History HeReallyCanAct / Film

* Creator/SylvesterStallone: Interestingly, Stallone was wildly praised for his performance in the original ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' movie, with Creator/RogerEbert comparing him to Creator/MarlonBrando. Same thing with ''Film/FirstBlood'', whose ending showed with raw clarity how much of a ShellShockedVeteran John Rambo was, should convince anyone that he can act, only for both franchises to turn into simpler, more stereotypical action movies. Same for ''Film/RockyBalboa'', which, after a failed attempt to do so in ''Film/RockyV'', went closer to the feel of the first film. And then there is ''Film/{{Creed}}'', a spin-off of the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' series, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, for his most famous role, no less. Call this He STILL Really Can Act.

%%* Music/{{Eminem}} in ''Film/EightMile''.

* Creator/PedroPascal's best-known TV and movie roles prior to the farcical ''Film/TheUnbearableWeightOfMassiveTalent'' don't have a broad sense of humor. Despite this, the majority of reviews praise his wit, comic timing, and emotional power for stealing the show. During the Emmy campaign for his ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' Season 48 guest appearance[[note]]which successfully earned him an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nomination[[/note]], ''Variety'' reporter Clayton Davis told Pascal that the actor should've also received an Oscar nomination for this film.

** He did an unexpectedly great job voicing Bowser and making him sound appropriately threatening.

** During the Rifftrax of the movie ''Film/Daredevil2003'', Mike is briefly impressed by a moment of good acting from Affleck as he plays blind lawyer Matt Murdock, even if Mike tackles in a joke at the end.

** During the Rifftrax of the movie ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'', Mike is briefly impressed by a moment of good acting from Affleck as he plays blind lawyer Matt Murdock, even if Mike tackles in a joke at the end.
--->'''Matt:''' What is your problem with our clients, we have good, respectable clients. What's your definition of better? Define better.\\

** In one of his earliest films, ''Birdy'', the then-20-year-old Cage gives a ''great'' performance as a Vietnam veteran whose face is covered in bandages after being horribly burned, and who is showing early signs of ''serious'' PTSD.

* Creator/JimCarrey had been doing dramatic acting alongside comedy roles and stand-up work almost from the dawn of his career (the TV movie ''Doing Time on Maple Drive'', for instance), but because the manic comedies ''Film/AceVenturaPetDetective'' and ''Film/TheMask'' were what suddenly made him an A-lister, reviewers like Siskel and Ebert declared that he should give up all aspirations of calling himself an actor instead of a glorified comedian. Then came ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', in which his pitch-perfect performance caused Siskel and Ebert to ''publicly recant their stance!'' Carrey won a Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Actor, and his failure to be nominated for an Academy Award caused quite a stir. He followed this up with ''Film/TheMajestic'' and ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'', firmly establishing himself as an actor who could turn his skillset to either drama or comedy -- or '''both at once''' as in ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' and ''Film/ILoveYouPhillipMorris''. He even got good notices for his motion capture-based performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in ''[[WesternAnimation/AChristmasCarol2009 A Christmas Carol]]''.

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* ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}''.

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* Creator/RooneyMara: After her disastrous debut performance in the ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010'', many people wrote her off as the worst new star of the year. Near the end of the year, she had a OneSceneWonder in Creator/DavidFincher's ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'', and suddenly people began to see some potential in her. That potential was reached with ''Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo'' where she managed to match Creator/NoomiRapace's performance and (in some people's eyes) exceed it. Mara later revealed that she had a miserable time working on ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'', and almost quit acting. Thank God she didn't.

* While Creator/ShiaLaBeouf was praised for his performances in ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' and ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', the controversial nature of those films, coupled with his off-screen antics, have overshadowed his talent. However, he has gained respect in a number of films both before and after those films:

* Creator/ChrisRock, primarily known for being a comedian, does a good job in a serious role in ''Film/{{Spiral}}''. He had a similar moment with ''Film/NewJackCity''.

* Creator/PedroPascal's best-known TV and movie roles prior to the farcical ''Film/TheUnbearableWeightOfMassiveTalent'' don't have a broad sense of humor. Despite this, the majority of reviews praise his wit, comic timing, and emotional power for stealing the show.

%%** In ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' too.

** And then there's ''Film/{{Bernie}}''. Take every trait you'd associate with a "typical" Jack Black character and create a character who's the complete opposite. Black nailed it.

---> [[spoiler:Take her to the moon for me, will you?]]

* Creator/{{Jed}}, the wolfdog that portrayed Film/{{the Thing|1982}} in its canine guise, received high praise from Carpenter for his professionalism and intelligence, considering [[NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals how difficult it can be to work with animals]]. Jed always knew not to look at the camera or at crew members, remained quiet and well-behaved at all times, and obeyed all of his trainers' commands immediately- and, on top of all that, his onscreen behavior is consistently eerie, suspicious and mechanical, as if he somehow understood that he was playing the role of a duplicitous alien.
* Creator/DakotaJohnson got her career breakthrough thanks to ''Film/FiftyShadesofGrey'', which got less than stellar reviews. Come ''Film/Suspiria2018'', and anyone skeptical about her acting ability got proven wrong.

* Creator/JohnnyDepp: He got this kind of attention for ''Film/EdwardScissorhands''. During his ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' days he had been thought of more as a teen mag cover boy than an actor (a situation that did not make him happy). Even in his LargeHam roles, such as [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]] and [[Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas Raoul Duke]], quite a bit of restraint and nuance often shows through, often because he is DoingItForTheArt and because he ''loves'' the parts in question (in the former case, he [[AwesomeDearBoy always wanted to play a pirate someday]], while in the latter, he was a personal friend of Creator/HunterSThompson and wanted to get the role just right).

** In ''Film/TheGift'' (co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, directed by Sam Raimi) he plays a wife-beating redneck who casually drops the N-word and is genuinely menacing in the role. Who'd have thought he had it in him?

** His supporting roles in Jobs and The Disaster Artist were also well received.

** The man has appeared in movies ranging from crap like ''Film/{{Monkeybone}}'' to comedies like ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' to campy blockbusters like ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' and ''Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth''. While his acting was fairly good, his role on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' seriously shows his chops as an actor. He also turned out to be a man of a thousand voices -- listen to the audiobooks he's narrated.

* Music/JanelleMonae, who rose to prominence as a musician and recording artist, starred in two of 2016's most acclaimed films, ''Film/{{Moonlight}}'' and ''Film/HiddenFigures'', holding her own against full-time actors. If that wasn't enough, in ''Film/GlassOnion'' she not only engages in ActingForTwo, she has to [[spoiler:play one twin sister attempting to impersonate the other]]. Once again, she holds her own against some of the finest actors working at the time, such as Creator/EdwardNorton, Creator/KateHudson, Creator/KathrynHahn, Creator/LeslieOdomJr, Creator/DaveBautista, and of course Creator/DanielCraig, who -- despite being the actual detective in this detective story -- plays TheWatson to Monae's Holmes.

* Creator/ZacEfron: A lot of viewers had this reaction to him in ''Film/SeventeenAgain''. His acting really is much better in this film than it is in his [[Film/HighSchoolMusical more famous films]], especially since he's a 22-year-old, playing a 37-year-old turned into a 17-year-old.

** Another example is him [[ActingForTwo portraying the double of a man]] [[TalkingToHimself who is also played by him]] in ''Film/ThePrestige''. Up until the double starts "acting" as him, they actually look, sound, and move ''like different people'' and the transformation is genuinely astonishing. The skill in portraying such a morally ambiguous yet still somewhat sympathetic character in ''The Prestige'' that makes the viewer forget that they're even watching Wolverine's actor also shows his skill.

* Music/{{Cher}}. When her name came up in the opening credits for ''Series/{{Moonstruck}}'', the audience laughed. She bagged an Oscar for it. By the time she appeared in ''Film/{{Mask|1985}}'', people felt she should have bagged an Oscar for it. Cher had already established her dramatic credentials with supporting roles in ''Silkwood'' and ''Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean''.

** In "The Gift" (co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, directed by Sam Raimi) he plays a wife-beating redneck who casually drops the N-word and is genuinely menacing in the role. Who'd have thought he had it in him?

* Aside from the below entry in ''Film/MazeRunnerTheDeathCure'', Thomas Brodie-Sangster gives a commendable performance as Music/PaulMcCartney in Film/NowhereBoy. His chemistry with Aaron Johnson is excellent, and he does a pretty good job emoting in the scene where [[spoiler: Music/JohnLennon hits him]]. He also did his own singing and left-handed guitar playing and was probably one of the better singers in the film.

* Creator/JKSimmons is likely best known to the public for his scene-stealing role as J. Jonah Jameson in ''Film/SpiderMan1'', getting all the best lines. But anyone who saw him in ''Series/{{Oz}}'' knew him as the depraved Nazi Vern Schillinger, a man who is in turns absolutely loathsome and at the same time filled with self-hatred and regret. It's a complex role and Simmons absolutely nails it, giving arguably the best performance in the whole series. And then he showed his phenomenally wide range when he played a completely likable, sympathetic character in ''Film/{{Juno}}''. And now he's taken it to a new level with ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'', as a sadistic musical conductor intent on pushing his students to perfection. Numerous critics have made comparisons to R. Lee Ermey in ''Film/FullMetalJacket'', and they're warranted. Most have even gone as far as to call it the ''best role of his career'', which, when you look at his resume, is very high praise indeed. It actually was enough for Simmons to win the ''Oscar'' for Best Supporting Actor. He also won praise for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', where he gives a subtler and extremely well-done performance as Tenzin. His HRCA factor is upped considerably when you realize that he began as a song-and-dance man on Broadway. Among his roles was that of Benny Southstreet in ''Theatre/GuysAndDolls''. You would be hard-pressed to find a character far from his more well-known persona.

** The 1993 film adaptation of the play ''Six Degrees of Separation'', his first movie role, in which he had the very challenging role of a very sweet, complicated [[spoiler:con artist]] and aced it.

** before his movie roles, he showed considerable versatility playing both Julius Ceasar and Cupid on ''Series/{{Xena}}''.

** Usually one for fast-talking and foul-mouthed comedic roles, he surprised a lot of fans in Film/HacksawRidge as Sergeant Howell. While he still provided good humor, he managed to sell several intimidating and dramatic scenes.

%%* Creator/ChrisRock in ''Film/NewJackCity''.
* Creator/ChrisRock, primarily known for being a comedian, does a good job in a serious role in ''Film/{{Spiral}}''.