Pirates, Monsters And Babies, Oh My!

In terms of Best Actor/Movie, you have a would-be Spartan warrior, an almost crazy pirate looking for treasure, a monster from the imagination of a little girl, a man who is trying to save the world with a baby, and a man who is trying to save the world by being the Man of Steel.

Gerard Butler, who would become King Leonidas in last year's "300," got his start, in all places a James Bond movie. Playing a small role in "Tomorrow Never Dies" in 1997, Butler would later work his way up through British televisions and movies before picking up the title role in "Dracula 2000."

Butler's big break, however, would come in the form of a 2004 musical directed by Joel Schumacher, playing the gifted and handsome Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera." SyFy Portal assistant news editor Alan Stanley Blair should be extra proud of Gerard making the Genre Awards cut this year, as the actor was born in Glasgow but raised in nearby Paisley, Scotland.

It's hard to have lived in the 1990s and 2000s without knowing who the heck Johnny Depp is. He modeled his character, Capt. Jack Sparrow, after singer Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and in the process, became part of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disney World.

The rise of Depp is probably one of the more famous stories in Hollywood. He got his first big break as Glen Lantz in an independent, not-much hyped horror film called "Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984. When that movie became a sleeper hit, so did Depp. Two years later, he would have an even bigger role as Pvt. Gator Lerner before starring in one of the Fox network's early series, "21 Jump Street" as Officer Tom Hanson.

Depp has had an amazing career, especially in movies. He was the title role in 1990's "Edward Scissorhands." He played Dean Corso in 1999's "The Ninth Gate" as well as Ichabod Crane that same year in "Sleepy Hollow." And young ones will know him also as Willy Wonka in the 2005 remake of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

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