Plenty of gangster movies take inspiration from real life, which gives actors an opportunity to play real-life criminals. These movies often produce brilliant performances, as some of the best actors around play gangsters whose lives were more violent and sensational than most fictional crime movies.

Many of the best gangster movies ever are based on true stories, including Goodfellas and Bonnie and Clyde. The real-life history behind these movies is often hard to believe, so it takes a compelling central performance to ground them in reality. The crime genre’s greatest actors, including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Denzel Washington, have all been praised for their performances as notorious mobsters.

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Robert De Niro As Al Capone

The Untouchables (1987)

The Untouchables takes place in Chicago, as Eliot Ness struggles to impose prohibition laws with Al Capone flooding the city with bootleg liquor. It’s an entertaining blend of fact and fiction, often choosing to present a more outlandish myth over a mundane truth. Robert De Niro is just one part of a great ensemble cast, but Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia and Sean Connery are also on top form.

Several of Robert De Niro’s best movies see him playing gangsters, especially his collaborations with Martin Scorsese. Although he plays real-life mobsters in The Irishman, Goodfellas and many more, Al Capone is the most notorious criminal he has portrayed on screen. De Niro uses his considerable charms to lean into Capone’s public persona as a showman, rubbing shoulders with the press and taunting his opponents in law enforcement. Still, he has a brutally violent streak behind closed doors, as one iconic scene with a baseball bat highlights.

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Denzel Washington As Frank Lucas

American Gangster (2007)

Although he is known for playing law enforcement officers, Denzel Washington’s villain characters always show an interesting new side to his talents, and he seems to enjoy himself in these roles. His Oscar-winning turn in Training Day is one example, but he’s also outstanding in Ridley Scott’s American Gangster.

American Gangster shows some of Frank Lucas’ admirable qualities, but this only helps to bring his barbaric acts of violence into sharper focus. His determination and dedication to his tasks mirrors that of the detective trying to put him behind bars, but Lucas refuses to conform to any rule book. This makes for a fascinating character study, especially given the real-life context of Lucas’ crimes in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Daniel Day-Lewis As Bill The Butcher

Gangs Of New York (2002)

Many of Martin Scorsese’s best movies involve gangsters, and most of these are based on real life. Gangs of New York doesn’t usually get the same amount of appreciation as other hits like Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed, but there’s still a lot to like about the period crime thriller. In particular, Daniel Day-Lewis’ flamboyant portrayal of Bill the Butcher makes him a scene-stealing presence throughout.

Gangs of New York presents a heavily fictionalized version of Bill the Butcher. For starters, his name is changed from William Poole to William Cutting, and the timeline of his life is distorted so that he survives until much later than he did in reality. These differences give Day-Lewis license to bring his own panache to the character, and his darkly comic, showy presence perfectly highlights Bill the Butcher’s dangerous swagger.

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Tom Hardy As Ronnie & Reggie Kray

Legend (2015)

Tom Hardy plays two famous gangsters at once in Legend, often sharing the screen with himself alone. Hardy is known for crime movies and bold, unexpected acting choices, both of which make him a perfect fit for the dual role of Ronnie and Reggie Kray. The Kray brothers are probably London’s most notorious gangsters ever, and they became celebrities during their peak in the 1960s, welcoming the city’s rich and famous to their nightclub.

Hardy brings his ᴅᴇᴀᴅpan delivery to Legend, highlighting the style of London at the time. This dark humor also heightens the impact of the flashes of shocking violence. While representing the two sides to the Krays, Hardy also differentiates between the calm, intelligent Reggie and his volatile brother Ronnie, who is often used as a hammer against anyone who stands in their way.

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Warren Beatty & Faye Dunaway As Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker

Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

Bonnie and Clyde was a revolutionary gangster movie at the time, paving the way for New Hollywood with its shocking depictions of violence and its nuanced representation of criminals. It has helped to amplify the mythos surrounding the Barrow gang, solidifying them as American Robin Hood figures whose violence and romance go hand-in-hand.

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway’s compelling performances are central to the appeal of Bonnie and Clyde. They are two big reasons why the movie remains so absorbing so many years later, even after the impact of the violence has faded. They present Bonnie and Clyde as two lovers who communicate on the same wavelength, developing a twisted philosophy that pits them against the entire world.

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Ray Liotta As Henry Hill

Goodfellas (1990)

Goodfellas is a masterpiece of the gangster genre, and it has influenced countless other movies ever since. Martin Scorsese’s infectious blend of humor and frantic action is helped along by the movie’s breakneck speed. There isn’t a single scene of Goodfellas which pᴀsses without something memorable, whether it’s a dark joke, a shocking murder or a surprising moment of pathos to humanize the brash mobsters.

The cast of Goodfellas is one of Scorsese’s best, with many actors playing real-life gangsters. Ray Liotta shines in his finest performance of all, playing famous mafia snitch Henry Hill. Henry narrates the story, which offers a window into his emotional state as his aspirational dreams of a life of luxury turn to paranoia, fear and guilt. Throughout these tumultuous changes, Liotta is always fascinating to watch.

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Johnny Depp As John Dillinger

Public Enemies (2009)

American bank robber John Dillinger is shrouded in myth, since the media often printed exaggerated accounts of his crimes. Some newspapers sought to portray him as a rogue hero fighting against big corporations during the Great Depression, while others painted him as a dangerous menace, whose crimes were symbolic of the sickness within American society at the time.

Johnny Depp is one of many actors who have played Dillinger over the years, with his performance in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies gaining widespread acclaim. There are few falsehoods in Public Enemies, but it has been praised for its depiction of Dillinger, even going so far as to use official court transcripts as dialogue. Dillinger’s prison breaks and most famous shootouts are also shown.

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Al Pacino As Lefty Ruggiero

Donnie Brasco (1997)

Al Pacino is another actor who has played plenty of gangsters throughout his career, including Scarface‘s Tony Montana and The Godfather‘s Michael Corleone. These characters are both fictional, but movies like Dog Day Afternoon and Donnie Brasco show that Pacino can also play real-life criminals. Donnie Brasco sees him playing Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero, a key figure in New York City’s Bonnano crime family.

Donnie Brasco is a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse between Ruggiero and the undercover FBI agent infiltrating the mafia, and Pacino works well with Johnny Depp. He delivers a nuanced, refined performance which highlights his range, especially when compared to some of his more bombastic roles. He maintains an air of mystery to the character, suggesting to both the audience and his counterpart that he may know more than he lets on.