Marilyn Monroe as Nell Forbes in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
1
“She played a lot of ditzy blondes and the odd femme fatale here and there, but this movie will throw you for a loop — if not scare the hell out of you. It’s such a shame she didn’t get to play more roles like this!”
Steve Carrell as Frank Ginsberg in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
2
“If you only know him as Michael Scott from The Office, watch this — especially if you like awesome indie flicks!”
Bill Hader as Richie Tozier in It Chapter Two (2019)
3
“The scene towards the end when he’s crying because he lost his friend (who he was also secretly in love with) absolutely broke me. I did not expect to come out of watching that movie sobbing because of Bill Hader.”
Julia Roberts as Jessica Cobb in The Secret in Their Eyes (2015)
4
“We all know that she’s a great actor and has done tons of serious movies as well as rom-coms, but her acting in this movie specifically — just wow.”
Zac Efron as Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
5
“A sociopathic serial killer was 100% different from anything he’d ever done before, and he nailed it.”
Harry Styles as Alex in Dunkirk (2017)
6
“What a pleasant surprise this was! I didn’t know he had acting chops to begin with, but he was simply brilliant in that movie.”
Anne Hathaway as Fantine in Les Misérables (2012)
7
“She wrecked me completely, and it was like nothing she’d done before.”
Brad Pitt as Micky O’Neil in Snatch (2001)
8
“How he managed to nail that positively OUT THERE accent was beyond impressive!”
Jennifer Lopez as Ramona Vega in Hustlers (2019)
9
“I’m genuinely shocked no one has mentioned her yet. She was fantastic!”
Channing Tatum as Mark Schultz in Foxcatcher (2014)
10
“I never knew he was so talented. Respect!”
Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)
11
“The whole world judged SO HARD at the time when this casting was announced, and he surprised absolutely all of us.”
Denzel Washington as Detective Alonzo Harris in Training Day (2001)
12
“He was always a great actor, but at that point in his career he’d done so many ‘self-righteous’ characters that he was starting to get typecast. This movie really let him stretch out into a different direction and it was refreshing!”
Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems (2019)
13
“It’s just…holy [email protected]#t. While I was watching it, I completely forgot I was watching the same man from Happy Gilmore. He was amazing!”
Shailene Woodley as Alex King in The Descendants (2011)
14
“I remember hearing rumblings before this movie came out about how good she was in it, but I couldn’t believe it. I thought she was so terrible in The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but then I saw this and she blew me away. I came to the conclusion that she was NEVER awful — it was the writing on that show that was awful!”
Chris Evans as Ransom Drysdale in Knives Out (2019)
15
“I, like so many others, was so used to seeing him play the ‘good guy’ that seeing him play this cocky trust-fund kid who was actually the bad guy was fantastic!”
Ryan Reynolds as Jerry Hickfang in The Voices (2015)
16
“I was so surprised by how good of an actor he’d blossomed into!”
Tom Holland as Arvin Russell in The Devil All The Time (2020)
17
“I always associated him with Peter Parker. This role was way more serious, and he was so good at getting into the dark and twisted parts while still having the emotional range to make you care about the character. If you haven’t seen it, you need to watch it!”
Nicholas Cage as Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
18
“I grew up on ‘corny’ Nic Cage movies until I saw this movie in my 20s. What an incredible performance!”
Marlon Wayans as Tyrone C. Love in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
19
“I had only known him from Scary Movie and White Chicks before I saw this, so imagine my surprise!”
John Krasinski as Lee Abbott in A Quiet Place (2018)
20
“He blew me away in this, both as an actor AND as a director. I loved him as Jim on The Office — but in this more serious, horror movie role, he killed it!”