Curated playlist

American male stage actors

Christopher WalkenTo look gaunt for The Deer Hunter, Christopher Walken ate only bananas, water and rice for a month.
Josh BrolinJosh Brolin was trading stocks full time in 2006 when he booked the lead role in the Coen brothers' Academy Award-winning film No Country for Old Men. The film became both a critical and a commercial success. Brolin is an American actor…
Humphrey BogartHumphrey Bogart's ashes were buried with a small gold whistle from a bracelet he gave Lauren Bacall.
Al PacinoAl Pacino's mother told him poor people don't do acting. He went on to earn nine Oscar nominations.
Orson WellesOrson Welles burned ten reels of his own Don Quixote film. He felt the 1969 Moon landings made its ending obsolete.
Clark GableA Warner Bros. executive once rejected Clark Gable because his ears were too big. He said Gable looked like an ape.
James StewartJames Stewart gave his Oscar to his father for the shop window.
Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando sold back his Godfather profit points for $100,000, a sum that cost him an estimated $11 million.
William HurtBefore William Hurt became an Oscar winner, he studied theology. He earned that degree at Tufts University in 1972.
Stephen ColbertAt a 2006 dinner, Stephen Colbert roasted President Bush to a cold room. His show's ratings jumped 37% the next week.
Jake GyllenhaalJake Gyllenhaal, the American actor born on the 19th of December 1980, came close to playing two of the best-known superheroes in film. In 2003 he auditioned for Batman Begins and nearly won the part, which went to Christian Bale. A year…
Denzel WashingtonIn 2025, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the actor Denzel Washington said that the emphasis in his first name belongs on the first syllable. His mother had moved it to the second syllable so that young Denzel would answer to her call and not his…
Sam RockwellSam Rockwell won an Oscar for playing a racist, bullying police deputy. He delivered burritos by bicycle first.
Buster KeatonBuster Keaton's deadpan face began when he stopped laughing in his father's vaudeville act.
Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis feared his own hit song was blasphemous.
Sean PennIn Kyiv in November 2022, Sean Penn handed an Oscar statuette to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "This is for you. It's just a symbolic silly thing...When you win, bring it back to Malibu." That was the whole speech. Penn is an…
Bruce WillisBruce Willis received the 2,321st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the 16th of October 2006. It sits at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard. At the reception, he told the crowd he used to come down and look at the stars. Then came the…
Andrew GarfieldAndrew Garfield, the English and American actor born on the 20th of August 1983, very nearly never acted at all. He had planned to study business. At 16, a friend talked him into taking theatre studies at A-level, because the class was…
Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman was an American actor whose career the director Joel Schumacher summed up in 2000 with bad news and good news. Schumacher put it this way: "The bad news is that Philip won't be a $25-million star. The good news is…
Bradley CooperBradley Cooper was a kid who dreamed of moving to Japan to become a ninja. Later came twelve Academy Award nominations.
Mark RuffaloMark Ruffalo has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which ties a record. Each nomination came for a different kind of man. Ruffalo is an American actor and producer, and the road to that record was…
Sammy Davis Jr.Sammy Davis Jr. once answered a simple golf question with a line that became his signature. Playing a round with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. Davis replied, "Handicap?" and then went on: "Talk about handicap. I'm a…
Macaulay CulkinIn December 2018, Macaulay Culkin asked the internet to help him pick a new legal name. He announced that he would become Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin, and he opened a vote on his own website to choose the new middle name. Five…
James GandolfiniJames Gandolfini once stopped in the middle of an audition and walked out. David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, told the story to The Guardian in a 2013 interview. Gandolfini felt that he "didn't prepare right." Later that night he…
Robert RedfordRobert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on the 16th of September 2025. He was 89 years old. After a private funeral, he was buried on his own property there. The man who ended his days in a place that carried his…
Daniel CraigIn 2021, the English actor Daniel Craig was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It sits at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard, an address that winks at the code number 007. Two days later his final film as that famous spy opened in the…
J. K. SimmonsFor decades, audiences knew J. K. Simmons's face and voice but could not name him. Whiplash in 2014 changed that.
Ewan McGregorEwan McGregor rode motorcycles 22,345 miles from London to New York City in 2004.
Morgan FreemanIn January 2010, Morgan Freeman became the voice that opened the CBS Evening News, replacing Walter Cronkite in that spot. The network said it wanted consistency across the introductions to its regular news broadcasts and special reports.…
Mel GibsonMel Gibson was paid $400 for his first film role, in Summer City, while he was still a drama student. A short time later, the title role in Mad Max paid him $9000. In the year 2000, Hollywood handed him a record $25 million to star in The…
David HarbourDavid Harbour made his television debut in 1999 on Law & Order, playing a waiter. He was born on the 10th of April 1975, and he is an American actor. A waiter is about as small as a screen part gets. So how does an actor go from that…
Val KilmerVal Kilmer spent decades being praised in a way that sounded almost like an apology. In 1992, the film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it". By then…
Adam DriverAdam Driver got into Juilliard after a mountain biking accident ended his Marine service. He had fractured his sternum.
Kevin SpaceyLate in the 1995 thriller Se7en, Kevin Spacey walks into the story as the serial killer John Doe, and most of the audience had no idea he was coming. His name was missing from the opening credits. It was missing from the film's…
Anthony PerkinsAnthony Perkins was born on the 4th of April 1932 in Manhattan and died on the 12th of September 1992. When Fear Strikes Out reached theaters in 1957, The Hollywood Reporter wrote of his performance: "Every recent young star has been…
Kelsey GrammerKelsey Grammer was meant to play Frasier Crane for only six episodes. He kept the role for 20 years across two shows.
Mark HamillMark Hamill voiced Ukraine's air raid alert app as Luke Skywalker. Each alert ended with "May the Force be with you".
Oscar IsaacOscar Isaac wrote his first play in fifth grade, a Noah's Ark story with a doubtful platypus.
Jeff GoldblumIn July 2018, a statue of Jeff Goldblum stood 25 feet tall beside London's Tower Bridge. It was a temporary installation, built to mark 25 years since the release of Jurassic Park. Goldblum, born Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum on the 22nd of…
Pedro PascalPedro Pascal was nine months old when his family fled Chile, after six months of sheltering inside the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago. Both of his parents had been listed as enemies of the state by the regime of General Augusto Pinochet.…