Good Acting.

[Bigbad]

I often see posts on AB where someone is described as being a good actor/actress.
I’m curious as to what you think makes them good.
I just think they are doing their job, and I can only think of 3 occasions where I’ve said someone was good, and 2 of those were playing ‘real’ people.
I’m far more likely to pick someone out for being a rubbish/wooden/hammy actor.

Recent posts have mentioned (among others) Stephen Graham, Jodie Comer, and Jean from Eastenders.

So, what is it that makes you think that someone is a good actor/actress?

[Hopkirk]

I have always disliked Meryl Streep for a simple reason.

She did such a good job in Kramer versus Kramer, that I am stuck disliking any character she plays.

[Patsy33]

When they become the character they are playing and not the actor, definitely. Some can put their whole heart and soul into their role. Unlike a lot of American actors, who keep posing when they say their part!

[tonyav]

I thought she was great in The Deer hunter, Hopkirk.

[pixie374]

So do many soap actors, pasty. I was never able to watch Michelle on Corrie without visibly seeing her thinking constantly "how do I look now?"

[Patsy33]

^^^^
Pixie,
I know what you mean! Puts me off straight away...

[tonyav]

I think that Paul Anderson who plays Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders is a very good actor, pretty good Brummy accent to for a Londoner.

[Calicogirl]

Tom Hardy when he played both the Kray twins. On the split screen scenes where he was both in the same scene you never associated him with the other one for even a second they were always two completely separate entities. Utter Kudos for that.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Good direction and a good script help, because the conviction the great actor brings to the part and his or her ability to move the audience depends at least in part on these.

As examples, look at the lovely lines Robert Bolt gave Paul Scofield in Zinnemann's "A Man for All Seasons". Or the lines written by the black-listed screen-writer Dalton Trumbo for the Charles Laughton character in Kubrick's "Spartacus".

[zebo]

Can a good actor improve a poor script and can a poor actor ruin a good script? The latter is definitely true but the former I'm not sure about.
One of my all time favourite actors was Richard Burton and during his Taylor days he certainly had to deliver some poor lines.
Some mentioned A Man For All Seasons, even the title makes me start to blub.

[Khandro]

If acting was anything other than the suspension of belief, how could anyone doubt that this wasn't 1st class?

[Bigbad]

Another pair of psycho twins played by the same person.
I love this programme.

[BagPussAA]

I think for me, when I say that someone is a good actor, it is because they can make me care about the character that they are playing. They can make me believe in them as a person. There are plenty of actors out there that I enjoy watching but they dont make me care about their characters, they just make an enjoyable story. Actors like John Wayne, Stephen Graham and Brad Pitt make watchable and enjoyable films but they dont make me care about them. Christopher Eccleston is an actor that does so does Denzel Washington.

[Ken4155]

The series Orphan Black is about human cloning and actress Tatiana Maslany plays about 7 different characters all cloned from the same original. Each of her characters is totally different to the next and she plays them superbly especially when there are 3 or more of them filmed together. This series definitely highlighted the acting prowess of this young woman and there are times when you have to remind yourself that it is just one person playing all the parts..

[Peter Pedant]

Yeah orphan black is good
I hope it allows her to make it

or as Helena would say - "you no watch eet and I keel you"

[Peter Pedant]

the fella in orphan black with the quiff playing three parts is less credible ( as a three parter )