Who are some great actors that hide inside their characters so well you actually forget it’s them.

I’m not talking about the DiCaprios or Brad Pitts though they are amazing I always know its them playing a character.

I’m thinking of actors like Gary Oldman who I always forget played commissioner Gordon and Dracula too. And no matter how many times I see his performances I never see Gary Oldman but 110% the character he is playing.

And Lee Harvey Oswald.

Lee Harvey Oswald was a great actor.

Apparently I have face blindness so I rarely recognize actors in other works, so for me, all of them.

Cliff Curtis is always cool to watch no matter the role. He played Smiley in Training Day. "I always get love from the homies."

Oscar Isaac can play pretty much any nationality convincingly.

Vincent D'onofrio should have his picture in the dictionary under Chameleon actors.

In terms of actresses, Sarah Paulson is pretty amazing and chameleon-like. Watched American Crime Story: Impeachment last week and was amazed at her transformation into the much-hated (and rightfully so) Linda Tripp. But she's done the same sort of thing in many other films/TV Shows...Could say the same for Tilda Swinton, in a lot of ways and in a lot of roles...particularly something like the Suspiria remake, for one...

Christian Bale and Daniel Day Lewis

Some candidates:

Adam Driver
Kate Winslet
Heath Ledger (would have loved to see what roles he would've done over a few more decades)
Charlize Theron
Ralph Fiennes
Meryl Streep

A variation. Well liked actor who always plays the good guy, then plays an evil villain and you hate his guts. Can't think of one off the top of my head but I know I've seen it. There was a tv movie with Andy Griffith as an evil sheriff or something. The end of Twilight with the twist revealing James Garner as a bad guy.
You're shocked because you're not use to seeing them like that.
Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People might be one.

You cannot have this discussion without bringing up Jenette Goldstein


https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001280/

To me Bale is the opposite of what the OP has in mind. Bale always takes me out of a scene because he I can tell he is acting.

Watched a lot of 80s teen comedies back in the day and had no idea that the actress (Michelle Meyrink) who played Gilbert's girlfriend Judy in Revenge Of The Nerds was the same one who played Jordan in Real Genius and Suzi in Valley Girl. I would have sworn they were played by three different people. She stepped away from acting in 1989 to practice Zen Buddhism. She has since started her own acting school in Vancouver.

But he goes all in for his roles like Vice and you think that is the real Dick Cheney.

Olivia Coleman

Sam Rockwell

What about Pedro Pascal. He can play Hispanic, white or even European.

He’s currently playing a white guy named Joel Miller on The Last of Us.

Yeah he’s a Kiwi and he’s played White, Hispanic and even Middle Eastern Terrorist.

Lou Diamond Phillips was also a very versatile actor in his prime.

Tatiana Maslany, especially based on her performances on Orphan Black.
All the characters she plays on OB look like Maslany, and yet it feels like they're being played by different actors.

I know I’m going out on a limb calling Day-Lewis a great actor but i rewatched The Gangs of New York recently and was blown away by how lost he got in that role. The movie could have been better but Daniel Day-Lewis gave possibly the best performance I’ve ever seen on a movie. It’s simply amazing!

Gary Oldman, Daniel Day Lewis, and Jesse Heiman.

Completely agree with this. She did a wonderful job ...

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in their primes in the 70's up to maybe the early to mid 90's.

Tilda Swinton.

Hard to believe how different she looks in each of her roles.