With age comes experience, and with experience comes wisdom, so they say. Or so Louis CK says: when people get older, they get smarter. You can’t really help it.
So like any other vocation, anything else a person would devote the majority of their life to, actors will improve over time. This is of course an obvious point, but one that gets lost in the shuffle of emerging trends and fresh young talent that nudges out some of the more seasoned veterans of the film industry for the sake of appealing to popular demographics. The acting game is also multi-dimensional, reliant on choosing the right projects, working with the right filmmakers, and being represented in the most ideal way in the finished product. In essence, a lot of it comes down to luck. But it’s also a testament to the work of talented players who have not only continued to work over the years, but put in some of their best work in the back 9, seemingly improving as they went along.
There’s also something to be said for the physical qualities age brings. For me, an interesting face can be the difference between a dull performance and an electric one, and the qualities brought to a face by age can make its portraiture inherently spellbinding.
That said, some actors have fared better than others as their careers progressed. Here are 10 performers whose best work came long after they had established themselves as movie stars.
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