Russell Crowe has played very diverse roles from John Nash in A Beautiful Mind to Maximus in Gladiator to Javert in Les Mis to Jor-El in Man of Steel. His diverse roles go on and on, and though he always possesses that soft spoken but intense element to his character, he can play a wide variety of roles successfully.
#2 Meryl Streep -
Meryl Streep is widely considered to be the best actress in Hollywood. She can play a villain, a lovable mom, a survivor of a concentration camp, a rich executive, Margaret Thatcher, and a river guide. There really is no end to Meryl Streep's talent.
#3 Brad Pitt -
Brad Pitt has played all kinds of roles, and seems to pride himself on the diversity of roles he can play. And though he always seems to end up being the hunk of the movie, his roles span from Achilles in Troy to Tyler Durden in Fight Club to Benjamin Button.
#4 Christian Bale -
Christian Bale is one of a few actors on this list that are known as "method actors." Method actors get so into their role that they often take on many of the qualities of the person they are playing, and are willing to do anything and become anyone for the role. Christian Bale has gone from skinny to ripped to skinny to ripped to fat and back again for his different roles in The Machinist, Batman, Rescue Dawn, Equilibrium, and American Hustle.
#5 Charlize Theron -
Charlize Theron is a very interesting actress. She has proved that she can play all kinds of roles. She had an extremely challenging and terrible childhood, and she has talked about how she has channeled that into some of the characters she has played. Her roles range from the disney movie Mighty Joe Young to the Snow White remake to the critically acclaimed Monster.
#6 Tom Hanks -
While Meryl Streep is considered to be one of the best actresses of all time, Tom Hanks is usually considered to be one of the best actors. His roles have been so diverse and so widely loved that he has managed to stay in the lime light for over 30 years. His movies have been some of the biggest to ever come out. From Apollo 13 to Saving Private Ryan to Cast Away to Philadelphia to Forrest Gump, he has played a variety of different roles. Even more recently he has been in Captain Phillips and Saving Mr. Banks. He is also known for Toy Story and multiple romantic comedies. He is the definition of diverse.
#7 Natalie Portman -
Though she has not been in very many movies, she has played a wide variety of roles in Star Wars, V For Vendetta, The Black Swan, and Thor.
#8 Heath Ledger -
This one goes without saying. Everyone knows how diverse Heath Ledger is, as he played one of the most notorious villain roles of all time. He really was not even in that many movies before his untimely death, but he was as diverse as they come.
#9 Daniel Day Lewis -
Daniel Day Lewis is the definition of a method actor. He will only play one role every few years so he has enough time to get into each character fully. He will literally live as the character for a while, depriving himself of anything that is not consistent with the time period, like anti-biotics, clothing, and technology. He is arguably the most diverse actor in Hollywood.
What other actors/actresses are extremely diverse? Who did we miss? Let us know at www.facebook.com/simplefilmcritics!