Exceptions, Christian Bale, joachim phoenix, but they have been both leading men and character actors, but their leading roles have shown a lot of range. Also they take risks which don't always come off, Nicholson, de Niro et al , while they can be very entertaining and great at times, they just do their thing, but also they don't do roles that wouldn't fit with their thing.Leading men are all one trick ponies. Good actors, but they pretty much do the same thing over and over again. Women and character actors are the best actors.