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The actors who are the best and worst at their job, according to film critics.

What exactly does it take to be a successful movie star? Is it the chiselled looks, the confidence, the sex appeal, the acting gravitas or a magical combination of all these things? 

Turns out, a bonafide Hollywood star can mean one thing to the audience at home, and another thing entirely to the critic combing over their performance on the screen. The Hustle was curious about which big-name actors mainly bring in the box-office gold and which ones are merely the critics' darlings, so they compiled a huge amount of data to find the very interesting results.

Some of that data included a list of actors' average Metacritic score, based on film critics' reviews of their entire body of cinematic work. The average score was 54, on a scale of very, very bad to acting perfection.

Watch: The auditions that scored actors their leading roles. Post continues below. 

These actors have won over the film critics...

1. Daniel Day-Lewis.

Daniel Day-Lewis. Image: Getty.

You don't win three Academy Awards without some pretty solid reviews of your work, and Hollywood's most committed actor is incomparable, earning an average critic's score of 77.6. 

Before he retired, Day-Lewis long had a reputation for being a laser-focused method actor, going to extreme lengths to get into character for a role. Some examples? The English actor learned to speak Czech for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, spent a month living in the woods for The Last of the Mohicans, caught pneumonia because he refused to wear a coat while filming Gangs of New York and made the crew call him "Mr President" on the set of Lincoln

At least the critics appreciated his hard work!

 2. Lupita Nyong'o.

Lupita Nyong'o. Image: Getty.

This actress was a relative latecomer to the acting game, but she's been wowing the critics since her breakthrough role in 2013's 12 Years A Slave, which landed her an Oscar. 

She's gone on to impress in Black Panther and Us, and even though her Hollywood portfolio is small, her future as a Tinseltown fixture looks big.

3. Carey Mulligan.

Carey Mulligan. Image: Getty.

With powerful performances in Shame, Promising Young Woman and She Said, to name but a few, the British actress and mum-of-three has been on the esteemed actors list for years. 

Interestingly though, while Mulligan brings in the rave reviews, she doesn't exactly light up the box office - her films are only in the 25th percentile for average box office success.

4. Tilda Swinton.

Tilda Swinton. Image: Getty.

She once said she didn't consider herself an actor, and "wouldn't know how to approach a character if I tried". 

Which makes Swinton's 70.7 average critics score all the more impressive, thanks to the British actor's head-turning roles in We Need To Talk About Kevin and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

5. Florence Pugh.

Florence Pugh. Image: Getty.

At just 27, the English rose has been a darling of the film world since she commanded attention in Little Women and Midsommar only a few years back. 

It seems everyone wants to work with Pugh, who has already garnered nominations for a BAFTA and an Oscar in her short career. She also happens to have killer red carpet style!

And these actors shouldn't hold their breath for an Oscar nomination...

1. Katt Williams.

Katt Williams. Image: Getty.

The stand-up comedian and rapper tops the list of worst critically acclaimed actors, following roles in movies such as Friday After Next in 2002, Scary Movie 5 and Norbit

Williams scored a critics average of just 27.9, which is quite the difference from Day-Lewis's method acting brilliance.

2. Hilary Duff.

Hillary Duff. Image: Getty.

Poor Lizzie McGuire might have been a Disney hit, but Duff hasn't gone on to win over the critics in her big-screen endeavours. 

The actress scored a measly 35.2 in her critics' average, proving that reviewers aren't easily convinced by films in the realm of Beauty & the Briefcase and A Cinderella Story

But hey, she's got 26.8 million fans on Instagram who love her!

3. Rob Schneider.

Rob Schneider. Image: Getty.

Perhaps it's not all that surprising that the actor who played Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo is considered a bit of a joke by the film critics. 

Spare a thought for Adam Sandler's right-hand man - he's one of the unfortunate stars who gets below average reviews and below average box office results. Thank god Sandler gives him all those roles!

4. Chad Michael Murray.

Chad Michael Murray. Image: Getty.

He was the undisputed heart-throb of One Tree Hill for years until 2012 and he continued his heart-throb reign in the years since. 

But one group of people who don't rate Murray's, uh, talent? The critics, who also ranked him in the top five actors with the worst combination of box office and critical 'success'.

5. Taylor Lautner.

Taylor Lautner. Image: Getty.

Long live the Twihards! Team Jacob are clearly still very willing to pay to see him at the cinema, with Lautner bringing in a whopping $155 million on average at the box office, which equates to the 99th percentile. 

Not surprisingly, esteemed film critics don't really go for the werewolf vibe, and Lautner also failed to prove his acting skills in 2010 rom-com ensemble Valentine's Day and the 2011 action flop Abduction.

Side note: Film critics take their job very seriously, and won't be swayed by hotness! Genetically blessed actors such as Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Jessica Biel fell way short of the average acting score. 

The critics also don't care for humour, with David Spade, Johnny Knoxville and Dax Shepard among the funny guys with average ratings. 

Some other surprises? The actors who audiences love, but critics love to hate.

There's a lot of comedians on the list, including Kevin James, Kevin Hart, David Spade, Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler. Classics like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore have ensured Sandler has hit the impressive 85th percentile for box-office earnings over the years!

Special mention to those few actors who have struck that sweet balance of winning over the fans and the critics: Benedict Cumberbatch, Lupita Nyong'o, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks and Adam Driver.

And if you've ever wondered if the world's highest-paid actor even has to be good at acting, the answer is a hard no.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson demands more than $20 million per movie he stars in, all because he brings in an average of $101 million across the box-office for films such as Fast and the Furious, Black Adam and Jumanji

Nice work if you can get it...

 Feature Image: Getty.

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