6. Samuel L. Jackson
What He Was Doing Ten Years Ago: Being a badass mother f**ker. Watch any performance from Samuel L. Jackson before Pulp Fiction and its almost like watching a different actor. His turns in the likes of Goodfellas and JurassicPark are so nondescript and unimposing its almost unnerving. Tarantinos magnum opus showed a raw badassness (not a word, but it should be) that allowed the actor to capitalise on the very specific, but not heavily populated cool black guy niche. So ubiquitous with that type he even did a more family friendly turn in the Star Wars prequels.
What Hes Doing Now: Being a badass mother f**ker. Mace Windu was a tempered down, commercial version of his normal style and so is Nick Fury (both characters in fact follow very similar paths, evolving from a shadowy leader to serious action man). But its not just in blockbusters hes stayed the same over the past ten years Jackson has never travelled far from the style that made his name. Django Unchained showed a slightly different side the actor with a disturbing turn as the slave hand Stephen, but even that was sending up the badass vein. Still, that, along with his role in the upcoming Oldboy remake, may show Jackson accepting hes aging and realising it might be time to try for a different angle.