Which actors have you seen portray an historical figure either in a movie or tv series which you found to be so compelling and profound that you will actually think of the actor first when you read about the historical figure they portrayed? I have many examples I could list but I'll just mention 10 for now:


1. Ciaran Hinds as Julius Caesar in the HBO series "ROME".


2. George C. Scott as George S. Patton in the film "Patton".


3. Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte in "Waterloo".


4. Paul Giamatti as John Adams in the HBO series "John Adams".


5. Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler in "Downfall".

6. Malcolm McDowell as Gaius Germanicus in the film "Caligula".

7. F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri in the film "Amadeus".

8. Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I in the film "Elizabeth".

9. Richard Burton as Richard Wagner in the tv mini-series "Wagner".

10. Helen Mirren as "Elizabeth II" in "The Queen".

Maybe not quite what you had in mind, but whenever I hear the name Pontius Pilate I always think of Michael Palin.

LOL!!! That one is unexpected but it qualifies!

Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi

George C. Scott as General Patton

Daniel Day Lewies as Abraham Lincoln

Tom Cruise as Barry Seal and Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, Howard Hughes and Frank Abagnale. Ashton Kutcher as the Apple guy.

Charleton Heston as Moses

You mean Steve Jobs? Michael Fassbender also played him on film.

I saw the one with Kutcher. Didn't know there are 2 movies about Jobs.

Yup. That's the "copycat" syndrome that you often see from Hollywood. Both films were released only 2 years apart.

Say what you want about the movie, but Stephen Lang was pretty darn compelling as Stonewall Jackson in «Gods and Generals!»

Fess Parker as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.

Ok I read this very quickly and my first take was "Rod Stewart as Napoleon Bonaparte!"

I agree with you 100% To date, it's my favorite role of Stephen Lang's. The guy was just perfectly cast.

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher.
A faithful rendering of the character in contrast to the OTT and unsubtle caricature by Gillian Anderson in the last series of 'The Crown' .

Emma Corrin in the above series as Diana.

Gary Oldman as Churchill.

John Hurt as Caligula in 'I Claudius'

Recently, the chilling portrayal of serial killer Dennis Nilsen by David Tennant

I was going to mention Streep in 'The Iron Lady', good call BD-123.

I really enjoyed Albert Finney as John Newton in Amazing Grace and Churchill in Gathering Storm. A human actor cannot redefine or hope to portray in a completely true way God's Son but Jim Caviezel was excellent in my opinion as Jesus Christ in the Passion of the Christ, an excellent movie. Several things helped, some far more important than others but I think one of the things that assisted the portrayal and served the picture was the shorter 12 hour time period that the movie takes place during and the use of old languages. One of the few later generation movies that truly transported me right out of the gate.

Its been a long time but I also loved Stephen Lang as Stonewall Jackson. He's one of those actors that is a level beyond others.

Though its a fictional work based on historical accounts, I love the portrayals of Robert DiNero and Jeremy Irons as Captain Mendoza and Father Gabriel as well as other characters in The Mission. There are organizations portrayed within that I have strong objections to but that set aside for the sake of a poignant and even profound piece of cinema, this movie is one of my all time favorites and one of the best period piece movies.

Gillian Anderson I thought was quite intriguing to watch in the Crown as Thatcher. Whether or not its accurate I don't know but Gillian's efforts showed the spectrum of her abilities as an actress. I could not finish the Crown series though.

Anthony Hopkins and Robert Foxworth as Peter and Paul.

Anthony Hopkins as C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands.

I recently saw The Bounty and really enjoyed it especially Anthony Hopkins again as Lt. William Bligh.

Ian Charleson as Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire.

Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight in the Straight Story.



A movie I have yet to see and really want to is Grey Fox with Richard Farnsworth. I hear its excellent and I'm a fan of Richard Farnsworth.

It took a long time for Anderson to get out of the shadow of the "X-Files" but between the passage of time and her getting some high profile roles like the one on "The Crown", she finally did it.