10 Greatest Actors Alive (And Currently Working)

The most underrated actor on this list, Jake Gyllenhaal has matured into one of the best around. His film roles of late have been inspired, and last year’s Nightcrawler was a career best. That film is a modern classic, and at its heart is Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom, whom he plays with a De Niro-like intensity, turning him into one of film’s great sociopaths in the process. (Gyllenhaal was outrageously snubbed of an Oscar nomination, further enhancing his status as an actor too often overlooked).

Gyllenhaal too mixes art and commerce, and for every ‘meh’ outing opposite Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs), there’s a film like Prisoners or End of Watch to remind you of how great he is. In fact, his run of Source Code, End of Watch, Prisoners, Enemy and Nightcrawler is one of the best acting runs of the last decade or so.

He looks set to continue that run with Southpaw, Antoine Fuqua’s tale of a boxer whose life begins to fall apart soon after reaching the top. Gyllenhaal has bulked-up massively for the film, perhaps trying to match De Niro's Jake La Motta (Raging Bull) like he (nearly) did his Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver).

See Him In: Enemy: his other, less-seen outing with Prisoners director Denis Villeneuve.