Which actor or actress do you think has managed to have the most impressive career despite having a noticeable lack of acting talent?

My pick would have to be Keanu Reeves. He's not a terrible actor, and is pretty good in some roles, but he definitely lacks range and can be very wooden at times.

Yet, he's still managed to have a career that many actors would kill for: Dangerous Liaisons, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Speed, The Matrix, etc.

In terms of variety of roles, he's probably on top. But, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Adam Sandler have probably made more money.

Now I'll wait for Ash Ketchum to come in and give examples that go way back before anyone else.

Charlie Sheen

Reeves and Sandler are indeed right at the top of the list....

But Arnold owns this thread. He has no acting ability. Zero.

He's had an amazing career considering his lack of talent. It's positively jaw dropping how he made such a huge splash and maintained his A-list action star status despite not being able to act a lick.

Most with the least? Verne Troyer. The guy has been in 25+ films and he only weighs 55 lbs.

Adam Sandler & Sly Stallone top my list

I hadn't even opened the thread yet and I was thinking Keanu Reeves.

I think Ah-nuld has one thing those other two guys do not, a lot of charisma.

Look tough and be likable, that is really all you need for an action movie.

That is EXACTLY why he's badass. I wish Tony Jaa could have that...but no..that guy has zero charisma. He has physical talent sure...but no screen presence. Also...I hate the sound of his voice. Sounds like a woman Thai woman bitching or something.

Michael Cera. Say what you want about him, but he plays the same character just in a different situation in every movie he's been in.

Yeah and the guy who I always get think is Michael Cera who plays the same character in Zombieland, Adventureland, etc.

Ive got to go with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he has no acting ability but yet has appeared in some of the biggest movies and made a lot of $$$, and i just enjoy watching him, he looks the part for the big bad action movies.

You're thinking of Mark Zuckerberg, who just played the real life Michael Cera in The Social Experiment.

Someone once told me that Reeves gets work because he shows up to sets on time, sober, with his lines memorized and is nice to the crew.

Thank you, Drexl, and I wouldn't want to disappoint. The first one I thought of was Audie Murphy. He was a rural Texas boy who lived in extreme poverty with a hated, alcoholic father, and had to learn to shoot at a young age in order to feed his siblings and himself. As an infantryman in WWII, he shot and killed dozens of Nazi soldiers and became the most decorated American soldier in the war.


This led to Hollywood where he became a western star from 1950 through 1966. He was not a natural actor, but when he got a director who knew how to use his darker side (e.g. Don Siegel, Budd Boetticher, John Huston), the resulting portrayal was often quite compelling. He made a great Billy the Kid in THE KID FROM TEXAS (1950).
This still is from one of his later movies (don't know which one):

Personally, I love the guy and have seen most of his movies and read a bio of him. He had a limited range, but there was something sad and lonely in him that I can't help feeling for him, no matter how cheap and shopworn the material was.

Here's a poster from one of his better movies. Check out his co-stars:

Looking pretty good in Social network

Nicolas Cage...

talk about a face made for radio.

Cameron Diaz

Isn't Murphy the most decorated soldier in U.S. history? I love the guy too. Another who cashed in on his war record is Neville Brand. He was the 5th most decorated soldier of WWII.

Now, I love martial arts movies, and I loved Chuck Norris movies as a kid, and I think he's a cool guy.....but, he has to be one of the stiffest, least natural actors of all time. Van Damme, Schwarzenegger and Seagal are like Sir Laurence Olivier compared to Chuck Norris.

hahahahaha....I'll agree about that.

Shia LeBigMac

I will say that Adam Sandler has proved himself a capable and talented actor in movies like Spanglish, Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, and Funny People.

Outrageous.

Except for the fact that Jesse Eisenberg can actually act and isn't just a Michael Cera clone.