John Malkovich

Nobody plays unpredictable quite like John Malkovich. With that whisper-soft drawl and a stare that could freeze hot tea, he turned being unsettling into an art form. He came up through the gritty Chicago stage scene, hit Hollywood, and immediately started collecting Oscar nominations by playing characters you would never want to meet in a dark alley.

He even let filmmakers turn his own brain into a surreal cinematic funhouse in 1999, and audiences ate it up. These days, when he is not popping up in major studio blockbusters or prestige television, you will find him designing menswear or making movies destined to stay locked in vaults for a century. He marches entirely to his own beat, and that is why people still watch.