10 Blockbuster Stars We Don't Give Enough Credit As Actors

3. Jeremy Renner

Over the past few years, Jeremy Renner has developed quite a little niche for himself in the action film world. Beginning with his role as a maverick bomb disposal expert in 2009's The Hurt Locker, and culminating with his performance as Hawkeye in the Avengers franchise, he has become a highly sought-after star. All of this happened so quickly, however, that audiences tend to forget that he hasn't always just been the action guy. That he has two Oscar nominations under his belt, for The Hurt Locker and The Town, and that he's been garnering critical praise for years now. But until recently, even his Oscar-nominated roles were the same type of gruff, high-octane characters. American Hustle, although not as much of an audience favourite as it was a critical darling, gave him a new challenge in Carmine Polito, a mayor who's desperately trying to revive his city of Camden, New Jersey. Despite the caliber of actors he's up against, he is the one who doesn't push too hard in the acting exercise, and his subtlety makes him a tremendously sympathetic character. Even when he's making an error in judgement, you know why he's doing it and you know that he's doing it with the best intentions.