Christian Bale - Dicky Eklund in The Fighter (2010)
And it's not just the 63 pound weight gain and accent and biographical mimicry... Bale lights up the screen from the first frame with a performance that's both histrionic and believable.
Robert Shaw - Quint in Jaws (1975)
He anchored the whole film, bringing a mysterious, sea-dogged sense of dread to the plain new-englanders he was surrounded by, elevating the film to a timeless classic in the process.
Jack Black - Barry in High Fidelity (2000)
Stealing every scene from Cusack with his erratic shenanigans and wild pantomimes - it's not that John was bad, it's just that pretty much nothing can top Jack Black at his full level of hyperactivity.
Angelina Jolie - Lisa in Girl Interrupted (1999)
Before Girl Interrupted, Angelina Jolie was known for frequent tv work and the occasional film role, but by the time she finished her explosive turn as a committed sociopath, gleefully creating chaos wherever she turned with the kind of screen presence usually reserved for Godzilla, she'd won herself a golden globe, an oscar, a teen choice award, and the kind of heat that would push her into the A-list stratosphere by the very next year.
Mo’Nique - Mary in Precious (2009)
Her performance turned an abusive mother into an almost 4 dimensional character, just as cruel and terrifying as human and heartbreaking.
R. Lee Ermy - Gny. Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket (1987)
After a video-taped tirade he sent to Stanley, Kubrick cast him in the role, let him improv most of his own dialogue, and basically handed him the whole first half of the movie, where he spits, curses, abuses and humiliates his way into our hearts.
Alec Baldwin - Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Not only did Baldwin's character - or "fuck you" as he introduces himself - steal the show, so did the scene itself.
Orson Welles - Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949)
From the very first moment that Welles' smile hits the screen, there's no question that he's stolen - in this case quite literally - the spotlight.
Joe Pesci - Tommy Devito in Goodfellas (1990)
He’s a Jack Russell with the bite of a bulldog, commanding any room his character is in with a temper shorter than he is.
Anthony Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Hopkins scored a paltry 16 minutes of screen time, but made every 24th of a second count. He transfixes Clarice, the camera, and us for every moment he's on screen, delivering one of the most chilling examples of upstagemanship we can think of.
