Role Call

We asked 30 actors to pick out the one gem of a movie role in their entire oeuvre they cherish most. And if you think Jim Carrey picked Liar Liar or Lauren Bacall said The Mirror Has Two Faces, you're in for a surprise.

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1. Jim Carrey: "Maybe my best role will be Truman Burbank in The Truman Show. I play a guy who doesn't know he lives in a TV show. It's a real story and I want to do real stories. My favorite actors were guys like Jimmy Stewart, and this is the kind of role where you can laugh like hell at the guy one minute and care so much about him the next that he can make you cry."

2. Daniel Day-Lewis: "I thought the role of John Proctor in The Crucible was one of the best I've ever done. There was something so startlingly dear about what he was going through. And the language that Arthur Miller wrote was so powerful and endlessly beautiful."

3. Elisabeth Shue: "Playing Sera in Leaving Las Vegas was a milestone in my life and a very intimate experience."

4. Julia Ormond: "Playing Caroline in Traffik, an English miniseries about heroin, was a terrific experience. People still come up to me and say, 'Weren't you in Traffik? My cousin is a heroin user and when I saw it with my family we got talking.' Maybe it's because it's made a difference for people or maybe it's because it's my first role, but it's very close to me."

5. Drew Barrymore: "There will always be a little space in my heart for Gertie in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial _because Steven Spielberg was so wonderful. More recently, I got butterflies playing Skylar in Woody Allen's _Everyone Says I Love You--I played this Sandra Dee Breck girl who wears felt sweaters, pleated skirts and knee-high stockings. I was so into this character I swear I let my voice get breathy during the entire shoot. I felt like Marilyn Monroe. I'd want to walk out of my trailer at five in the morning and sing 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President.'"

6. Antonio Banderas: "Maybe it would be Che in Evita. It was a big role and a dream of mine. [My career] started at the bottom. And I went little by little. I never had, Boom! I never had the kind of movie where someone said, 'This is it! You are going to be remembered always because of that movie.' But I felt people would remember this role, because it was so important to me."

7. Fran Drescher: "I just love my first movie role, which was in Saturday Night Fever. John Travolta and I were on that lighted disco dance floor and honey, he was holding me tight and twirling me. I'm blushing now just thinking about it. My first words to him on-screen were, 'Are you as good in bed as you are on the dance floor?' Then for some insane reason I decided to grab his tushy, which wasn't in the script. He could have fired me on the spot for doing it, and today you'd get sued for it, but John just smiled. I love that role, especially because my father came on the set and said, 'I'm the father of the star,' and one of the crew said, 'Oh, right this way, Mr. Travolta.'"

8. Cuba Gooding Jr: "What do you think? Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire, man. The whole thing just happened so beautifully. I was on my way to a press junket for an HBO movie and my agent called and said there'd be a read-through with Robin Williams today and would I want to go? I said, Sure. When I got there Cameron Crowe said, 'You know, this isn't a Robin Williams movie. This thing stars Tom Cruise!' It was so great. I've also enjoyed playing an art dealer in Old Friends with Jack Nicholson, because I loved the character and I love working with Jack. We'd be on the set and he would say, 'You know, I was a 17-year-old runner for MGM the last time I was on this lot.' Then he'd point to a soundstage and say, 'Here is where Marlon Brando made the crew members wear kimonos.' Every day he told a story that blew my mind."

9. Richard Gere: "It's hard to choose a favorite, but I'll tell you a story. Two summers age I was on a plane from England to Los Angeles and the film was An Officer and a Gentleman. I had terrible jet lag, but looked up and noticed this movie was on every screen. I didn't want to, but I ended up watching the whole thing. I hadn't seen it in 15 years. I sat there thinking, 'This really is a good movie. This is really kind of terrific' It was a great role."

10. Liv Tyler: "I guess it has to be a tie because I fell in love with Joaquin Phoenix on the set of Inventing the Abbotts, so playing Pamela Abbott will always be special to me, and I loved my character from That Thing You Do!. It was also the most fun I've ever had making a movie. One day [director] Tom Hanks said, 'Everyone hold hands and jump around like loons because your band just heard their song on the radio for the first time.' At first I felt really stupid, but then it was such a blast. We had fun off-camera, too, like when we went to Europe in a private plane with Tom to promote the movie. There we were at 30,000 feet sipping diet soda and playing Scrabble--fantastic."

11. Frances McDormand: "I love my character Marge from Fargo. I admire that she has a steadfast trust in the goodness of human beings. I also didn't realize how funny she was until I saw the movie and I'm like, 'They're laughing.' And then there's the Oscar! But I also loved making that movie because in my heart it's 'the baby movie.' Joel and I adopted our son, Pedro, and Ethan and his wife Irish had their baby, Buster. The people at the location in Grand Forks, North Dakota, were great, too. One night a beet farmer drives up to us and says, 'Whatcha doin'?' and I say, 'Making a movie.' He asks if he can help and I tell him we need a place to eat that night. He offers his barn and an hour later we're eating beets in a barn in the middle of this beautiful farm."

12. Robert Redford: "I loved doing Jeremiah Johnson. It was filmed in my land [Utah], which is why the role has special importance to me. I keep running across the movie when I'm watching TV and it always shocks me. I drop the remote. I'm like 'Whoa!' Then I'll linger, but not for long I hate watching myself. I also enjoyed playing Sundance to Paul Newman's Cassidy in Batch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. When we were making it, Paul's wife Joanne Woodward told me, 'You and Paul have better chemistry than me and Paul.'"

13. Jennifer Lopez: "It's Selena because I worked really hard playing her and felt I did a good job. By the time I finished making the movie I could look in the mirror and see Selena's face. I felt so satisfied. And singing live onstage made me want to record my own album of Spanish music."

14. Kevin Bacon: "I enjoyed playing Henri Young in Murder in the First because it was such a challenge. I was shackled to the wall in Alcatraz and rats were running all over me. Yeah, it was hard work, but worth it. The only bad part is I was playing varying levels of pain, anguish, heartache, torture. My wife Kyra [Sedgwick] would look at me every night and say, 'I can't wait till this is over.'"

15. Sting: "To me it all seems like the same character. I always play the same brooding loner with good hair. So how could I possibly pick a favorite?"

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