There are hundreds of Hollywood stars that have made billions of dollars at the box office. Unfortunately, that much success can often lead to a great deal of ego. Most actors out there seem to have issues with either their co-stars or their personal lives. There are countless scandals from the most successful stars out there to those who have barely been in a few movies.
Then there are the other stars. Those who have infected audiences with love both on screen and off of it. These actors are not just talented at playing incredible characters but are fascinating human beings in their own right. Several of these stars have been mistreated by Hollywood itself only to bounce back into our hearts after years of little work. Here are several actors who have reached near universal acclaim among critics and fans alike.
20 Brendan Fraser
It’s crazy to think that there was such a slow period of time in Brendan Fraser‘s career. He was one of the biggest stars of the ’90s, hitting it big with blockbuster movies like The Mummy and George of the Jungle. His boyish charms and leading man talent should’ve made him one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars right alongside Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves. Unfortunately, some behind the scenes harassment and mental health issues drove Fraser away from the audience that loved him so much.
Everything came back around once he got cast in The Whale. This leading role offered him a chance to show that he was an Oscar-worthy talent. Not only that, but it reintroduced the world to just how kind and compassionate Fraser is in real life. There’s little doubt that he will have a long career ahead of him. How long until the MCU calls?
19 Ke Huy Quan
Ke Huy Quan won over audiences everywhere when he was a kid. He won two incredible roles in classic films The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Both of those roles showed that he was one of the best child stars of the 80s. Unfortunately, being a beloved child star doesn’t always lead to becoming a beloved adult star. For Quan, it seemed like Hollywood had moved on. That is, until he saw the film Crazy Rich Asians and thought that he may have a shot.
This was a turn of genius on his part, as he ended up with his finest role to date. When the entire world was reintroduced to him via his performance as the charming and silly Waymond in Everything Everywhere All at Once, everyone everywhere fell in love with the actor all at once. Truly, the best part of the last Oscars ceremony wasn’t just when he won his award but all the selfies he took that showed just how much fun he was having now that he was back where he belonged.
18 Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is one of those stars who have really never fallen out of popularity. She may have begun her career as the innocent Laurie Strode in Halloween, but she pivoted into a true sex symbol in films like Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, and True Lies. Then she was able to make herself the funniest mom out there for projects like Freaky Friday, Christmas with the Kranks, and New Girl. Now, she has become a true character actor with her grizzled Laurie Strode for the new Halloween trilogy, a vicious rich socialite in Knives Out, and her unhinged performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
What makes he even more lovely than her acting skill is just how kind she is outside the movies. She has passionately embraced the lifestyle of her trans daughter Ruby, is a big fan of cosplay, and has no shame about discussing the problems of getting older in Hollywood. She is a charming actress who deserved to win an Academy Award years ago!
17 Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves was a bit of a love him or hate him figure early in his career. His dude bro performances in movies like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Point Break weren’t for everyone and his attempts to break into more respected roles like those in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Much Ado About Nothing were not exactly universally praised. He really found himself once he starred in big action films like Speed and The Matrix. Once he became a true action star that endured in films like John Wick, more attention was focused on who Reeves was behind the scenes. It turns out that he was an incredibly kind person well known for treating fans with untold amounts of compassion. Someone as genuinely kind as Keanu Reeves deserves the unending love he has found from his fans.
While most people out there may love Keanu Reeves, for some reason Chandler Bing himself, Matthew Perry, seems to really not be a fan. Could that be more out of nowhere?
16 Pedro Pascal
Pedro Pascal spent years as a guest star in cop dramas and primetime television. He finally hit it big when he landed the role of Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones. This could’ve been a one-hit wonder of a role, but he managed to hit it big again when he won the role of Din Djarin in Disney+’s Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Together with the greatest puppet co-star ever, Grogu, he became the kind of television star that would be loved forever. Things got even greater for Pascal when he got his best role yet as Joel from The Last of Us.
If that wasn’t enough to make fans fall in love with him, Pascal has proven himself to be utterly charming in interviews and behind the scenes stories. Not only that, but his friendship with Oscar Isaac is the most adorable bromance in Hollywood today. The fact that they don’t have a franchise that they star in together is frankly just ridiculous.
15 Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd is like a fine wine, he just gets better and better with age. His career began with charming roles in things like Clueless and Wet Hot American Summer. He then managed to charm Phoebe Buffay in Friends and became one of Judd Apatow’s main collaborators thanks to The 40-Year-Old Virgin. This led to other beloved roles in films like I Love You, Man, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Role Models, Wanderlust, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. What really solidified the world’s love of him was his upbeat performance as Scott Lang in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As delightful as the Ant-Man movies were, he really shined with his chemistry around the Avengers.
Though, to be honest, his finest performances may be all the times he pranked Conan with the exact same bizarre movie clip across several different television shows and even his podcast. That took some serious commitment.
14 Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh may be having a real moment right now thanks to her Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All At Once, but she has been earning that kind of love for decades. Hollywood just now seems to be catching up. She starred in incredible films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, was a Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies, was a captain and Empress in Star Trek: Discovery, has appeared as two different characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has had dozens of minor roles that fans adored.
Her career really kicked into overdrive when she got Crazy Rich Asians. That is the kind of role that jettisoned her into the kind of league usually reserved for the likes of Cate Blanchet, Viola Davis, and Meryl Streep. The way her career is going right now, it seems unlikely that will change any time soon.
13 Jenna Ortega
Jenna Ortega is experiencing the kind of popularity right now that most actresses wait their entire careers for. While she’s had incredible roles in shows like You, Stuck in the Middle, and Jane the Virgin, 2022 was her big year. She starred in horror projects like X and the new Scream reboot that made her a certified “Scream Queen”. Then she reeeeally burst into the stratosphere by absolutely dominating as the titular character of Wednesday. Her signature dance alone was enough to get her more TikTok fame than Emma D’Arcy describing her favorite drink.
Add on to that more memorable film roles, a very successful hosting gig for SNL, and a truly delightful awards show performance with Aubrey Plaza, and we have a star who fully understands her appeal and how to milk it. This makes it seem like she’ll be exactly this beloved for decades to come.
12 Daniel Craig
It’s kind of crazy to think that once upon a time, Daniel Craig was a controversial choice to play James Bond for Casino Royale. In fact, fans were so angry about Craig landing the role over rivals like Clive Owen that they dubbed him “James Blonde”. Now, his term as 007 was so universally beloved that the owners of the franchise seem somewhat baffled over where to take the franchise without him. If that wasn’t enough, he managed to pull yet another universally beloved, well-groomed franchise character out of his hat. His turn as the gentleman detective Benoit Blanc for Rian Johnson’s Knives Out franchise will likely go on for years and years to come.
It doesn’t hurt that his marriage to the equally awesome Rachel Weisz is one of the few Hollywood power couples that genuinely seem to be here to stay.
11 Brett Goldstein
Ted Lasso is one of those shows that pretty much anyone you ask about it will proclaim their undying love for the series, and it’s hopeful tone. A large part of what makes the show so amazing, both on screen and off, is Brett Goldstein. He is a writer for the series who has been credited with many of the show’s greatest elements. He also embodies one of the show’s most beloved characters, the foul-mouthed, ever-angry, yet surprisingly compassionate Roy Kent. Kent is a vital character that shows ways in which a character can be aggressive and masculine while still overall being a positive presence in the lives of those around him. That’s a hard needle to thread but he does so effortlessly. No wonder people love him so much.
While many would also put Ted Lasso himself, Jason Sudeikis on this list, his very controversial divorce from Olivia Wilde keeps him from the same universal acclaim his character gets.
10 Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep might just be the finest actor of her generation. She has dominated the industry with a ton of award-winning roles in the likes of The Devil Wears Prada, Sophie’s Choice, The Iron Lady, Mamma Mia!, Doubt, August: Osage County, and Out of Africa. She’s won 3 Oscars, but she’s been nominated a whopping 21 times. She can command a scene with just a glance or a small twitch of her mouth. This kind of talent is incredibly rare.
What’s truly incredible about Streep is that there are no stories about her using her character acting as an excuse to treat people terribly due to method acting. She manages to be one of the greatest talents that Hollywood has ever seen while behaving in a professional manner. Nowadays, that’s more and more of a rare commodity.
9 Tom Hanks
It seems unnecessary to even qualify the statement that Tom Hanks is a universally beloved actor. He has been one of Hollywood’s most reliable talents for decades now. Roles in films like Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, A League of their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia, Cast Away, Toy Story, Apollo 13, and Sully have earned him a permanent legend status. For many, even the sound of his gentle, slightly-gravely voice is enough to make them smile.
The ultimate example of how Hanks is so beloved is that when it came time to cast the universally beloved Mr. Rogers in a biopic, the only actor that was even considered was Tom Hanks. Really, who else could it have even been?
8 Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington frequently makes the list of people’s favorite actors, and it’s not hard to see why. He has starred in so many beloved films that it’s hard to even list them all out of fear of missing one of the underrated gems that he’s starred in. He’s an actor who easily commands the screen and seems to be an amazing collaborator off-screen.
Not only is he an amazing talent, but he has also helped shape the next generation of incredible stars. He was partially responsible for funding the education of and subsequently the career of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman. He also helped Michael B. Jordan with his directing debut for Creed III. Not to mention the role he had in bringing about his own son, John David Washington, into stardom. That’s a man who is not just a star but is a true inspiration as well.
7 Steve Martin
Steve Martin is a comedian who has definitely had some ups and downs in his career. Some early success with his stand-up career and his time on SNL led to a successful film career. Unfortunately, his career endured several box office and critical failures that dragged down his image. At some point, he just decided to fully embrace his weird banjo-playing self, and it worked great wonders for him. He once again became a household name thanks to Only Murders in the Building. Martin knows just how rare it is to gain this kind of adoration because he’s decided to retire on a high note.
It’s worth noting that his famous best friend, Martin Short, is known as one of the kindest people to ever work with. It’s just a shame that he and his manager booked so many terrible film and television roles before Only Murders in the Building. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is a hard flop to forget.
6 Viola Davis
There are few actors out there who have the raw power of Viola Davis. Even in short roles like the one she had in Doubt, she was able to more than hold her own with Meryl Streep in only a few spare minutes of screen time. She is able to make you cry, make you laugh, make you quake with fear, and fight harder than Russell Crowe. She can inspire us in feel-good films like The Help or absolutely destroy her foes in The Woman King. There is truly nothing she cannot do.
Davis is just as brave off-screen too. She is frequently seen fighting not only for her own respect in Hollywood, but for her fellow underappreciated actors as well. People are quick to compare her to Meryl Streep but as she frequently points out, companies are not as quick to pay her the same rate. Anyone who has seen The Woman King should no better than to mess with her. She did a ton of those stunts at over 55 years old.
5 Harrison Ford
There are some actors who are beloved for how sweet and compassionate they are. Then there are the actors who are beloved because they just tell it like it is. Harrison Ford is the kind of actor who has had a career few actors could ever hope to compare to. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Air Force One, Blade Runner, The Fugitive, 1923, and Shrinking are all just a handful of the amazing projects he’s worked on over the years. Despite this, he has no sense of wonder over his own career. He has no problem discussing which of the Indiana Jones movies was terrible, how much he didn’t get Blade Runner, or how long he wished they would give Han Solo a grizzly end.
Harrison Ford is basically that gruff old man that you can’t help but love. The gruffer and angrier he is in interviews, the more people seem genuinely entertained by him. No wonder his career has never really had much of a break.
4 Jason Momoa
Many people in Hollywood have claimed that the age of the movie star is over. People who believe that have clearly been overlooking the career of Jason Momoa. The unbelievably charismatic actor took a one season role in Game of Thrones and made it into a massive movie career. He’s been part of the Justice League (both the terrible and the amazing cuts of the film) and will soon be inducted into the Fast and Furious family. One of his finest performances though is that of Duncan Idaho in Dune. That performance is the one that showed his Han Solo potential. Anyone familiar with the book series knows that Idaho’s story doesn’t end with his demise in part one.
What people may love the most about Momoa is his personal life. He’s a true wild man who is every bit as over-the-top as any of the characters he’s played. Not only that, but he appears to have an infectious personality that his co-stars easily fall in love with. Many of the behind the scenes stories are truly hilarious.
3 Sir Patrick Stewart
The Star Trek franchise has seen many actors and many many scandals over the years. There is one actor who seems to be universally beloved by both fans of the series and co-stars alike, and that actor is Patrick Stewart. It has been said many times in interviews that he is the most gracious actor one could ever hope to work with. Fans who have met him have also discussed how charming he was to interact with at conventions or other social gatherings. That love seems to be rolling along nicely as the third season of Picard appears to be a great success.
Then there’s his incredible friendship, with the equally wonderful Sir Ian McKellen. They have one of the greatest relationships both on stage and screen or in their personal lives. Many fans simply hope to bump into them one day as they are going on one of those fun adventures they are constantly sharing online.
2 Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds struggled to reach his full potential for years in Hollywood. He knew what role would get him where he wanted to be, but Hollywood didn’t seem all that eager to give it to him. After years of trying to get his Deadpool film off the ground, including starring in the dismal X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he finally reached superstardom with Deadpool’s release. Everything he’s done since seems to be some variation of the Deadpool formula that’s served him so well.
While Ryan Reynolds is a very talented actor, people truly love him more for his real-life persona more than anything else. He is a wild personality who is constantly buying and selling companies, taking over European football franchises and going on fun adventures with his wife, Blake Lively. While he’s an actor who has had a ton of success, he might be something of a genius in the world of marketing. His work with the relatively unknown “Mint Mobile” was incredibly impressive.
1 Hugh Jackman
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There are few actors out there who are as multi-faceted as Hugh Jackman. For some fans, he’s Wolverine, the star of the X-Men franchise that slashes through bad guys with adamantium claws while screaming like an animal. This is a role that has earned him international fame. However, his true passion may be for the stage. He is also a well-regarded Broadway performer who has charmed thousands with his astounding singing and dancing.
This musical theater talent has been lifted on to the big screen several times with films like Les Miserables and The Greatest Showman, but to truly appreciate Jackman at his finest, you have to see him onstage, belting his heart out live! If they ever make a musical adaptation of The Wolverine, he will truly ascend to his greatest form.