More Actors, More Lists

My last post listed my 100 favorite British actors.  It was fun but exhausting to compile, since I had to rack my brain to remember them all.  Here are more lists of favorites, sorted by country of birth.  After the British actresses, I combined the men and women into one list.  All the lists but the Canadians are in alphabetical order by first name.  Next to the actor’s name is the movie or show that first had me sit up and take notice of them.  You’ll see German-born Michael Fassbender with the Irish, and Iranian-born Ramin Karimloo with the Canadians, so I cheated a little bit.  (It’s been known to happen.)

So many Canadian actors have become very well known after working in US productions, like Michael Cera, Ryan Gosling and Taylor Kitsch.  I like these actors, but I left them off my list.  I’m concentrating here on actors who I know primarily from Canadian productions.  Mostly.  Not always.   It may not be fair, but it keeps my list from getting out of control!

A couple of these actors are no longer with us.  They are missed.

British Actresses:

1. Brenda Blethyn  (Saving Grace)
2. Carey Mulligan  (Dr Who: Blink)
3. Celia Imrie   (Kingdom)
4. Charlotte Coleman   (Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit)
5. Dawn French   (French & Saunders)
6. Emma Handy  (London play: Vincent in Brixton)
7. Emma Thompson  (Fortunes of War)
8. Felicity Kendall   (The Good Life)
9. Francesca Annis   (Reckless)
10. Gemma Jones   (Bridget Jones’ Diary)
11. Geraldine McEwan   (Henry V)
12. Gina McKee  (The Forsyte Saga)
13. Helen Mirren  (Prime Suspect)
14. Helena Bonham-Carter  (Lady Jane)
15. Honeysuckle Weeks   (Lorna Doone)
16. Jane Horrocks   (Absolutely Fabulous)
17. Janet McTeer   (Precious Bane)
18. Jennifer Ehle   (Pride & Prejudice)
19. Jennifer Saunders  (Absolutely Fabulous)
20. Joanna Lumley  (Absolutely Fabulous)
21. Judi Dench   (Henry V)
22. Julia Sawalha   (Absolutely Fabulous)
23. Julie Walters   (Educating Rita)
24. Juliet Stevenson   (Truly Madly Deeply)
25. Kate Winslet   (Sense & Sensibility)
26. Katherine Parkinson   (Doc Martin)
27. Keeley Hawes   (Spooks/MI-5)
28. Minnie Driver   (Circle of Friends)
29. Pauline Collins   (Shirley Valentine)
30. Prunella Scales   (Fawlty Towers)
31. Sophia Myles   (The Abduction Club)
32. Stephanie Cole   (Waiting for God)

Least favorite British actresses:  Keira Knightley and Saffron Burrows

Irish actors:

1. Aidan Turner   (Being Human)
2. Chris O’Dowd   (The IT Crowd)
3. Cillian Murphy   (The Wind That Shakes the Barley)
4. Colin Farrell   (Tigerland)
5. Daniel Day-Lewis   (My Left Foot)
6. Dylan Moran   (Black Books)
7. Gabriel Byrne   (Into the West)
8. John Lynch   (The Secret of Roan Inish)
9. Kenneth Branagh   (Henry V)
10. Liam Neeson   (Rob Roy)
11. Michael Fassbender   (X-Men: First Class)
12. Saoirse Ronan  (Atonement)

Least favorite Irish actor:  Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Australians and New Zealander actors:

1. Alex O’Loughlin   (Moonlight)
2. Barry Humphries   (Dame Edna)
3. Ben Mendelsohn   (Vertical Limit)
4. Cate Blanchett   (Elizabeth I)
5. Chris Hemsworth   (Star Trek)
6. Heath Ledger   (Roar)
7. Hugh Jackman   (Kate & Leopold)
8. Karl Urban   (Star Trek)
9. Melanie Lynskey   (Ever After)
10. Noah Taylor   (Almost Famous)
11. Simon Baker   (The Mentalist)

Canadian actors:

1. Adam Beach   (Smoke Signals)
2. Nicholas Campbell   (Da Vinci’s Inquest)
3. Wendy Crewson   (The Good Son)
4. Matthew Ferguson   (La Femme Nikita)
5. Matt Frewer   (Max Headroom)
6. Paul Gross   (due South)
7. Dave Foley   (The Kids In The Hall)
8. Ramin Karimloo   (Les Misérables concert)
9. Bruce McCulloch   (The Kids In The Hall)
10. Callum Keith Rennie   (due South)
11. Sebastian Spence   (First Wave)
12. Scott Thompson   (The Kids In The Hall)
13. Ian Tracey   (X-Files: The Walk)