10 Actors Who Have Become More Interesting With Age

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.

Darren Ruecker

Published: Jan 27, 2014 11:56 am

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[h2]5) Joaquin Phoenix[/h2]

The Master

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You know how there are some actors who you don’t think about for a while, and then you see them in something and it makes you realize they may be the best at this whole acting thing? Right now, that actor for me is Joaquin Phoenix. He emerged from a bit of a hiatus, possibly caused by his I’m Still Here fiasco (which, for the record, I liked very much), last year with The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant and unshakable tale of a strange man and a stranger cult-like organization.

Phoenix is at an age now where his physicality is ripe for playing with, and this consumes a good chunk of the work he does in The Master. His posture alone in this performance is something to marvel at, and as always, the face is key. His features have sunk a little bit since his more youthful days in Gladiator and Quills, and his work as Freddie Quell and, more recently, Theodore Twombly in Her rely on how much is revealed simply by his face.

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In The Master it’s a matter of showing signs of PTSD and effects from the war, which took a significant toll on him. In Her he has the perfect face to express a certain kind of loneliness, but a loneliness caused by life events rather than an anti-social disposition. A man of his age just seems more equipped to embody that.

On top of his age and experience, he’s just such an immense and unique talent that natural gifts he’s awarded through simply being on this earth for an extended period of time are then accentuated by characteristic immersion and incredible commitment to his roles.

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Author

Darren Ruecker