4. Patrick Stewart: Charles Xavier in X-Men (2000)
Its impossible to think of Patrick Stewart now without thinking of his brilliant turn in Ricky Gervaiss Extras. Its precisely because he has such presence and gravitas that it was so funny when he was fantasising about his movie project where Posh Spice is pulling her knickers up, but its too late, 'cause Ive seen everything. Its all these qualities (not Poshs knickers) that lent X-Men a convincing sense of realism. Its hard to believe now, but back when X-Men was released there was a paucity of decent comic-book movies. Brilliant as Superman was, the time for that type of movie had passed. Superheroes in amusing spandex costumes werent going to wash with audiences of The Matrix. If Superman IV was the final nail in the coffin, Batman and Robin pushed the coffin into the ground. So X-Men was a punt a relatively cheap precursor to Spider-Man. And it is in no small part the skill and presence of a great actor like Stewart who made it a success. He saw how to bring his wealth of experience in playing big Shakespearean characters to the role. He saw everything.