Top 10 Actors Whose Best Performances Were Hardly Watched

#10: Ryan Reynolds

“Mississippi Grind” (2015)

While making his name as a master of snarky, self-aware comedy, Ryan Reynolds was also flexing his acting muscles in a series of offbeat projects. “Mississippi Grind” sees him as one half of a gambling duo tearing a path across the United States. It was a huge departure from Reynold’s rom-com roles of the period. Critics heaped massive amounts of praise onto the “Deadpool” actor, with at least one calling it a career-best performance. The movie’s limited run in theaters meant that very few people even saw it. It grossed under half a million dollars on a $7 million budget.

#9: Kristen Stewart“Personal Shopper” (2016)

The “Twilight” actress’s first collaboration with French director Olivier Assayas, 2012’s “Clouds of Sils Maria,” earned her a César Award. With their second collaboration, Kristen Stewart continued to prove she was more than Bella Swan. “Personal Shopper” is a slippery psychological thriller about a woman who believes she’s made contact with her late brother. Stewart’s subdued performance pairs nicely with the movie’s eerie narrative. Although it didn’t make much money and failed to find a large audience in its original release, her work stood out with critics. She earned several nominations for Best Actress awards.

#8: Jennifer Aniston

“Cake” (2014)

As a mother trying to dull her pain in the aftermath of her son’s death, the role of Claire in “Cake” is about as far from Rachel Green as Aniston could get. She scored nods from the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards for her work in the film. Aniston gives as real and vulnerable a performance as any actor known primarily for comedy. The movie isn’t marked by histrionics or big, tearful scenes. That’s what makes it so remarkable. “Cake” just follows her haunted character through the everyday horrors of dealing with massive emotional trauma.

#7: Matthew McConaughey

“Killer Joe” (2011)

A man hires a hitman to take out his own mother, and things just devolve from there. The hitman in question is played by Matthew McConaughey, in a role far from the laid-back ones he’s most known for. Equal parts terrifying and soulful, Killer Joe Cooper is one of his most complex parts. There’s a lot to chew on with him, and McConaughey makes a meal of the character’s cold-blooded brutality and his weirdly boyish charm. The Motion Picture Association slapped it with a rare but damning NC-17 rating for its excessive violence and sexual themes, and the film bombed at the box office.

#6: John Travolta

“Blow Out” (1981)

Although his performance as a disco-dancing lothario in “Saturday Night Fever” established him as an icon, John Travolta’s best performance may be in this Hitchcockian thriller from 1981. In “Blow Out,” he plays a sound designer who accidentally records proof that a politician’s fatal car crash was sabotage. An underseen masterpiece of suspense, “Blow Out” gives him the chance to be an action star, a romantic lead, and a tragic hero all in one go. He turns in a performance that’s not just exciting but incredibly tragic. Unfortunately, the movie suffered from bad word of mouth when it was released, and it took years for it to be rediscovered as an undersung classic.

#5: Michael Fassbender

“Hunger” (2008)

Many actors have put themselves through brutal transformations for a role. Michael Fassbender’s work in “Hunger” features some of the most extreme measures an actor has ever taken to play a real-life person. He plays Bobby Sands, the IRA member who died while leading a massive hunger strike in protest of the conditions at a Northern Irish prison. The film is definitely not a pleasant experience. “Hunger” even inspired walkouts in its initial screening at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Fassbender’s work is a huge reason why it’s a must-see. It’s rare to see an actor so committed to a performance with every part of themselves.

#4: Philip Seymour Hoffman

“Synecdoche, New York” (2008)

Some of this brilliant character actor’s best work was in small independent movies. “Synecdoche, New York” is a prime example. Dazzling, surreal, and high-minded, this movie isn’t exactly accessible. While the film has been called brilliant by some, pretentious by others, and confusing by most, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance is a standout. He plays a director whose life and career begin to crumble around him as he takes on an ambitious theatrical production. Hoffman sculpts the character across space and time, following him through decades of devotion to his work as he loses his grip on his life.

#3: Scarlett Johansson

“Under the Skin” (2013)

A science fiction story told on a small scale, “Under the Skin” sees Scarlett Johansson playing an enigmatic alien whose experience disguising herself as a human slowly transforms her. Meditative and studied, the movie wouldn’t work without her ability to convey humanity and otherworldliness all at once. She has minimal dialogue, as most of the movie is her just observing people and interacting with them briefly, and she’s mesmerizing to watch. “Under the Skin” was a critical darling and nabbed plenty of awards attention when it was released. However, it remains an arthouse hit rather than a mainstream one.

#2: Ashley Judd

“Bug” (2006)

In the mid-2000s, the star of movies like “Double Jeopardy” and “Where the Heart Is” was making her mark in indie flicks. “Bug,” a thriller adapted from the Tracy Letts play, might just be her very best work. The movie has since fallen into obscurity, and it’s a shame. It’s a timely piece about conspiracy theories, paranoia, and echo chambers. Judd plays a server living in a motel who slips further and further into paranoid delusions after taking in a Gulf War veteran. Roger Ebert called her and co-star Michael Shannon’s work “frightening.” Judd was praised in nearly every major review of the movie.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Adam Sandler, “The Meyerowitz Stories” (2017)

Sandler Plays the Ne’er-Do-Well Son in a Family of Overachievers

Oscar Isaac, “A Most Violent Year” (2014)

Released in the Middle of His Career Come-Up, This Performance Got Lost in the Shuffle

Jonah Hill, “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot” (2018)

Even the Actor Says It’s His Best Work but Blamed Streamer Amazon for Bungling the Release

Jack Black, “Bernie” (2011)

His Role as a Mild-Mannered Murderer Is a Far Cry From His Usual Bombastic Characters

Kate Beckinsale, “Love & Friendship” (2016)

A Sharp Inversion of the Jane Austen Drama Sees Beckinsale as a Matchmaking Widow

#1: Robert De Niro

“The King of Comedy” (1982)

This Martin Scorsese movie is less funny and more disturbing. Robert De Niro stars as Rupert Pupkin, a wannabe standup comic who goes to extreme lengths to make his delusions of grandeur a reality. For an actor who’s given so many incredible performances, this might be his very best. It doesn’t have the iconic dialogue of “Taxi Driver,” but Pupkin is terrifying in a totally different way than Travis Bickle. Unfortunately, the film wasn’t what audiences expected from a Scorsese-De Niro collaboration. It was only after four decades of reflection and the movie’s influence on “Joker” that people started giving “The King of Comedy” the respect it deserves.

What’s an underseen performance that you think should’ve made the list? Tell us in the comments.