The Best Actor

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packer-backer

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In your opinion who is the best actor out of Erik, Justin, Frankie, Bryan, and Jane? The best in my opinion is Justin. I know this is a hard question since all of them are great but just try, and if you can rank them from highest to lowest.
 

Emrysgirl

New member
Re: the best actor

No mention of Chris Masterson:eek: ?

Honestly, I have no idea. The only actor I've seen outside of MitM is Frankie Muniz. And within the show, I can't really judge b/c they've defined the characters they're playing. However well or badly they act, that's how I think of the characters. All that matters to me is that the characters are believable, which is something I can say for all of them.
 

allison

New member
Re: the best actor

I think they´re all pretty good and believable actors. The only actors I´ve seen outside mitm are Frankie, Erik and Justin. I think Erik was a really outstanding actor when he was younger. I don´t want to say that he´s bad now, because he isn´t, but he played the weirdo so well I couldn´t imagine anyone else doing a better job. Frankie is ok, but I sometimes have the impression he´s a little "bored" now and tired of playing Malcolm. For me, the character Malcolm isn´t as believable as he used to be. Justin´s movies are child movies, but I think he did a good job especially considering his age. And I would say that he´s the one who has definitely grown as an actor. I think his character is not that easy to play. In the audio commentary of the 1st season DVD they said that the guy who played that bully auditioned for the role of Reese, but he looked too scary or something. I guess this was because the writers never wanted to make Reese just a bully. Though Justin doesn´t look like a bully (and not as much as the guy who first wanted to play Reese), Justin plays this role convincingly and manages to show the audience at the same time that Reese also has a nice and soft side. I think that´s not an easy thing to do, but Justin does a great job so I think he must be a pretty good actor.
Bryan, Jane and Chris of course are good, too. They´re all believable and again I think their roles are not that easy to play. I actually can´t decide who´s the best actor since they´re all very good in my opinion. In earlier seasons I would maybe say it was Dewey, because he was so young and did a great job playing the little weirdo.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Re: the best actor

wiscman, I thank you for participating in the forums and hope you continue to do so, but I must ask you to refrain from using txt type. Please use correct grammar as many of our members are non-native English speakers, and using correct grammar helps everyone to better understand exactly what you're saying. Thanks :)

As for your question, I agree with Aditi; I really couldn't rate them. Not only have the actors grown but the actees have grown as well, making the process very difficult. It also seems to me Frankie has tired of playing Malcolm, but I don't know if he'll be able to find any other jobs that suit him after the show ends. No offense to him, but he's rather picky in choosing his jobs. He had better hope "Stay Alive" does well.

Justin has got to be the most well balanced. He plays a very emotionally complex character and somehow manages to start his own production company, too.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Re: the best actor

You can have a rentee at a video store, but you can't have an actee? God, I hate the English language! :)
 

Garbage Kills Megan

parties with your mom
Jane always blows me away. I think she can do the highly emotional scenes better than any other actor on the show. I think Bryan is best as a character actor.
 

samboo1

New member
I think Justin is the best actor in mitm. He shows the right emotions for his character and is perfect for the role. I think Erik is good as well, at achiving his cute, but strange, character.
 

arach

New member
Some time ago I would have said Erik is the best actor. He plays in an unaffectedly way, what even some adult actors can't. I have seen him in movies like Unfaithful and Wendigo (what a crappy movie btw.), and he was always outstanding. But I don't really know if he has developed his acting skills now, I have to wait till Season 7 is finished to picture that. So I can't say whether he still is the best actor or not.


That leads me to the other actors.

Bryan Cranston - does an excellent job playing clownish Hal. I have seen him - by chance - in another role some time ago. He played in a serious movie, I don't know which it was, but he had to play a serious man. He did a good job, but I couldn't take his facial expression serious. Maybe because I know him as Hal so well.

Jane [size=-1]Kaczmarek - I don't know her in other roles than in MitM, but in her role as Lois, we can see her talent very well. She plays the mean, but also the lovely Lois when she has to. She is a pretty good actress too.

Christopher K Masterson: He is a cool guy, very natural way of acting, but it's somehow always the same rhythm with him. Don't know how to explain it better.

Frankie Muniz: I'm pretty disappointed in his acting lately, but I alredy told you that in another thread. He seems to have lost interest in playing Malcolm.

Justin Berfield: Somehow he is a wunderkind, since he was the first kid who played in over 100 episodes of two shows under the age of blabla something like that.
He does an outstanding job playing Reese. Sadly, I haven't seen him outside of MitM, except in some episodes of the show that is called "Auf schlimmer und ewig" in German, don't know what it is in English.


They are all very good in their way. Can't decide... :(
[/size]
 

willdubbs

New member
My favourite is actually Erik. I didn't find wendigo that bad, that's not a great movie either but Erik was good in it. And he was especially great in the cider house rules.

Otherwise the best actor among the six members of the family, is Frankie Muniz to me. I saw him in Cody Banks and Big fat liar, they are not very good movies but Frankie managed to give interest to them. I'm advising you to watch my dog Skip, Frankie Moved me to tears with that movie. If he seems to have lost interest in playing Malcolm, I think it's just because the character has become a bit annoying. And maybe he starts having enough (already six years of Malcolm).
 

allison

New member
arach said:
[size=-1]He does an outstanding job playing Reese. Sadly, I haven't seen him outside of MitM, except in some episodes of the show that is called "Auf schlimmer und ewig" in German, don't know what it is in English. [/size]
In english it´s called Unhappily ever after. Though this show wasn´t nearly as good as mitm I think it had its funny moments and episodes. It´s also interesting because Ross (the character which is played by Justin) is quite the opposite of Reese. He´s the youngest in his family, pretty smart and VERY neglected by his father (the only parallel is probably that he likes to destroy things (he seems to be kind of a pyromaniac)). Though he didn´t play a big role in this sitcom, he showed some talent even at this young age. And I´m sure his acting appears even way better if you watch this show in English since his german voice actor really sucks. :(:D
 

Ryebeach

Moderator
Justin Berfield: Justin is my favorite actor. He has played a character that was at first considered to be a bully and and one-dimensional and then take that character and gave him heart and really make the audience understand slightly why he does the crazy things that he does. As evidenced in "Reese Comes Home," "Hal Sleepwalks" and "Mrs. Tri County" in season 6, he can portray in such a way that as a viewer, I was laughing and touched at the heart all at once. Not an easy feat, in my opinion.

Jane Kaczmarek: I really think Jane has the character of Lois down-pat. She is so convincing, it will be difficult for me to see her in any other roles after MITM. She has defined Lois to be tough, loud, persistant and also someone who really loves her children and everything outrageous she does, she does thinking it's in the best interest of her kids.

Bryan Cranston: Bryan is a terrific character actor before MITM and he will be a terrific character actor after MITM ends. As Hal though, he can play slapstick but he can make it jsut believable enough that it rarely seems over the top. He delivers just enough restraint in the role that Hal does not lose credibility as a character.

Frankie Muniz: Outside of MITM, I have seen Frankie in Agent Cody Banks and Big Fat Liar. I actually really liked his portrayals of Cody Banks and Jason Shepherd, respectively. Although they were aimed at younger audiences, I still found them enjoyable and I think he's a pretty good actor. As Malcolm, I did like him better in earlier season than later seasons, but that is of no fault of his own. It's just the way things turned out with the writing and the speed at which the actors aged. I still like him on MITM but am glad the show is more ensemble nowadays instead of all about Malcolm. I'm also looking forward to seeing Stay Alive to see how Frankie does in a more adult role.

Erik Per Sullivan: I've found that Erik has played Dewey to be the most sane member of the family over the years and also as the most innocent, even though that may not always be Dewey's intentions. And somehow acting with a straight face around all the comedy and laugh out lines the other actors are saying and not making it look like he's acting brings a bit more credibility to the role of Dewey. I have also seen Erik in Wendigo and Skipping Christmas which were so-so movies but Erik was convincing enough in his roles but I think I may always see him as Dewey and that is definately not a bad thing.

Christopher Masterson: I think Chris has done much better at portraying Francis after he got married then when he was in military school. He can play an older brother and husband very believably but I never really bought his performance as a troublemaker. There was just something off about it back in the early seasons. Perhaps it was because Chris was older than the character he was playing or maybe it was just me but in recent seasons, I've found Chris' performance to be more credible and three-dimensional. Other than MITM, I have only seen Chris in Scary Movie 2, in which he reaffirmed he was a great comic actor. I would like to see him in a more serious role, such as Frankie is doing.
 
I think its a tough question, particuarly when you bare in mind that Erik, Frankie and Justin all began in the programme at an early age and have therefore grown into their characters. It is a strong possibility that this would affect their acting ability in other roles. I think they're all really good at playing the roles they play (if that makes sense) but I couldnt really make a judgement on their ability as a whole.

In reference to Jane and Brian, once again, having not really seen anything else they have done and due to the very extreme nature of their characters its hard to make a judgement, but it does appear that when scenes of high emotion appear, both are extremely good.

(basically im staying on the fence :D )
 

Dina91

New member
In my opinion, I think that Justin is the better actor. He fits in with his role very well. He can really show what the character is like, from both the inside and the outside.
Erik is also superb! He is a very talented actor, and is sure to go a long way after Malcolm In The Middle. Frankie is obviously getting bored of acting in his role of Malcolm, which I think is kind of surprising, as he did a fine job in "My Dog Skip". I've seen Christopher in another film ages ago (forgot its name) but, his side of the character he was playing in that film was very strong. At one point, I actually thought that he was that character he was playing. As for Jane and Brian, I haven't seen them act elsewhere, but judging them from mitm, they can really push mitm to the top, with their emotions and tempers. They are very talented and ver good actors.
But, in overall, I prefer Justin the best!
 

Wemboy

New member
To be fair, i'm gonna have to sit on the fence aswell, I can't really pick one actor (or actress) out and say they are definitely the best in the show. On the other hand if I was forced to single out one person for specific praise i'd probably say that Jane Kaczmarek has been consistently superb throughout every season. It would have been so easy to play Lois as completely one dimensional; just there for the kids to be scared of. However, Jane just seems to put so much more thought into the role, and has built a far more complex character. This has progressed to the extent that i think there must be quite a bit of Jane in the Lois character.

I wouldn't want Lois as my mother for a second, but one can still relate to the character because, as others have said, she really does love her kids, and is motivated in a great deal of what she does by the need to bring them up in the way she feels is right. Because of Jane's talents as an actress I always feel some sympathy for Lois, even if what she does can seem overbearing, because Jane always seems to know the motivation behind Lois' actions. I think that because Jane to some extent identifies with the character, she seems to put her all into trying to portray Lois' actions and emotions in an understanding way. Lots of guesswork here obviously as i've never met Jane, but that's what I think from what i've seen!:D

This is an afterthought, but if Jane Kaczmarek doesn't at some point before the show ends receive an Emmy for her performance, then Emmys are worthless pieces of junk that don't recognise talent when it's staring them in the face, and instead opt for those awards which will grab headlines!
 
@Wemboy, nicely said, lol. I agree with your point about Jane, particuarly the way she portrays Lois. I feel that the character is very diverse and it iseasy to merely make the audience dislike her charcter, in fact she is able to evoke a range of emotions form the audience under different circumstances.
 

p3simpson

New member
I gotta say Erik because he's a pretty good actor but I saw him in a movie were he was the best actor. Erik can pull off two very diffrent roles greatly at his age he is. I am inpressed.
 
I think one people that makes people praise Erik as an actor, is his ability for his age. However, he i now, what 14? older than Frankie and Justin when they first started, but I personally dont think he is as good as they were at that age. In my personal oppinion, as the series has continued Erik's acting has become less noteable, although, I think he is good, I dont think he is one of the best.
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
I would probably say Bryan Cranston.
He is superb in MITM, and was just as amazing as Dr Whatley in Seinfeld.
 
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