1. Jack Nicholson - The Shining
Warner BrosGreed, frustration with life and isolation are all capable of driving someone towards a breakdown, but sometimes far darker forces can send a person mad. Only a few actors have even come close to matching Jack Nicholson's iconic portrayal of a man's breakdown into insanity in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Struggling writer and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance moves his family into the remote wilderness and takes the job of caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. Before long, the supernatural presence which haunts the vast building starts to worm its way inside his head, and a creeping madness sets in which steadily builds up towards homicidal axe-wielding. Kubrick's horror masterpiece utilizes the location to chilling effect, distorting our perception of space and sending us reeling down endless ominous corridors and into rooms full of dark secrets. Nicholson's wide-eyed performance set a standard for psychotic rage which has never been bettered - unpredictable and wild without ever feeling melodramatic, it's an almost archetypal portrayal of the human mind transforming into evil.