Movies/shows/games that first made you respect an actor/actress?

I was originally going to put this in the Spec Ops forum, because my original idea for this topic was "holy shit, Nolan North is actually really goddamn talented!" But I figured this would be better as a discussion of actors/actresses in general, rather than just one specific guy.

Will Smith: That one scene from Fresh Prince. You know the one.

Leonardo DiCaprio: I never gave him too much credit as an actor until I saw The Aviator.

@BBAlpert: I have a feeling a lot of guys will say something similar about Di Caprio (it was blood diamond that changed my opinion about him) And I reckon in a few years Zac Efron's career will take a similar turn if he's got a smart agent that keeps him away from teen movies & romcoms.

Edit: and the departed too, he was great in that.

@Benny: As much as I'd hate to admit it, I've got a feeling that you're probably right about Zac Efron.

Ryan Gosling in Drive and Crazy, Stupid Love. I never really cared for him before those movies, but now I'll pretty much see anything he's in.

How about the opposite? A movie that made you hate an actor/actress you had previously liked?

For me, it would be Michael Cera in Year One. I loved Cera in Superbad and Arrested Development, but he came off as the biggest asshole in Year One. Also, that movie is fucking terrible.

Heath Ledger for me in the Dark Knight. I only saw The Brother's Grimm, and A Knights Tale by him so I had no idea he had that kind of acting in him. Still a shame he passed away.

• Cillian Murphy in Batman Begins
• Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean

A good director can make anyone look good

Also if you didn't realize Cillian Murphy was unreal well before Begins (28 Days Later?) then you must not have been paying attention.

@Benny: @BBAlpert:

Just as a side note, DiCaprio already played very well in his younger years. While he is probably most famous for movies like Titanic or Romeo and Juliet, he did movies like This Boy's Life, What's Eating Gilbert Grape or The Basketball Diaries at a younger age and acted great in it.

@xaLieNxGrEyx said:

A good director can make anyone look good

Also if you didn't realize Cillian Murphy was unreal well before Begins (28 Days Later?) then you must not have been paying attention.

Cillian was especially good in Breakfast to Pluto, which brought him a Golden Globe nomination.

@Morrow: I'm not arguing that he wasn't talented as hell in his earlier stuff, I was just saying that I had the wrong impression of him. He's always been great, I just never noticed it until seeing The Aviator.

@BBAlpert said:

@Morrow: I'm not arguing that he wasn't talented as hell in his earlier stuff, I was just saying that I had the wrong impression of him. He's always been great, I just never noticed it until seeing The Aviator.

Oh yeah, wasn't implying you didn't knew, just felt like mentioning his ealier stuff. Many people don't know about these performances ^^

@brownsfantb said:

How about the opposite? A movie that made you hate an actor/actress you had previously liked?

I wouldn't say it's made me hate him, but as a die-hard fan of Airplane and The Naked Gun, I've been... disappointed in Leslie Nielsen for his last few movies. Although to be fair, I haven't seen most of those movies, so for all I know "Spanish Movie," "An American Carol," and "Stan Helsing" might be cinematic masterpieces, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and assume they probably aren't.

Brad Pitt: 12 Monkeys

Bryan Cranston: Hal from Malcom In The Middle

Michael Caine: The Muppets Christmas Carol

Christian Bale in American Psycho. Wasn't much of a fan 'till I saw how deep of an actor he can be.

Good topic.

I'd add Tom Hardy and the Fassboner to the list, both not so much due to specific roles as due to the diversity of said roles.

You get the feeling both could play just about anyone in anything

DiCaprio in The Departed and Blood Diamond (I knew he was good but I didn't know he could be so good as to contend with the other powerhouse actors in a Scorsese film)

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Like others have said, I'd seen him in other movies but he just seemed like the standard B-Grade actor/heart thob.

Definitely Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Its too bad that it was his last role. @Tim_the_Corsair said:

Fassboner

I'm not sure if you did this on purpose or not, but I love you for it anyway.

Timothy Olyphant.

Hitman? Awful.

Die Hard 4? I enjoyed it, but his performance was forgettable.

Deadwood? Holy shit. This guy is amazing.

*edit*

Oh, and I've been on the Leo train for a while now. I'm not sure which movie sealed the deal for me, but I'll mention one of my favorites that hasn't been mentioned. Catch Me If You Can. I love that movie.

Michael Fassbender in First Class. Made me love him as an actor.

@skittles said:

Timothy Olyphant.

Hitman? Awful.

Die Hard 4? I enjoyed it, but his performance was forgettable.

Deadwood? Holy shit. This guy is amazing.

Exact same thing, except with Justified. I absolutely love him in that show.

I can't stand the hype around Fassbender but I really liked his performance in Fishtank, which is about the only movie in which I genuinely liked him as a actor. 
Good role however, sold me on his skill, even though I don't really like him.
 
Liam Cunningham would be my real answer here, my god what a discovery.
I first saw him in Game of Thrones as Davos Seaworth and I fell in love with him (and his voice and accent) on the spot.
Saw him later in The Tournament (again, that voice <3) and I'm so sold on that guy's performance.

@zombiebigfoot: Have you seen Deadwood? You definitely should if you're an Olyphant fan Olyphan. I kinda feel like watching it again, just so I can savour all the barely contained rage in his face. He gets a bit angry in that show...

@TaliciaDragonsong

@BBAlpert: Leo turned around for me in Blood Diamond. Such a great performance, and his weird African mix-dialect seemed spot on (at least to someone who'd just spent a couple of years with South African exchange students). After that he just blew up for me with Aviator, Catch Me if You Can, Departed etc.

I am now hoping Shitty LeBeef will do something similar because he seems to be getting roles in movies I'm very interested in...but I have serious doubts.

Bryan Cranston: Breaking bad / Drive

Christian Bale: The machinist / The fighter / Psycho

Philip Seymour Hoffman: Doubt

Francis McDormand : Every movie shes been in.

In the '90s, Nickelodeon used to pop up these little factoids every now and again in between commercials. And in those factoids, they used to point out voice actors who did different parts. Like the voice of Stimpy and Doug was the same guy, or that one guy did Mr. and Mrs. Bighead from Rocko and also did the voice of Ickis in Ahh! Real Monsters. I couldn't have been more than 7 years old when these would air, and it blew my mind. That's probably when I first started respecting acting as an art form. I still think voice actors are under appreciated.

Will Smith: Ali

I knew he was a good action/comedy guy nut Ali proved he was a very good drama actor.

Bill Murray & Scarlett Johansson: Lost in Translation

I already knew Bill was one of the best comedy guys out there but man did this film make me take seriously as a drama guy. On top of that this movie created my crush on Scarlett and allowed me to take her seriously as an actress.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: (500) Days of Summer

I could see the potential coming out in The Lookout and Brick (both movies I liked) but (500) Days of Summer is just a film I loved and cemented Joseph as my favorite young actor.

@skittles: I'd like to, 'cuz it looks pretty cool. Unfortunately, don't have Netflix and I can't buy dvd's right now.

Hated, hated, HATED Jason Bateman, until watching Arrested Development.

I watched Hesher and started thinking Joseph Gordon-Levitt was pretty damn talented.

Definitely Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Its too bad that it was his last role. @Tim_the_Corsair said:

Fassboner

I'm not sure if you did this on purpose or not, but I love you for it anyway.

I was originally going to put this in the Spec Ops forum, because my original idea for this topic was "holy shit, Nolan North is actually really goddamn talented!" But I figured this would be better as a discussion of actors/actresses in general, rather than just one specific guy.

Will Smith: That one scene from Fresh Prince. You know the one.

Leonardo DiCaprio: I never gave him too much credit as an actor until I saw The Aviator.

Jennifer Lopez. Out of Sight.

The opposite?

Jennifer Lopez in pretty much anything after Out of Sight.

That's what jumps to my mind.

@Redbullet685: Dark Knight wasn't his last role. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus was. He died before he completed it but thy finished the movie and used what he'd shot, recruiting some other actors to finish what he hadn't.

Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

I always though of Brad Pitt as the guy from Troy and not as a serious actor. But after seeing him in Jesse James I realised that he's usually pretty great in the movies he's in and actually does some pretty interesting work.