Very often, in interviews and pieces written for articles, I’m asked to list my Top Ten of this or that … actors, movies, novelists, books, heroic figures, and so on.
Because this is such a frequent and ubiquitous question, occurring in many countries across Europe, Asia , Africa, and Oceania, and asked by journalists, writers, interviewers, and reading fans of all ages, I decided to put some of the lists here, in this new section of the site, as a reference for anyone who’d like to know.
As time goes by (name of a song from one of my Favorite Movies), I’ll add new lists. If you have a request for a new Top Ten List, just drop me an email (info@shantaram.com) and I’ll think it through and then add it to the growing lists.
I’ll start this new section with 3 lists: Actors, Actresses, and Epic Books.
Because the number 10 is so arbitrary, and because there are so many astoundingly good actors and actresses, the lists for these categories stretch beyond the number 10. The fact is, I could include hundreds of actors and actresses in both lists, because I love the acting art with a rapturous passion, and I’m in awe of so many wonderfully talented actors. So, although I’m starting with these favorite names, I’ll add new ones in the coming months, and the list will be more representative of my admiration for acting art and the artists who create it.
FAVORITE LIVING ACTORS
- Tony Leung Chiu Wai
- Gary Oldman
- Chow Yun Fat
- Steve Buscemi
- Colin Farrell
- Johnny Depp
- Dustin Hoffman
- Christian Bale
- Laurence Fishburne
- Vincent Cassell
- Joe Morton
- Mickey Rourke
- Josh Brolin
- Tim Roth
- Christopher Walken
- John Malkovich
- Robert De Niro
- Viggo Mortensen
- Javier Bardem
- Michael Caine
- Anthony Hopkins
- Sean Penn
- Ralph Fiennes
- Jon Voight
- Willem Dafoe
- and many, many more
FAVORITE LIVING ACTRESSES
- Glenn Close
- Maggie Cheung
- Charlize Theron
- Emma Thompson
- Patricia Millardet
- Sharon Stone
- Monica Bellucci
- Tilda Swinton
- Jane Fonda
- Kate Capshaw
- Kate Beckinsale
- Halle Berry
- Lucy Liu
- Lauren Bacall
- Uma Thruman
- Julie Christie
- Helena Bonham Carter
- Diane Lane
- Elizabeth Mastrantonio
- Jessica Lange
- Marg Helgenberger
- Hilary Swank
- Rosario Dawson
- Sanaa Lathan
- Anjelica Huston
- Susan Sarandon
- Sigourney Weaver
- and many, many more
FAVORITE EPIC BOOKS
- Epic of Gilgamesh
- The Iliad
- The Odyssey
- The Aeneid
- The Mahabharata
- Divine Comedy
- A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu
- The Alexandria Quartet
- Don Quixote
- Doctor Zhivago
FAVORITE CRIME MOVIES
- Payback, directed by Brian Helgeland
- The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawks
- Crank, directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
- The Getaway, directed by Sam Peckinpah
- Point Blank, directed by John Boorman
- Get Carter, directed by Mike Hodges
- Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, directed by Guy Ritchie
- Snatch, directed by Guy Ritchie
- The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston
- Rififi, directed by Jules Dassin
- The Samurai, directed by John-Piere Melville
- The Killers, directed by Robert Siodmak
- Runaway Train, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
- Carlito’s Way, directed by Brian De Palma
- American Me, directed by Edward James Olmos
- Angel Heart, directed by Alan Parker
- Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma
- Borsalino, directed by Jaques Deray
- City On Fire, directed by Ringo Lam
- Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino
- Blood Simple, directed by Joel Cohen
- And hey, this list will get a lot longer, na?