Aaron Eckhart

Despite his traditional, chiseled good looks, this chameleon-like actor has eschewed romantic leads in favor of more complex, often downright sleazy characters. With only a handful of small roles under his belt, he was a revelation as a magnetic and malicious businessman in the pitch-black 1997 indie In the Company of Men, written and directed by his college buddy, Neil LaBute. The two went on to have a fruitful collaboration, with LaBute helping to showcase Eckhart's versatility by casting him in strikingly varied roles, including a dumpy, impotent husband (Your Friends & Neighbors) and an aggressive American academic (Possession). Although Eckhart reached a wider audience as the motorcycle-riding hunk who wins Julia Roberts' heart in Erin Brockovich, most of his subsequent mainstream movies went bust (The Core, Paycheck, The Black Dahlia). But in 2006 he found a high-profile project that knew exactly how to capitalize on his talent for playing immoral characters with a winning smile, the satire Thank You for Smoking. Eckhart won over the criticis with his dazzling turn as a charismatic lobbyist for the tobacco industry and earned his first Golden Globe nomination.