10 Respected Actors Who Completely Hammed It Up To Play Flamboyant Villains

9. Heath Ledger As The Joker - The Dark Knight

When you think of Heath Ledger's more quiet career turns, such as his Oscar-nominated performance as a sour-faced cowpoke in Brokeback Mountain, you don't also think 'murderous psychopath clown.' But thankfully, Christopher Nolan did, and with that thought he gave us one unique, iconic cinematic prankster in The Dark Knight. The Joker had, of course, been given to us in hammy form before by Jack Nicholson, in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman. When Ledger's casting was announced in 2006, not many of us thought he'd possibly be able to top Jack. Oh, how wrong we were. For starters, Ledger's Joker is a deliberately ironic version of the murderous clown, and you don't get much more extravagant and theatrical than this nurse's uniform-wearing jester. But The Joker's psychopathic nature, reckless attitude towards human life and overly-deliberate mannerisms make him not only terrifying, but damn enjoyable to watch. Ledger also makes his Joker genuinely terrifying, with the hamminess all just part of the self-consciously anarchic character. But damn if he isn't one of the most fun villains to watch in any movie, superhero or otherwise.