10 Times An Actor Went On An Insane Streak Of Great Movies

6. Jake Gyllenhaal, 2012-2015

The Streak: End Of Watch, Prisoners, Enemy, Nightcrawler, Southpaw. Moving on to a much more contemporary performer, Jake Gyllenhaal is having a great time of it of late, his recent run of roles undoubtedly his best since he first came to attention for Donnie Darko way back in '01. Starting with cop drama End Of Watch - a film French Connection director, William Freidkin, called one of the great Cop films of all time - and ending with his transformative turn in the otherwise forgettable Southpaw, Gyllenhaal's streak has been the best of any recent actor, though, as we'll see, there are challengers to his crown. Best of all is his De Niro-like performance in Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler, which sees Gyllenhaal turn in one of the great performances of the decade as the sociopathic Lou Bloom, a creation he'll do well to ever better. Elsewhere, there's his work with Prisoners and Enemy director, Denis Villeneuve, the latter of particular note because it sees Gyllenhaal excel in a dual role playing two separate, identical characters - surely one of the hardest gigs an actor can land. The recent film Everest might've put a dampener on Gyllenhaal's hot streak (he's far from bad but it's a straightforward role), but with multiple interesting projects forthcoming - Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals among them - don't be surprised to see the actor start another one soon.