Love Actually is a modern Christmas classic, and while the story certainly has its flaws, that cast simply cannot be beaten. Even though the movie was released in 2003, it still remains a stellar cast of British actors. In fact, most of the movie's success can be attributed to its amazing cast, as each actor elevates the material to a fantastic standard. Without them, the movie easily could have squandered under its own ambition and clichés.
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Each actor is amazing and famous, and each have a long history of some fantastic work behind them. But these are arguably their greatest movies.
Alan Rickman: Die Hard (1988) - 8.2/10
Alan Rickman was a fantastic actor, and he has many iconic characters and roles under his belt. Perhaps his most famous is Hans Gruber in Die Hard. Rickman burst onto the scene playing Gruber. However, before that, he was an accomplished stage actor with experience on both Broadway and West End.
The movie turned out to be an enormous success, and it launched both Rickman's and Bruce Willis's movie careers. From then on, Rickman was one of the leading villain actors in the business.
Emma Thompson: In The Name Of The Father (1993) - 8.1/10
A 1993 courtroom drama, In the Name of the Father, stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Gerry Conlon, an innocent man who was wrongly convicted of being a terrorist bomber and was sentenced to life in prison. Emma Thompson stars alongside him as Gareth Peirce, a human rights activist who sought to argue his innocence.
The role earned Thompson an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. That same year she was also nominated for The Remains of the Day, making her the eighth actor in history to be nominated for two awards in the same year.
Hugh Grant: The Gentlemen (2019) - 7.8/10
Hugh Grant is a beloved actor, and his greatest movie is also one of his most recent. Released in January of 2019, The Gentlemen was written and directed by Guy Ritchie. Grant plays a man named Fletcher, a private investigator who is hired by the editor of a daily tabloid to dig up dirt on a cannabis baron.
However, rather than selling his findings to the tabloid, he attempts to sell them to the baron's right hand man in a blatant act of blackmail. It's not one of his most likable roles, but it's a great movie, nonetheless.
Colin Firth: The King's Speech (2010) - 8.0/10
Playing the lonely author Jamie is Colin Firth. While he has gained worldwide popularity throughout the years thanks to his wide variety of roles, it's his performance in The King's Speech that has earned him the most acclaim.
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Firth plays King George VI as he trains to overcome his speech impediment in order to deliver a radio broadcastdetailing Britain's declaration of war on Germany. The movie, and Firth's performance, were widely acclaimed, and he earned his first Academy Award for Best Actor.
Liam Neeson: Schindler's List (1993) - 8.9/10
While Liam Neeson has recently earned acclaimed for his work in various action movies, he first rose to prominence in what is arguably one of the greatest movies ever made. He gained worldwide fame for starring as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.
Schindler was a former member of the Nazi party who saved over 1,000 Jews from the Holocaust by employing them in his industrial factories. Neeson was nominated for Best Actor, but he lost to Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. Schindler's List is currently ranked #6 on IMDb's Top 100 Movies list.
Keira Knightley: Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003) - 8.0/10
In the same year that Keira Knightley played Juliet, she starred as Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. While Knightley was already an established name in the industry, Pirates of the Caribbean made her a blockbuster star.
The movie performed far above expectations, receiving five Academy Award nominations (including Best Actor for Johnny Depp) and grossing over $650 million, making it the fourth highest grossing movie of 2003.
Bill Nighy: Shaun Of The Dead (2004) - 7.9/10
Playing the aging rock star Billy Mack is Bill Nighy. Nighy enjoyed a great string of movies between 2003 and 2004. In November 2003, Love Actually was releasedand grossed a very solid $248 million at the box office. Just five months later, Shaun of the Dead was released in the United Kingdom.
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While it didn't perform nearly as well as Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead has since become a cult classic and helped launch the careers of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and writer-director Edgar Wright.
Andrew Lincoln: Love Actually (2003) - 7.6/10
Although Andrew Lincoln is a well established actor, most of his success comes from his television roles. His movie filmography isn't nearly as robust as some of the other actors on this list, and Love Actually remains his most popular movie.
He plays the love struck Mark, who is in love withPeter's wife, Juliet. While his role is relatively small, Lincoln lent the movie perhaps its most iconic image and scene in the famous cue card sequence.
Laura Linney: The Truman Show (1998) - 8.1/10
Laura Linney is one of the only Americans to star in Love Actually, playing the shy and reserved Sarah. Linney has a long string of great roles and movies, but it's her performance as Hannah Gill in The Truman Show that has proved most popular with general audiences.
Gill is an actress posing as Truman's wife, Meryl Burbank. Unfortunately, her performance was mostly overshadowed by that of Jim Carrey, who won his first Golden Globe award best Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama.
Martin Freeman: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - 7.8/10
Technically, Martin Freeman's highest-rated movie is also Shaun of the Dead. However, Freeman only appears in a very small cameo, and he doesn't even speak. His highest rated starring role is that of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
While this series was largely criticized for being too long and stretched out, An Unexpected Journey received a generally positive reception owing to its scale, visual effects, and of course, Freeman's lead performance as Bilbo.
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