10 Greatest Actors Alive (And Currently Working)

What a range Oscar Isaac has. His first prominent role came as a bearded, bald-headed Mexican gang-banger in Drive, which he duly followed by playing a long-haired, struggling beatnik folk-singer in the Coen Brothers’ masterful Inside Llewyn Davis—Isaac performed his own singing and guitar playing, lending an already incredible performance that extra layer and thus making it one of the best of the decade.

Add to that his ‘Young Pacino’ turn in A Most Violent Year, and his millennial, frat-bro-come-science-genius performance in Ex Machina (the best modern science fiction film in a long time), and you begin to get the measure of the man. Like (a young) Pacino, he mixes searing handsomeness with outstanding technique, ensuring that he’s always the most electrifying, remarkable thing on screen. (With upcoming roles in X-Men: Apocalypse and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Isaac will look to add franchise-star appeal to his already outstanding body of work.)

His career can only really go up, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he one day reached the kind of status that the Old Pacino now enjoys. (Whether he’ll ever relish the words ‘Great Ass’ as much as Old Al is less easy to predict.)

See Him In: Inside Llewyn Davis: his voice will break your heart.