9. Cillian Murphy
Why He Is Awesome... Cillian Murphy has worked alongside many great actors, and manages to keep pace with them and sometimes even steal the spotlight. He has a reputation for playing sociopaths from the Scarecrow in the Dark Knight Trilogy and Jack Ripner from
Red Eye, with other sinister roles dotting his filmography, and he plays these characters in a way that makes audiences both horrified and enthralled. His dark voice and unique features make him ideal for characters with an edge of danger, and he makes them more than just fiendish, he makes them compelling, likable, and even sexy, in a very grim sense.
Yet He Isn't Given Credit For... Those roles are only a tiny fraction of the talent this man shows. Murphy has explored the intricacies of conflicting gender identity in roles from movies like Breakfast on Pluto or Peacock, bringing a plain sincerity to performances that make his true sexuality and gender entirely irrelevant. He can also play the "normal" leading male parts, such as a Jim from
28 Days Later or Damien from
The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Despite his reputation for specializing in sinister or quiet characters, Murphy can be amusing, such as the black humor he brought to the deadbeat Michael McCrea, a man on a crazy caper as he flees from loan-sharks in the film
Perrier's Bounty. Murphy is not just a strangely pretty face with only two acting settings-sinister but intriguing or a mild secondary character - he's got the potential to be a strong, gallant "mainstream" leading male, if the industry would let him.