Katherine for ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' most people thought she would never be able to carry the series, let alone play two completely different characters, judging by her performances on ''[[Degrassi]]''. Fast forward to mid season one, and people started to realize just how talented she actually is. Fast forward to season two, and she had viewers and critics floored by how easily she slips between Elena and Katherine while keeping both of them completely in character.
* Tom Welling is able to play several completely different in personality characters in [[Smallville]]. There's Clark Kent, Kal (Clark while infected by Red Kryptonite, a hedonistic and insensitive [[Jerkass]]), Kal-El (Clark Kent's [[Straw Vulcan]] Kryptonian self), a teenage Jor-El during flashbacks, Bizarro (who starts out as a [[Complete Monster]] and gets [[Character Development]] into a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]), and Clark Luthor/Ultraman (a [[Complete Monster]] who's screwing his own sister). And when Clark gets possessed, he perfectly copies the person's speech patterns.
** He also did a great impression of John Glover/Lionel Luthor in the [[Body Swap]] episode.
** Welling also has good comedic timing, as can be seen in "Hex" where he's cursed into forgetting he has superpowers. See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dciw9alV1S0 here for some of the highlights].
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** Or ''[[Danny the Dog]]''. The martial arts are used in service of the story (i.e., the fights express emotion just as clearly as the dialogue), and his mannerisms when playing a man raised as a dog are ''uncanny''.
** As to his martial arts movies, it is worth pointing out that Li delivered terrific performance in ''[[Hero (Film)|Hero]]'' and ''[[Fearless (Film)|Fearless]]''. He managed to carry an all-around mediocre ''The One'' with his acting as well. You gotta give the man some credit - even when he knows that the audience just wants to see asses kicked and kung fu done, he still makes an effort to act well.
*** Don't forget his role as Wong Fei Hung in the ''[[Once Upon a Time In China]]'' series, arguably his most famous role and the one that is synonymous with the image of Wong Fei Hung. Also his role in The Warlords as the conflicted [[Anti
* Natalie Portman in ''[[Black Swan (Film)|Black Swan]]''. Through most of the movie, it looked like she was on the verge of crying. And considering [[Break the Cutie|what her character put up with]], you couldn't blame her.
** Natalie Portman has been doing critically acclaimed movies for some time now.
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** Pretty much everyone on ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'' is amazing. It may just be the writing but Chevy Chase is incredibly funny on it. Chevy Chase. The guy who took pratfalls for one season on [[Saturday Night Live]], did two good vacation movies and has basically been a punchline ever since, because everything he tried either simply failed or was a complete disaster. Rebooting this guy's career is pretty much just one of this show's 6 billion [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|CMOAs]] and counting.
* Shane Kippel in ''[[Degrassi]]''. He was criticized ''a lot'' during his tenure on the show (primarily earlier seasons) for not really being able to act when it came to dramatic sequences (which, being ''Degrassi'', did happen sometimes). Then he played a supporting character in the film ''Dog Pound'', which caused just about ''everybody'' to go back and do a [[Double Take|double take]]... even the notoriously major assholes of IMDB gave him praise for his performance in it.
* Jack Huston, grandson of [[John Huston|that famous director]] and nephew of [[Anjelica Huston|that other badass lady]], was perfectly serviceable in things like "[[Eastwick]]," the very silly and enjoyable ''[[Outlander (Film)|Outlander]]'' and even ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Eclipse]]'', but it wasn't until his subtle, [[Cold Sniper|scary]], [[The Woobie|heartbreaking]], [[Doing It for The Art|Method-influenced]] ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]'' performance as [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|deformed]] [[WWI]] [[Shell
** Boardwalk Empire has this effect with a few of its stars. Steve Buscemi plays very well against type as the ruthless but humane Nucky; but it is Michael Stuhlbarg, a former bit player whose only major role was as the timed Woody Allen type lead in ''[[A Serious Man]]'', as the brilliant but deeply twisted Arnold Rothstein and Michael Shannon as the psychopathic [[Knight Templar]] Agent Van Alden that really leave a mark.
** To say Paz de la Huerta is [[The Scrappy|disliked by the majority]] [[Hatedom|of the fandom]] is putting it mildly. However, watching her performance in the season two episode "A Dangerous Maid" surprised a lot of her detractors as you watch Lucy Danzinger come to terms with her pregnancy, her baby's father, and her future. It's some very deft work from Ms. de la Huerta.
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* After being known as a Leading man and Hollywood Actor, Tom Cruise proved his talent in ''[[Born On the Fourth of July]]'' as the all-American ex-Marine turned anti-war activist Ron Kovic. He had similar parts in ''[[A Few Good Men]]'' and ''[[Magnolia]]'' showing what he can do. He arguably proved it earlier than that in ''[[The Color of Money]]'', merely by not being blown off the screen by Paul Newman.
** Cruise made his name with muff, fluff and stuff like ''[[Risky Business]]'', ''[[Cocktail]]'' and that paen to [[Ho Yay]] and the U.S. Navy, ''[[Top Gun]]''. His "serious" co-star turn with [[Dustin Hoffman]] in ''Rainman'' got the critics to sit up and take notice and persuaded [[Oliver Stone]] to use him for [[Oscar Bait]] in ''[[Born On the Fourth of July]]''.
** He's completely unrecognizable as a fat, bald, [[Cluster F
** He's a beautifully broken man in ''[[Vanilla Sky]]''.
* While best known for taking his shirt off constantly and talking like a drunk, Matthew McConaughey proved he was no slouch in ''[[A Time to Kill]]'', in which he brings remarkable depth to what could have been a shallow role and effortlessly holding his own alongside veterans and critically acclaimed actors such as: [[Samuel L Jackson]], [[Donald Sutherland]], [[Kevin Spacey]], Chris Cooper, Brenda Fricker and Charles Dutton. He now seems to be returning to that with his role in 2011's ''[[Lincoln Lawyer]]''.
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** It's pretty common for fans to be blown away when seeing Colin Morgan in a serious role for the first time - he's never ''bad'' as Merlin, but in ''Island'' and ''Parked', his two subsequent film roles, he's phenomenal to the point that after having gone to see either film specifically for him, it's easy to be so drawn in to his performanc that you forget tha that it's him.
* Season 10 of [[Smallville]] is showing that Lucas Gabreel doesn't need ''[[High School Musical]]'' to show that he can really act, especially since he plays [[Evil Redhead|Alexander]] [[Teens Are Monsters|Luthor]] and [[Superboy|Conner Kent]].
* In a rare voice acting example, Andrea Libman has always been known for playing kiddie roles that doesn't exactly require too much acting. For ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', her performance as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy was great. The final two episodes "Party Of One" and "The Best Night Ever" had the characters she voiced crack under pressure and it was outright ''unnerving''.
** This also applies for some of the other voice actresses on the show. As CR put it, their performances in the previous [[My Little Pony]] shows were probably only lackluster because they weren't given anything interesting to say.
* [[Vin Diesel]] is the kind of "actor" who basically plays the same type of character, regardless of what character he's supposed to be playing. And then he did ''[[Find Me Guilty]]'', and suddenly people were quoting the trope name.
** Although one could argue this was foreshadowed a bit by his performance in ''[[Boiler Room]]'' years before.
** It took a [[Hey
** Also, he's pretty good in his self-directed, short film debut "[[Multi Facial]]".
** Most people would be surprised to know that he started as a stage actor. A part of that is hinted in ''[[The Pacifier]]'' where he helps a kid put on a play.
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* In his first two major roles, ''[[Moonlight]]'' and ''Three Rivers'', Alex O'Loughlin didn't impress many people (except with his hotness). But then he guest-starred on an episode of ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]'' as a tormented serial killer with a crippling case of OCD. His performance was incredible, and he's almost unrecognizable to someone who knows him from his other work.
** When you compare the withdrawn, quiet and fairly meek serial killer to his highly-physical, snarking, and aggressive Steve McGarrett in the new ''[[Hawaii Five 0]]'', the difference is astounding. Even someone who's seen both roles would be hard-pressed to recognize him as the same actor, even though the only difference in appearance [[Clark Kenting|is a pair of glasses]].
* [[Demi Lovato]] won critical praise for her guest role in 2010 on ''[[
* [[Lady Gaga]] at the 2011 VMAs proved that she could be a great stage actor.
* Bizarrely, some have had this reaction to ''[[Transformers (Film)|Transformers]]: Dark Of The Moon'', namely Patrick Dempsey as [[Complete Monster]] Dylan Gould.
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* Fred Durst, commonly known as the [[Nice Hat|backwards red cap]]-wearing mook from [[Limp Bizkit (Music)|Limp Bizkit]], surprised critics with his acting in the movie ''Population 436''. Then with his directing of the drama '' The Education of Charlie Banks''.
* Though his ''[[Cool As Ice]]'' performance was panned, [[Vanilla Ice (Music)|Vanilla Ice]] earned appraisal for his performance in the Captain Hook in the Chatham, Kent Central Theatre pantomime production of ''[[Peter Pan]]''.
* After her disasterous debut performance in the ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]'', many people wrote of [[Rooney Mara]] as the worst new star of the year. Near the end of the year, she had a [[One
* [[Sam Worthington]] in ''[[The Debt]]'' came as a surprise to some critics, especially those who thought he couldn't escape his [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping|Australian accent]].
* [[Matthew Lillard]] is usually known as a the [[Large Ham]] actor who played Shaggy in [[Scooby Doo]]. In ''[[The Descendants]]'', he displays surprising restraint and emotion that some were not aware he was capable of.
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* J.K. Simmons is likely best known to the public for his scene-stealing role as J. Jonah Jameson in ''[[Spider-Man]]'', getting all the best lines. But anyone who saw him in ''[[Oz]]'' knew him as the depraved Nazi Vern Schillinger, a man who is in turns absolutely loathsome and at the same time filled with self-hatred and regret. Its a complex role and Simmons absolutely nails it, giving arguably the best performance in the whole series.
* Tom Hulce made his first big acting mark as goofy Delta frat member Pinto in ''[[Animal House]]''. Then along came a movie called ''[[Amadeus]]''. And then, a movie called ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', where it turns out he really can ''sing'' as well.
* In voice-acting, [[Johnny Yong Bosch]] is a bit typecast; he used to work on [[Power Rangers]] and typically plays confident, outgoing heroes. Then comes ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World]]'', in which his character is not only a meek, ostracized coward but ''also'' has a [[Super
* Another voce acting example: [[Jason Griffith]]. Compare his acting in ''[[Sonic X]]'' to his performance in the last ''Sonic'' game he worked on. Or his performance in ''[[Kurokami]]''. You will see a marked difference.
* [[Shailene Woodley]] is best known for her role on ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'', turning in a performance that ranges all the way from bitchy to pouty with heaps of [[Dull Surprise]] in between. Imagine the shock critics had upon seeing ''[[The Descendants]]'' where she is not only very good but nearly steals the film from George Clooney. Maybe there's hope for the rest of the cast too.
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