Best actor/actress

[los2188]

I've often been told by non-Trekkers that Star Trek is full of B grade actors/actresses at best with an exception or two. I was curious as to who would agree with that suggestion and who, in movies TMP through Nemesis had the strongest performance and in which movie. Personally, it's Patrick Stewart hands down in First Contact.

 

[T'Girl]

Setting aside whose my favorite character, yes Patrick Stewart is the most talented professional actor, of all the Star trek players.

Most of the actors/actresses on the various series (realistically) aren't even on the Hollywood B-list, William Shatner would be B-list, Patrick Stewart too, Whoopie Goldberg for several years was. The majority of the principal stars would be down on the C-list or the D-list.

Or lower.

.

 

[los2188]

Setting aside whose my favorite character, yes Patrick Stewart is the most talented professional actor, of all the Star trek players.

Most of the actors/actresses on the various series (realistically) aren't even on the Hollywood B-list, William Shatner would be B-list, Patrick Stewart too, Whoopie Goldberg for several years was. The majority of the principal stars would be down on the C-list or the D-list.

Or lower.

.

Patrick Stewart on the B Actor list?? Wow. He may not be a hot commodity like Tom Hanks, but his acting talents are fantastic. I think also that Brent Spiner is very underrated throughout the TNG years. The emotional seizure extended scene on Generations was phenomenally performed by Spiner.

 

[sonak]

Setting aside whose my favorite character, yes Patrick Stewart is the most talented professional actor, of all the Star trek players.

Most of the actors/actresses on the various series (realistically) aren't even on the Hollywood B-list, William Shatner would be B-list, Patrick Stewart too, Whoopie Goldberg for several years was. The majority of the principal stars would be down on the C-list or the D-list.

Or lower.

.

This was about the movies though, which had some fairly big name talent, like Christopher Lloyd, Christopher Plummer, Malcolm McDowell, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, etc.

If you're talking non-regular performances, Ricardo Montalban, Alfre Woodard, or Alice Krige are my choices for best performances.

 

[Grant]

C'mon. Winfield, Plummer, Montalban, Cromwell, Woodard, Krige, Murphy, Lenard, McDowell, Kambatta---Just kiding. There is a ton of talent in the Trek movies.

And Stewart and Spiner---superb in their roles

 

[HaventGotALife]

Leonard Nimoy [/thread]

 

[Grant]

^^ He's okay.

 

[KHAAAN]

I think if we're talking acting chops, Stewart stands out as the classiest actor among the regular cast(s). And there were some classy supporting players in the various movies (eg. Christopher Plummer in TUC - bigtime actor by any measure and I really like what he does with the part).

In terms of performances, though, I'd go with Montalban in TWOK. He brings such authority and gravitas to Khan (and in Space Seed too) - you know, you can see why this guy was a leader of men back on Earth in the old days. And it's not what you'd call a naturalistic performance - there are times when it veers dangerously close to being campy or hammy, but crucially stops just short of that. It's a very charismatic turn, I think, and one of several factors that make TWOK the best Trek movie.

 

[Yevetha]

Leonard Nimoy [/thread]

He always played the same character.

 

[Mage]

Setting aside whose my favorite character, yes Patrick Stewart is the most talented professional actor, of all the Star trek players.

Most of the actors/actresses on the various series (realistically) aren't even on the Hollywood B-list, William Shatner would be B-list, Patrick Stewart too, Whoopie Goldberg for several years was. The majority of the principal stars would be down on the C-list or the D-list.

Or lower.

.

Patrick Stewart on the B Actor list?? Wow. He may not be a hot commodity like Tom Hanks, but his acting talents are fantastic. I think also that Brent Spiner is very underrated throughout the TNG years. The emotional seizure extended scene on Generations was phenomenally performed by Spiner.

B-list for sure I'm afraid. The thing is, there are some very talented actors on the B-list, and some very, very crappy ones on the A-list. But because they are either populair or hot, they remain on the A-list when actors/actresses with far more impressive skills remain lower.

Also, a lot of the actors and actresses came from theater (which means less then steady paycheck) and auditioned for a series because their agents thought it was a good idea. They got the part (and the job/money) and when it was done they went back to theater, some willingly and other because they had no choice, since doing Trek is a one-way ticket to typecasting I'm afraid. Those that go back willingly do so because they prefer theater, and I can't blame them. I did a bit of theater a few years back, and although it's a backstabbing world, acting on stages is fantastic.

 

[KHAAAN]

Yes, as Mage points out A or B-List does not denote how talented an actor is, but merely how "bankable" they are. Although Stewart does seem to have enjoyed a very much in-demand career during the 90s at least, I don't know if I'd ever consider him A-List. A-List are people like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, George Clooney etc etc - they exist in a different plane from mere mortals...

 

[Mr Silver]

Well the most prolific before trek, actors/actresses to feature in the movies would be Ricardo Montalban, Paul Winfield, Christopher Lloyd, Christopher Plummer, Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Whoopi Goldberg and F. Murray Abraham.

As far as best performances, by movie in my opinion would be (I've included N/A when one character hasn't really stood out from the others or the acting has been an ensemble effort)

TMP: Leonard Nimoy
TWOK: William Shatner/Ricardo Montalban
TSFS: William Shatner
TVH: N/A
TFF: N/A
TUC: Christopher Plummer (N/A also)
GEN: N/A
FC: Patrick Stewart
INS: N/A
NEM: Patrick Stewart

 

[los2188]

Well the most prolific before trek, actors/actresses to feature in the movies would be Ricardo Montalban, Paul Winfield, Christopher Lloyd, Christopher Plummer, Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Whoopi Goldberg and F. Murray Abraham.

As far as best performances, by movie in my opinion would be (I've included N/A when one character hasn't really stood out from the others or the acting has been an ensemble effort)

TMP: Leonard Nimoy
TWOK: William Shatner/Ricardo Montalban
TSFS: William Shatner
TVH: N/A
TFF: N/A
TUC: Christopher Plummer (N/A also)
GEN: N/A
FC: Patrick Stewart
INS: N/A
NEM: Patrick Stewart

Ricardo Montalban is one that I tend to forget even though he was fantastic in TWOK. I thought that Leonard Nimoy was the best in TVH. In INS, LeVar Burton gets my nod even though it wasn't a big role. The most memorable part was when Geordi was on the planet and watching the sun set the way people with functioning eyes do.

 

[los2188]

So with all of these replies being said about the best Actor/Actress, who would you pick as the worst Actor/Actress performances throughout Trek?? Jonathan Frakes gets my nod in the TNG era while I have a hard time voting for Marina Sirtis because of how she looks. Sorry, that's my superficial side coming out of me. In TOS era I'd have to say it's between George Takei and Walter Koenig.

 

[Mr Silver]

Worst should be easier, but its actually quite hard to pick out acting flaws, usually it comes down to the character and incompatibility with the actor/actress.

TMP: Stephen Collins (character was just awful)
TWOK: N/A (although George Takei and Nichelle Nichols said or did nothing memorable)
TSFS: Robin Curtis (although that can be blamed on Leonard Nimoy's direction)
TVH: N/A (not really any poor acting)
TFF: William Shatner (hammiest performance ever)
TUC: Iman (was there any reason why someone else couldn't have played her role?)
GEN: Brent Spiner (terrible attempts at humour)
FC: Marina Sirtis (again terrible attempts at humour, the whole drunk scene)
INS: Donna Murphy (served as a love interest, quite a weak character)
NEM: N/A (no one stands out for bad acting, the film was just awful)

 

[los2188]

Worst should be easier, but its actually quite hard to pick out acting flaws, usually it comes down to the character and incompatibility with the actor/actress.

TMP: Stephen Collins (character was just awful)
TWOK: N/A (although George Takei and Nichelle Nichols said or did nothing memorable)
TSFS: Robin Curtis (although that can be blamed on Leonard Nimoy's direction)
TVH: N/A (not really any poor acting)
TFF: William Shatner (hammiest performance ever)
TUC: Iman (was there any reason why someone else couldn't have played her role?)
GEN: Brent Spiner (terrible attempts at humour)
FC: Marina Sirtis (again terrible attempts at humour, the whole drunk scene)
INS: Donna Murphy (served as a love interest, quite a weak character)
NEM: N/A (no one stands out for bad acting, the film was just awful)

Just curious....wasn't Brent Spiner's attempt at humour actually intended?? I found most of it to be funny, but at the same time I thought that when it was bad, it was bad on purpose. Someone who does not know or understand humour trying to be funny when they're not and doesn't realize it. What do you think? If what I typed made any sense...

 

[Mr Silver]

Well yes, within a storyline context it makes sense. However, its clearly intended to add some comic relief to a serious story and in this case it fails. Data's use of his console as a music box is pretty cringeworthy, given the indifferent reactions from his colleagues and the use of "Oh Shit!" during the Enteprise crash landing is so out of place and just seemed like an attempt to finally bring a dirty word into trek.

 

[T'Girl]

I thought Spice William as Vixis was a good actress, If someone from the "A-list" had turn in the same performance I would have said meh. But given that it was one of her first times on camera as a non-stunt woman, I thought she came off well.

Chris Hemsworth too, after seeing him in Star trek Eleven I've seen some of his other work and don't consider him a particularly good actor (he sucked as Thor), But in Eleven he really shined. He wasn't on screen all that long, and I truly bought into the character, and felt emotional at his death.

Arguably, his was the best sequence of the entire film.

 

[doubleohfive]

The thing about the films is that (especially the TNG films) it's not really about the entire performance of the actors -- it's about the individual moments they get.

Example: No way would I say Marina Sirtis best performance as Troi was in First Contact, but she absolutely sells the scene in the bar when she's drunk with Cochrane. Frakes almost ruins it with his stodgy delivery toward the end, but she just owns the scene and Cromwell carries his own too.

Likewise, Stewart was heartwrenching to watch in certain scenes in Generations and riveting in First Contact. The campfire scenes at the beginning of Star Trek V are some of the best character work Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley did in the films, but the rest of the film itself --and their roles in it -- are pretty standard fare.

Levar Burton had a great moment with the sunrise in Insurrection; Dorn was always great with action and humor but his "I WOULD KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!" is great. Really, the only role and performance that was truly "best" and memorable in its entirety has to be Ricardo Montalban as Khan, or maybe Christopher Plummer as Chang.