The best performances from actors who directed themselves

When you think of a director who also excels at acting, and vice versa, one of the first names that come to mind is probably Welles. We need to look no further than Citizen Kane, for example. Still considered one of the best movies ever made, Welles innovated as a director but also gave an impressive performance in a lead role.

Eastwood is famous for his lax directing style, which may give him more energy to give to acting in his films. Even into his advancing age, he has directed himself as much as anybody. We’ll go with Unforgiven, though, which won Best Picture at the Oscars (and is better than Million Dollar Baby, which also won).

In the early days of film, something close to a true auteur could exist. Chaplin was the primary creative force behind almost every one of his movies. Take, for example, his iconic movie Modern Times. Chaplin starred and directed, which is why he is on this list, but he also produced, wrote the screenplay, co-edited it, and even provided the music.

Look, Allen is as unpalatable a personality as there is these days, but he is also intrinsically tied to the idea of a director who helms starring vehicles for themselves. He also happened to be a tremendous comedic presence on screen. Annie Hall won Best Picture for a reason, and it’s not easy to do that with a comedy movie.

Guest is known for his largely improvised “mockumentary” movies, and he is a member of his regular troupe of actors. It must be unusual to direct a movie of this sort, but nobody has ever been as successful in this realm as Guest. His best mockumentary is Best In Show, but his best performance in one of his movies is Waiting For Guffman.

Another throwback to the silent era, Keaton was a Chaplin contemporary and an integral force in film. We’re going to go with Sherlock Jr. because it is one of the few films he directed by himself. Often, as with The General, he would co-direct with another person.

When Gene Wilder agreed to work with Brooks on Young Frankenstein, he famously insisted that Brooks not have a part in the film, fearing it would break the reality of the deeply ingrained homage to the old Universal horror movies it was supposed to be. Hey, fair enough. Brooks is a comedic genius, but he’s also not exactly subtle when he steps into the action in his films. That’s why he probably gave himself his best acting work in History Of The World: Part 1, a sketch comedy film that didn’t need anything approaching verisimilitude.

Branagh has an interesting career arc. He was unknown when he directed and starred in the 1989 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry V. It was such a hit that Branagh basically made a career out of adapting Shakespeare until he moved to directing and starring in Hercule Poirot movies.

Also known as Beat Takeshi, Kitano is well known in his native Japan, where he rose to fame as a comedian and TV host. Then, he started directing the movies he starred in, but they are much more in the vein of violent crime movies, a decided change of pace for Kitano. His 1997 film Hana-bi won the top award at the Venice Film Festival, so that’s a good movie, and acting performance, to highlight.

Linklater has only a brief appearance in a few of his films. However, let’s go back to his seminal debut feature, Slacker. That movie is a series of vignettes, but who is the center of the first vignette? None other than Linklater, who goes on an extended monologue to his cabbie about reality and alternate realities.

Affleck was a true movie star and sex symbol, and then Gigli happened. Alright, it may not be as simple as that, but Affleck’s star definitely began to dim. He turned to directing and got himself some critical acclaim. It culminated in winning Best Picture for Argo, though his performance in that film was good but unremarkable. Affleck is better in The Town.

Beatty has a reputation for effectively shadow-directing movies he isn’t officially a director on, as the man is not shy with his opinions. He co-directed Heaven Can Wait, which he gave a strong performance in, but his peak as a director/actor combination would be Reds. What, you expected us to say Dıck Tracy?

Cooper has only done it once as of this writing, though Maestro is around the corner. That said, the actor trounced all the skepticism about his directing when he helmed A Star Is Born. His performance in the film was also quite impressive, which is not surprising for an actor who has been nominated for a few Oscars at this point.

Granted, it only worked once. The Postman was a flop, and Open Range has been forgotten. That said, Dances With Wolves was a massive success. The first-time director won Best Picture and Best Director, beating Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Costner is also the lead in “Dances with Wolves,” and he managed both roles quite fine.

This is the first woman on this list, owing to film’s history of not giving women nearly as many opportunities to direct as men, and certainly not to act and direct. Greta Gerwig is an accomplished actor, but when she’s behind the camera, she stays behind the camera. Lupino was one of the only women directing in 1950s Hollywood, getting a chance to tackle grittier genres like film noir. Only once did Lupino get to direct a movie she also starred in, though, and she was reportedly the first woman ever to do it. This happened in The Bigamist, a film that gets as positive of reviews as any of Lupino’s films.

Hopper did not have a reputation as an easy guy to work with or to spend even more than five minutes in the same room, at least until he got sober. He managed to handle himself as an actor when he directed. The 1969 film Easy Rider wasn’t just a directorial effort from Hopper but a movie that genuinely changed the American cinematic landscape.

In terms of comedic actors who also direct, Stiller is as prolific as anybody. His best film as a director is Zoolander, which is also one of his best performances. While the sequel was regrettable, Zoolander remains a cult classic and an incredibly quotable film.

Streisand is a woman with a mall in her house, so she basically does whatever she wants. That’s how a movie like Yentl gets made, but the relative success of that gave Streisand more opportunities to direct and act. Her best effort on both fronts is The Prince of Tides, which co-stars Nick Nolte and was nominated for seven Oscars.

Bell is probably the least prominent name on this list, and In a World… is an under-the-radar movie — the level of film that somebody like Bell would get the chance to lead, which is not a knock, just a reflection of her level of celebrity. The movie feels like a passion project, but that passion paid off. If you haven’t seen this comedy with a hint of drama, seek it out sometime.

Pollack was a very successful director, and that was his trade. He acted a handful of times, but Pollack had such a knack for it that it has become well-worn to say that you wish he had acted more. He was a director that other directors would sometimes hire to act. In terms of his films, Pollack’s best acting performance is as Dustin Hoffman’s agent in Tootsie.

Harris does not have a reputation as being easy to work with, so maybe he needed a director that could handle his temperament, which is to say himself. The actor stars as Jackson Pollock in a 2000 biopic, a movie that Harris got an Oscar nomination for. For Best Actor, that is, not for his directing. Harris may have had some acumen as a director, as Marcia Gay Harden did win Best Supporting Actress.