10 Incredible Actors Who Went Bad To Win An Oscar

By Chris Gallo /

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With TV€™s Breaking Bad coming back for its new batch of final episodes, I recalled that Bryan Cranston was once a silly family man on Malcolm in the Middle. Hard to believe, right? But then he became a family man turned evil meth king, and was rewarded handsomely with Emmy gold. The same thing can happen on the big screen.

It€™s true, many talented actors have won Oscars for playing the €œgood guy,€ (the likes of Jodie Foster, Ben Kingsley and Gregory Peck are only a few who come to mind) but many have had to €œbreak bad€ in order to get critical acclaim and stardom. And let€™s be honest€”sometimes playing the villain is just more fun.

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Here are ten incredible actors who went bad to win an Oscar.

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10. Heath Ledger €“ The Dark Knight

Many people, myself included, let out a collective, €œHUH?€ when it was announced that Heath Ledger had been cast as the maniacal Joker in Christopher Nolan€™s Batman Begins sequel. The Aussie born heartthrob, who early in his career was known for romantic comedies like 10 Things I Hate About You and dramas like A Knight€™s Tale, had gone on to great critical acclaim as a conflicted gay sheep herder in the 2005 indie hit Brokeback Mountain.

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If there was any role more opposite than a gay cowboy, the Joker was certainly it. The joke ended up being on us; his performance turned out to be a nasty little treat indeed and appropriately received rave reviews. A new iconic comic book movie villain was born. No one nominated against Heath Ledger that year for Best Supporting Actor even stood a chance.