10. Jack Nicholson

Xavier leans in, voice low, as the face of rebellion flickers across the screen—Jack Nicholson—Hollywood’s shock-jock poet. With 12 Academy Award nominations, Nicholson is the most nominated male actor ever, a towering testament to his brilliance. His three Oscar wins, including for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and As Good as It Gets, prove his dramatic weight. He’s one of the few actors ever nominated across five decades—a testament to his staying power in a shifting cinematic world.Wikipedia+1

9. Marlon Brando

Xavier describes Brando stepping into his characters like a ghost slipping into flesh. Brando’s pioneering adoption of Method acting, as seen in On the Waterfront, changed Hollywood forever. Time magazine honored him as the “Actor of the Century”, while critics celebrated his raw honesty and emotional magnetism.Wikipedia

8. Daniel Day-Lewis

Xavier nearly whispers his name—a man so devoted to his art that he lived his roles, often to the point of physical toll. Day-Lewis, with three Best Actor Oscars, is a benchmark of relentless craftsmanship and selective performance choices. His peers often confess: “performers of his mercurial intensity come along once in a generation.”Wikipedia

7. Katharine Hepburn

Xavier smiles, conjuring Hepburn’s independent fire—four Oscars (the most for any actor), 12 nominations, and a career that spans nearly half a century between first and last nods.WikipediaBusiness Insider Her iron will and defiant spirit sparkle from screen to soul.

6. Meryl Streep

In Xavier’s tale, Streep appears in a swirl of accents and transformations. The most nominated actor in history with 21 Oscar nods and three wins, her craft is encyclopedic—spanning comedy, drama, stylistic shifts, and cultural depth.Business InsiderTIME

5. Robert De Niro

Xavier weaves in tension—De Niro’s eyes burn, his body tenses. Raging Bull’s raw physicality, The Godfather Part II’s obedience, Taxi Driver’s fragmentation: each role unearths human complexity. Critics point to his relentless immersion and collaboration with Scorsese as defining his legacy.

4. Al Pacino

Savage and eloquent—like a storm in velvet. From The Godfather’s Michael Corleone to Scarface’s Tony Montana, Pacino’s theater-trained ferocity and nuanced ambiguity break the mold, cementing a legendary persona.

3. Sidney Poitier

Silence and dignity radiate from every syllable Xavier speaks: Poitier, the first Black man to win Best Actor—quietly revolutionary. His calm grace, as in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, quietly dismantled barriers.WikipediaBusiness Insider

2. Tom Hanks

Xavier’s voice softens to warmth—Hanks, whose every role feels familiar and deeply human. From Forrest Gump to Cast Away, Hanks embodies vulnerability and sincerity, an enduring cultural beacon in modern cinema.

1. Marlon Brando (A Shared Summit)

Xavier crowns the list by circling back to Brando. Not just for revolutionizing acting, but for the emotional blueprint he cast for generations. His magnetic presence—wild, wounded, unapologetically honest—is cinema’s open wound and beating heart.

Audience Voices (From the Vault)

“Definitely Daniel Day-Lewis! I don’t think that man has had a single bad performance ever.”
—A fan’s praise on RedditReddit

“For one, irfan khan is one of the finest actors to ever come from world cinema.”
—Highlighting global artistry beyond HollywoodReddit