Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime. The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since. So, given those guidelines, and thanks to a corona virus inspired uptick to my movie watching this year, it is time to look at the 100 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.
Today, we continue with the 3 actors that have starred in 24 movies that I have seen, a position that was left empty 3 years ago.
Ben Affleck
The first Ben Affleck starring role that I saw was in 1997, when I saw both Going All The Way and Chasing Amy. In 1999, he kicked off a 6 year run where I saw 11 of his films, including 3 films in both 2000 and 2003. There were 5 years total where I had seen multiple Affleck outings, most recently in 2011. He’s picked up 2 additional films since the last time we did this, the most recent being Jay And Silent Bob Reboot from earlier this year.
Sandra Bullock
Scoring the highest total for a woman, Sandra Bullock burst on the scene in 1994’s Speed, but Dennis Hopper took home the second starring slot in that one, so her starring role the following year in The Net was likely her first entry on this list. That kicked off a 9 year run where I saw a movie where she had a starring role. I have seen multiple films starring her in 6 different years, first in 1997 and most recently in 2019. Her most recent entry was the second of 2019’s flicks, the 2018 effort Ocean’s Eight.
Robert Downey Jr.
My first experience with Robert Downey Jr. was likely 1987’s The Pick Up Artist. Things were a little slow after that, as I racked up only 7 films through the mid-2000s, likely in part due to Downey’s notorious partying. Things picked up in starting in 2007, thanks to his taking on two classic roles in literature adaptations, Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. Those franchises have contributed 10 films to his total. His greatest output in one year was 2008, when I saw four of his films. My most recent experience with Downey’s work was last year, when I saw his final entry in the MCU, Avengers: End Game.