It sure seems as if Morgan Freeman has always been around, which makes sense, since he’s been acting for almost six decades now. He is best known for his incredible voice and narrating skills, although he did have a few Oscar-winning films throughout his career. Freeman is mostly known for his roles in the award winning films “Street Smart”, “Driving Miss Daisy”, “The Shawshank Redemption”, “Million Dollar Baby”, and “Invictus”.
He’s been a champion and an inspiration for many African Americans in the United States. The actor has also given many motivational speeches throughout his career. Morgan Freeman is the seventh-highest grossing actor of all time, with a combined box office gross of just over $4.5 billion.
Sidney Poitier
Almost no actor has influenced racial politics in the United States as much as Sidney Poitier. The Bahamian-American actor helped pave the way for many diverse actors that followed him, and helped mitigate many issues of race and racial relations, especially during the '60s. Poitier was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1974, making him Sir Sidney Poitier. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor.
Poitier was one of the oldest-living actors of the Golden Era of Hollywood, and continued acting in films up until 1999. He also began directing in 1972, and released nine films throughout his directorial career. Poitier served as a member of Disney's board of directors from 1995 to 2003. He even recorded an album with composer Fred Kats, called 'Poitier Meets Plato'. While many actors on this list helped change culture and history with their films, Sidney Poitier helped do that outside the screen too. In January 2022 he sadly passed away.
Joaquin Phoenix
Many consider Joaquin Phoenix to be the greatest method actor of our times. It doesn’t matter which Phoenix film you choose to watch, there’s almost a 100 percent chance that you’ll see a performance that would be on par with something Marlon Brando would do. Some of his most popular films include "Her", "Inherent Vice", "The Master", "Signs", "Gladiator", "The Village" and "You Were Never Really Here".
The versatile and talented actor recently took the role of Arthur, in the R-Rated drama film "Joker". It centers around a mentally unstable professional clown and stand up comedian who devolves into a psychopathic killer, DC’s infamous Batman villain, The Joker. The film broke literally every record for an R-Rated film and passed $1 billion in worldwide revenue.
Cary Grant
If you don’t know who Cary Grant is yet, the British actor appeared in various film genres, including everything from romance movies to thrillers, mostly due to his slick and varied acting style. Grant was one of the original "bond-like" actors, and possessed a suave personality that many actors have failed to reproduce over the years. He received an Honorary Oscar by his friend Frank Sinatra, after many nominations without an award.
Some of Cary Grant's best work includes films such as "Indiscreet" (1958) with Ingrid Bergman, "That Touch of Mink" (1962) with Doris Day, and "Charade" (1963) with Audrey Hepburn. Only a handful of actors over the years have managed to replicate his incredible charisma and fantastic on-screen presence, which only lends to his timeless and ageless performances.
Christian Bale
The award-winning English actor Christian Bale has proven himself over the years to be one of Hollywood’s most extreme method actors. He is known for having an extreme body-change regime for every role he takes. His latest role as former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, in the film "Vice", included Bale making his biggest weight change yet, gaining weight until he reached the 100kg mark.
Bale has acted in many films, with each being a unique and special role. His acting style is extremely diverse, as well as his constantly-changing look. It would be extremely hard to pinpoint the best Bale film to watch, so our best recommendation is to go through his filmography and watch his movies based on your genre preference. What we do know for sure, is that every year you check back on Bale, you might just find a completely different-looking person.