First time you remember respecting any actor...

[Neurotic Void Melody]

For any actors you respect currently, do you remember what film scenes in which you suddenly realised your opinion of them permanently increased? No limit for how many here, I'll rattle off a couple;

Ben Kingsley: First appearance of his nuts character in Sexy Beast.

Christian Bale: Americans psycho, all of it. Then it increased after The Machinist, then even moreso after watching his character in Harsh Times. Ok...he's pretty dedicated.

Cats Blanchett: Amongst 5 actors playing the same role, she was one playing Bob Dylan in He's Not There (most convincingly).

Heath Ledger: Probably obvious that particular film

Robert Downey Jr: A Scanner Darkly, played a paranoid drug addict in an interesting manner.

Guy Pierce: I think the film was called Factory Girl, where he played Andy Warhol, like a sociopath asshole.

Any specific films or moments that initiated newfound actor appreciation? Voice actors included too! ;P

 

[Dazzle Novak]

Viola Davis:
I remember watching the Solaris remake on DVD without much of an opinion toward it, but saying to myself, "Damn, that black woman is really selling that scene right there. She saw some shit!" during her brief monologue.

Oscar Isaac:
Sucker Punch was a raging dumpster fire, but "that Latino dude is pretty good" crossed my mind a few times.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Viola Davis:
I remember watching the Solaris remake on DVD without much of an opinion toward it, but saying to myself, "Damn, that black woman is really selling that scene right there. She saw some shit!" during her brief monologue.

Oscar Isaac:
Sucker Punch was a raging dumpster fire, but "that Latino dude is pretty good" crossed my mind a few times.

Oh, yes that was a very good performance of a very dislikeable creep! Have been meaning to see Solaris, but heard mixed reviews which has lowered the priority in the list.
Am adding also;

Mark Strong: Guy Ritchie's Revolver had him play a highly skilled assassin that really had its' unique surprising style.

Claire Danes: Well Romeo and Juliet was the initial good impression, but she has been only getting better since. The same for Leonardo DiCaprio I should add.

 

[Glongpre]

Every time I see a movie with Daniel Day Lewis I am utterly astonished at his acting.

The man is the best at what he does.

My Left Foot
Gangs of New York
There Will Be Blood
Lincoln

Completely different person in each one, none of this DeNiro, Neeson, whoever, who seems to be playing a part as himself.

Christian Bale is a really good method actor as well. Someone already mentioned it, but the Machinist. Damn son, from Batman, to that, then back to Batman, I am impressed.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Honestly for me with Heath Ledger it was Brokeback Mountain. Before that all I'd seen of him were generic pretty boy roles, but that movie proved he could transform into a different character.

Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight. She fucking stole that movie right out from under everyone there.

Troy Baker in The Last of Us. As overexposed as he is now, he knocked it out of the park with that one.

Russel Crowe in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Until then I'd sort of dismissed him for no real reason, but his performance as Jack Aubrey made me wanna check out some of his other movies. He was still kinda lame in Gladiator though, but then who wasn't.

 

[tippy2k2]

Leonardo DiCaprio

I grew up in the 90s and I grew up with a sister. Therefore my primary memories of Leo growing up was "Pretty Boy lil *****". With movies like "Romeo and Juliet", "The Beach", and of course that little "Titantic" movie, he was always the cute guy who got the girl (and probably died in the process to because he died a lot for some reason), a teenage tippy2k2 was unimpressed.

Then "The Departed" happened

While I know he broke away from the pretty boy roles before that, that was the first time I had seen him. Holy fuck, Leo became...well...kind of a whiny pretty boy still but that movie was badass and so was he. There are not a lot of actors that I will perk my ears up when I hear they are in a movie (Tom Cruise maybe?) but if Leo is in the movie, I will at the very least look into it.

 

[Chanticoblues]

Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend

Someone I always thought was a pretty lame, whitebread leading man. I actually still sort of think that in most of what I've seen him in, but there'll always be The Lost Weekend. It's a devastating performance. The movie's authenticity is in his hands, and he pulls it off so well.


Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet

Before I was familiar with Hopper's directorial work or more interesting excursions, he was just the bad guy from Speed and Waterworld. Someone my dad would point out in then modern movies, or in bit parts in old westerns, and I'd wonder why his name was important. Anyways, in high school I started checking out David Lynch, and his unhinged, night-terror of a performance made me a fan.


Montgomery Clift in Wild River

Never liked Monty. He always struck me as really mannered physically, and he never seemed to get a handle on his angular features and intense eyes. But I really liked him in Elia Kazan's underrated Wild River. Made me want to revisit some of his performances.


Jayne Mansfield in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

This one has a little more to do with reputation, I suppose. Mansfield has sort of retroactively been coined as a lesser Marilyn Monroe (who I'm not a fan of). I'd seen appearances by Mansfield, maybe even a supporting performance here or there, and I was just put off by her. She really surprised me with her lead performance in this film; she's charming and hilarious. The lady was really talented and self-aware of her image.

 

[Asita]

Leonardo DiCaprio

I grew up in the 90s and I grew up with a sister. Therefore my primary memories of Leo growing up was "Pretty Boy lil *****". With movies like "Romeo and Juliet", "The Beach", and of course that little "Titantic" movie, he was always the cute guy who got the girl (and probably died in the process to because he died a lot for some reason), a teenage tippy2k2 was unimpressed.

Then "The Departed" happened

While I know he broke away from the pretty boy roles before that, that was the first time I had seen him. Holy fuck, Leo became...well...kind of a whiny pretty boy still but that movie was badass and so was he. There are not a lot of actors that I will perk my ears up when I hear they are in a movie (Tom Cruise maybe?) but if Leo is in the movie, I will at the very least look into it.

Similar deal here. Growing up the main thing I remembered about DiCaprio was that the girls would swoon over him and talked incessantly about him, so I rolled my eyes and disdained him pretty much on principle. That died down as I got older, but I still didn't pay him much mind until I saw Blood Diamond. Great performances by him and Djimon Hounsou.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Same for Leonardo DiCaprio, though I got over it pretty quick compared to some. Similar problem occurred with Brad Pitt, but Fight Club did change one's fluffy opinion. One addition I should've added earlier is Philip Seymour Hoffman (RIP) who always seemed destined to play an awkward introvert, but in The Talented Mr Ripley he became a suave jazz enthusiast with a condescending tone. Need to view Capote at some point, in which granted awards in his direction.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Daniel Day Lewis for me as well. There Will Be Blood is the single greatest performance I've ever seen.

Also agree about DiCaprio. I respect that he genuinely cares about climate change.... even if he thought that one of the regular chinook winds our province experiences was a result of it.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Johnny Depp. Sure, he was decent earlier in his career, but after "Pirates of the Caribbean", he seemed destined to play wacky characters, and anything else he just stuffed up.


And then Black Mass came along. The man can still act, without a doubt. Which makes me wonder why he turns in the crap performances he does, but still, Black Mass.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Tom Hanks was the first.

Than it was Pacino.

Every time I see a movie with Daniel Day Lewis I am utterly astonished at his acting.

The man is the best at what he does.

My Left Foot
Gangs of New York
There Will Be Blood
Lincoln

That is the other one for me. I want to see him in a Medieval Film as a King or Noble.

 

[Euryalus]

Never. I haven't ever really respected any of them as a rolemodel. That's not to say I don't like them, but there's none that I can think of that I've personally grown to respect. Unless you mean very specifically as an actor. In that case all the ones I like...

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Never. I haven't ever really respected any of them as a rolemodel. That's not to say I don't like them, but there's none that I can think of that I've personally grown to respect. Unless you mean very specifically as an actor. In that case all the ones I like...

That's what I meant. Respected for their skill. Why would they be a role model merely because you respect them? That is a bit of a reductionist view of the term, surely?
To add; Al Pacino in his Scarface performance, always appreciated his presence as his older self, but that film managed to hold up through his character alone.

Daniel Day Lewis is a person I need to see more of. Am severely lacking in experience of most of those movies for some reason.

 

[sanquin]

Jackie Chan. Not because of a specific scene, but after I heard that he did all of his stunts himself, as you see them in the film. I still think that's amazing.

 

[Xerosch]

Brad Pitt for me. At first I hated him because of his seemingly easy roles as pretty boy and I refused to watch movies he was in.
Then I saw 'Seven' and 'Twelve Monkeys' in the same week and was very surprised about his performance. It really helped that he's not one of the pretty boys who refuses to look ugly or like s*** in movies.

 

[Raddra]

Jackie Chan was my first respected actor when I saw a show about him and how he did all his own stunts and his history.

I actually found the thing on youtube: seriously old

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAUVhY3dg5s