Mumbai: British online newspaper The Independent has listed world’s 60 best actors of the 21st century.
Only one Indian actor has made it to that list — the late Irrfan Khan.
Irrfan, who carved a niche for himself in Bollywood as well as Hollywood, is occupies the 41st spot in the list of best actors.
After struggling for over a decade (late 1980s to early 2000s), Irrfan found a breakthrough with Asif Kapadia’s 2001 film ‘The Warrior,’ in which he played a warrior based in Rajasthan. The Independent lauded the actor’s “stoic fortitude” for his role in the film.
Irrfan further impressed critics and fans with his role in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s 2003 film ‘Haasil,’ Vishal Bhardwaj’s 2003 ‘Maqbool’ and Mira Nair’s 2006 ‘The Namesake.’
Irrfan’s other popular films include ‘Life In A Metro’, ‘The Darjeeling Limited’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Paan Singh Tomar’, ‘Life of Pi’, ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Qissa’, ‘Haider’, ‘Piku’, ‘Talvar’, ‘Hindi Medium’, ‘The Song of Scorpions’, ‘Qarib Qarib Singlle’, ‘Karwaan’ and ‘Angrezi Medium’.
“It’s Irrfan Khan’s eyes, hooded and deep brown, that will live eternally. They granted him the ability to weave magic, to recite poetry without moving his lips,” The Independent wrote, while fondly remembering the actor, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 53.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died in 2014 at the age of 46, was chosen as best actor of the 21st century by The Independent.
Among female actors, Emma Stone ranked 2nd for her remarkable performance in ‘Crazy’, ‘Stupid’, ‘Love’, ‘La La Land’, ‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’.
Daniel Day-Lewis, who retired from films in 2016 only to return to the sets recently, occupies the third spot, followed by Denzel Washington, who is loved for his role in Ridley Scott’s ‘The Gladiator II’.
Nicole Kidman, Daniel Kaluuya, Song Kang Ho, Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell, and Florence Pugh occupy 5th to 10th slots in that order.
