To think Stephen Graham is quite possibly the world's finest actor.

[EllebellyBeeblebrox]

Just finished the second episode of the Virtues and I'm just blown away. He was incredible in This is England and all the series, and he was the best thing about the last series of Line of Duty. I just wanted to start a thread to tell the world how utterly wonderful I think he is!!!

I'm going to sleep now but if there's insider info from short, can someone please PM me? thanks

He is very good yeah, and is quite underrated. But not the best ever IMO. And he does seem to play very similar roles.

Then again, lots of actors play the same type quite often. Like, if it's working for you, then why not carry on?

Agree wholeheartedly OP and he’s very sexy

Agreed

You;re not wrong, OP, I luffs him and I haven't seen The Virtues yet!

Although I do love Douglas Henshall as well!

Oh I almost forgot my manners.
Hi Stephen, BTW. Welcome to Mumsnet.

Both me and DM love him and although he has only been on my fantasy radar for about 10 minutes, my DM has had 'thoughts' about him for a while.

She has seen him in loads of stuff and says he is so good in everything, can do tons of accents and is brilliant at portraying real emotion and I for one, listen to my mum .

That vile phlegmy Liverpool accent, shudder

This is what I love about Mumsnet. I have a strong regional accent so people never share opinions like this with me in real life. I go about thinking that there are hardly any snobs left. The anonymity of Mumsnet sets me straight.

World’s finest actor? Probably not. He’s bloody good, mind. The Virtues is definitely a masterclass, and he was an amazing Al Capone.

I’m going with Isabelle Huppert. She’s ridiculous. Joaquin Phoenix is also a staggeringly good actor, as was Edward Norton back in the day.

Best performances I’ve seen in film would be either Huppert in La Pianiste or Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose (Cotillard is definitely up there, shame she makes so much shite in Hollywood).

Also this
A little bit like idris Elba ( who I love) but he’s a bit of a one trick pony

First three things I saw Idris Elba in were The Wire, The Office (US) and Luther. All completely different! I don’t think he’s the best actor in the world but he’s far from a one-trick pony. I mean, he’s always a tall black man, so I guess there’s that - not many of those being cast these days, sadly.

I think he is v good too. And agree he has an unusual attractiveness about him. I did think that nasty police woman who is in Motherland was excellent in Line of Duty too.

Love him. He was amazing as Capone in Boardwalk Empire. Totally unexpected how good he was.

@SinkGirl agree about Joaquin Phoenix. I watched "You were never really here" last week. Best movie I have seen in years.

Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic too. And paddy considine. (Bit of a Shane meadows nut here)

He's a remarkable actor

He's a fantastic actor and VERY sexy. Only downside for me is that as an Arctic Monkeys fan I keep seeing him as the horrible pimp in "When The Sun Goes Down" (which incidentally also features the sister of one of the actors from This Is England.)

A few years back he was at the same all inclusive holiday resort as us. I think he must be a very good actor because in RL he came across very differently.

First three things I saw Idris Elba in were The Wire, The Office (US) and Luther. All completely different! I don’t think he’s the best actor in the world but he’s far from a one-trick pony. I mean, he’s always a tall black man, so I guess there’s that - not many of those being cast these days, sadly.

I’d forgot about idris and the wire, ok I take it back.

Very much looking forward to seeing Phoenix at the Joker - from what I’ve seen already he’s fantastic in it.

A lot of it comes down to casting, of course. Unfortunately some of the best actors never really get the roles they should - there’s an actress called Nina Arianda who’s ridiculously good but because she’s not got the right face for Hollywood (which is ridiculous because she’s gorgeous, just not generic) she only gets small parts generally. Still, she’s always so memorable in them - like Midnight In Paris, or the Amazon series Goliath. I really hope she gets some brilliant roles in the next few years. Saw some footage of her in her first broadway role just after drama school and she was amazing.

@calpop How did he come across irl?

He's brilliant. And he'd absolutely get it from me.

Love him!!!

In RL he came across as very confident, cocksure, possibly a bit arrogant. He seemed to revel in all the attention (people asking for autographs, was This is England era). I have only seen him in things where he showed a lot of vulnerability. I havent seen him as Capone mind you.

I think he's great. The virtues has been filmed in a documenrary style I think and he really manages to get his character across. It must have been tough acting the drunk evening scene.

I'd never rated him, until I'd read about his life after line of duty. Severe dyslexia to the point his wife has to read any scripts and decide which are best for him, then he learns all the actors lines on an audio so he doesn't mess up his lines and can just basically paraphrase the entire script as he can't read or refer to it easily. Brilliant to show anyone struggling what you can achieve.