80's - arnold
90's - ???
2000's - Liam Neeson
2010's - Keanu Reeves (so far)
And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you...
2000's to present- Jason Statham.
shareprobably Arnold again. Maybe Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson.
shareArnold and Bruce Willis were probably the biggest in terms of popularity, Van Damme and Segal probably had the most movies in terms of quantity, but I think Nicolas Cage was the best. Although their quality and enjoyability in regards to today's action movies probably isn't as high as it was when they were first released, there is no denying that Cage's three year trifecta of The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off can be topped by anyone else in that decade.
shareHard to pin down just one for the 90s...
80s - Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Bruce Willis
90s - Schwarzenegger/Wesley Snipes/Jackie Chan/Jet Li/Keanu Reeves/Mel Gibson
00s - Tom Cruise/Matt Damon/Hugh Jackman/Daniel Craig
10s - everyone in the Avengers movies/Tom Cruise/Vin Diesel/Keanu Reeves
80s - Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Bruce Willis
90s - Schwarzenegger/Wesley Snipes/Jackie Chan/Jet Li/Keanu Reeves/Mel Gibson
00s - Tom Cruise/Matt Damon/Hugh Jackman/Daniel Craig
10s - everyone in the Avengers movies/Tom Cruise/Vin Diesel/Keanu Reeves
Bruce Willis had With a Vengeance, the Last Boy Scout, the Fith Element and a couple mediocre ones with Last Man Standing and Mercury Rising
shareTOP 5 best Action Star 80's and 90's
1-Arnold Schwarzenegger
2-Sylvester Stallone
3-Mel Gibson
4-Chuck Norris
5-Bruce Willis
6-Jean Claude Vandamme
7-Steven Seagal
8-Dolph Lundgren
9-
10-
But Keanu was great in Speed, superb movie. He was good in Street Kings and both John Wick films.
The 1990s was a tricky time to name anyone the unquestioned #1 action star. Cage was mentioned but he really didn't do much in the way of action from 1990-95. Travolta would have Broken Arrow and Face Off on his resume but also just veered between different genres.
Seagal might get the nod for best action star of the early 90s, since I think his popularity was a little higher than Van Damme. Both guys tanked by 1996.
But really, I'd probably just go with Arnold for the 90s. He would still have T2, True Lies, and even Eraser though he petered out after that.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were the only true action stars in movie history. Everyone else comes off as a regular guy who was thrust into an action role; Bruce "Moonlighting" Willis being the template for that crap.
Any able-bodied actor can take on an action role; they even hire chicks for such roles, but no one ever seemed so tailor-made for action roles as Schwarzenegger and Stallone.