13 Incredible Performances By Otherwise Terrible Actors

13. Vin Diesel - Find Me Guilty

When you look back at Vin Diesel's CV, it's fairly clear that you get what you should expect from the actor. His are the shoulders upon which the Fast & Furious franchise has been built (even if there are more charismatic individuals in there) and he's been the foundation for xXx and Riddick franchises too. Not to mention having a voice so deep that he's the only viable choice for giant robots and tree men...

But he's rarely offered up any performances that can reasonably be considered great. He's pretty good briefly in Saving Private Ryan and his turn in Boiler Room is okay, but since then he's mostly bounced around action films that rely more on muscle and might than nuance and subtlety. And when he's been asked for more range, he's come up somewhat short.

But that wasn't the case in Find Me Guilty, the courtroom drama from Sidney Lumet that sticks out so much on his CV you almost wonder whether he was lost on set. It's actually not that great a fill, but Diesel is excpetional as real-world gangster Jackie DiNorscio - a spiritual cousin to Joe Pesci's My Cousin Vinnie, who seeks to represent himself. He's vulgar and jokes a lot, and there's far more charm here than Diesel has managed anywhere else in his career.