It was a confluence of events that got me to thinking about actors portraying liars.

First, of course, was Tiger Woods getting caught, spectacularly, living a whole slew of lies.

Second is the recent release of the DVD of "The Informant," in which Matt Damon plays a liar who manages to be both inept and effective. Damon plays the doofus to perfection — the overeager enthusiasm, the too-talkative demeanor, the ill-fitting toupee. When the audience realizes there’s more to the character than we first thought, the performance still holds together perfectly.

Other film liars have been just as entertaining, if less multi-faceted. Jim Carrey did his patented schtick in "Liar Liar," of course. Ricky Gervais played the anti-Carrey in "The Invention of Lying." Leonardo DiCaprio went full-out con-man — he’s an airline pilot! he’s a doctor! — in "Catch Me If You Can."

But no better liar exists in movie history than Kevin Spacey’s "Verbal" Kint in "The Usual Suspects."

The surprise ending (that Spacey is the evil mastermind behind murderous shenanigans and that he has made up much of the story he’s spun for cops based on items he sees around his interrogator’s office) comes as an astounding surprise.

Yet, upon second viewing, it holds up. At times, you can catch Spacey flicking his eyes every so slightly, a hint at the mad, fiction-creating mechanism working behind his character’s facade. Genius.

Who do you think is the best movie liar?