Alternate Best Actor 2002: Results

9. Sol Kyung-gu in Oasis - Sol delivers a convincing portrayal of a man with disability, if only it was in a film I had more patience for. 

Best Scene: Bus.

8. Greg Kinnear in Auto Focus - Kinnear gives a fascinating depiction of a man living as a contradiction and the degradation that occurs as he tries to maintain this strange illusion.

Best Scene: Seeing his agent the last time.

7. Leslie Cheung in Inner Senses - Cheung gives a performance that leaves all the greater impact due to its real life connections, however even standing on its own it is a moving portrayal of dealing with guilt.

Best Scene: Ending.

6. David Gulpilil in The Tracker - Gulpilil excels in his off-beat portrayal of a man quietly taking control of a situation.

Best Scene: Making the turn.

5. Bill Paxton in Frailty - Paxton plays off his presence well in helping to create his southern Gothic horror story, in being both the seeming a genuine father and a deranged fanatic.

Best Scene: After the death of the sheriff.

4. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Love Liza - Although I found the film repetitive I found Hoffman as usual gives a convincing portrayal, here offering a moving portrait of a man suffering through his specific despair.

Best Scene: Reading the letter.

3. Olivier Gourmet in The Son - Gourmet gives a compelling portrayal of a normal man essentially dealing with a revenge scenario.

Best Scene: Confrontation. 

2. Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dirty Pretty Things - Ejiofor delivers a compelling leading turn portraying effectively a decent man trying to navigate a troublesome situation.

Best Scene: Airport goodbye. 

1. Hiroyuki Sanada in The Twilight Samurai - Sanada delivers a brilliant low key turn as a samurai who more than anything just wants to be able to live his life.

Best Scene: Talk before the final duel.

Updated Overall

Next: 2002 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 2002: Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dirty Pretty Things

Chiwetel Ejiofor did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Okwe/Olatokumbo Fadipe in Dirty Pretty Things.

Dirty Pretty Things is an effective, more character piece than thriller, about illegal immigrants in London who get intertwined in a criminal black market based within a hotel.

So I return to Chiwetel Ejiofor in one of his first major film roles in what was part of his minor breakout, that he's slowly expanded, though never quite enough to really match what I think could be his potential. Ejiofor here plays the seemingly unassuming character in Okwe who we meet working as a cab driver in the day then a hotel concierge at night. Ejiofor's performance offers his typical charisma here as we see the man going about his day. This with a consistent natural African accent that helps us see his character as the immigrant, though obviously has long spent his time elsewhere causing it to be reduced. Ejofor gets along typically as he grants early on Okwe's this sort of quiet near stoicism. He doesn't simplify him but rather establishes him as a man who obviously wishes to fly under the radar. He still has a low key charm about him as he picks up passengers at an airport, but at the same time there's a weight within his work. This Ejiofor has a certain sense of trauma within the man, a dormant quality within Ejiofor's work that is a given. There isn't something he immediately states about his past, but rather he creates the sense that Okwe has gone through something within his past that bares on him now. This is effectively drawn though as an internalized quality within Ejiofor's performance. This as in the present Ejiofor shows us a man attempting to live through his existence without making a particular splash at first, an existence though that is one of a near constant motion.

Ejiofor then is a captivating lead to follow as Okwe goes through his rather difficult existence as he comes across the nastier side of things in each. Whether that seeing severely injured men at his cabby station or finding a human heart within a bathroom at his hotel. Ejiofor's performance captures a careful sort of contained empathy within the man. This as Okwe obviously wants to stay under the radar yet in these moments we can see his immediate horror or low key disbelief in moments. This finding the nature of the man and the odd symmetry we find him in. This as Ejiofor finds the right balance in his reactions in terms of creating are concern in part, but also a sense of distaste towards the guilty parties that seem to be associated with the horrible acts. We get a better relationship in his moments where we see Okwe interacting with his friend Guo Yi (Benedict Wong). He and Wong share a nice chemistry between them in that you get a good sense of camaraderie within sort of attempting to make the best of an area filled with hardships. The most essential relationship though is Turkish Muslim immigrant Senay (Audrey Tautou), with whom he partially shares a home, though in technically practical not sexual relationship sort of way. This is where I'd say Ejiofor's nuance is most pivotal. This as he creates the right manner in Okwe where he portrays his manner towards her most often in an almost paternal context. This in creating a sense of warmth more so than a winning charm, in accentuating the way Okwe is trying to support her just as she supports him with her home.

The more we find about Okwe the more is revealed about him, though Ejiofor very much accentuates a man who is who he is, even if he is more than he is. This as it becomes evident that he was an educated doctor in Africa now working the menial jobs due to some past circumstance. This as we see Okwe in action as a doctor helping an injured taxi cab man, Ejiofor is fantastic. This in such conviction and empathy in his eyes, a calm determination, but also a sense of frustration in seeing the sort of failure of the system around him within the suffering right in front of him. This as he learns that there is a black market organ scheme in the hotel he is working for, spearheaded by its sleazy manager Sneaky (Sergi Lopez). Ejiofor is fantastic in creating such an honest heroic quality within Okwe as he undergoes these revelations. Those revelations along with seeing Senay continued hardships that are slowly leading towards the desire to exploit her, particularly sexually. Ejiofor is great by making these moments of interacting with Sneaky and Senay separately so powerfully inform his characters actions. This in his interactions with Sneaky, and thinking about them later, there is that profound sense of both distaste and distress over this horrible behavior. With Senay, Ejiofor is wonderful in again projecting this pitch perfect chemistry with Tautou, who presents an overt infatuation, while Ejiofor is marvelous by slightly deflecting as pure love, but wholly non-sexual in that sense. Ejiofor instead so poignantly emphasizes in every moment he looks upon her the genuine concern just for a person he cares about.

Ejiofor makes it wholly convincing then as Okwe takes rather extreme action, though heroic action, by exploiting the devious Sneaky, by getting passports from him, before drugging him to use him for a kidney payoff rather than Senay as Sneaky intended. Ejiofor's terrific though by making the determination of Okwe in these scenes a given, and with that conviction in his eyes of a man simply committing a righteous act in the moment. After taking the successful gambit, that will allow him to return to Africa and let Senay go to the US, first Okwe reveals his past. This where he was forced to flee when his wife was purposefully murdered and he was forced to flee away from his daughter. Ejiofor is marvelous in the scene in so quietly yet still emotionally raw delivering of the recounting of the story. Ejiofor suggesting the lost of his wife but also that very real pain of being separated from his daughter. This is why he and Senay must part ways. Their two final parting just being excellent work from Ejiofor again. Here in portraying just a slight ease away from the purely paternal to grant a sense of perhaps the potential for more overt romance internalized with him, though still with this manner that keeps a distance while only expressing the strongest of affections for her. This though is a prelude to when just a moment later when Okwe finally calls his daughter again and calling home. Ejiofor is outstanding in this moment as that haunted quality in his work come to the forefront in this outpouring of pent up emotion and is absolutely heartbreaking. This in making one care wholly about this relationship in a moment that we only really heard about a few minutes before. This is a great performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, as he not only leads the film effortlessly in just a low key charismatic turn, but also anchors it with such a palatable sense of humanity.

Alternate Best Actor 2002

And the Nominees Were Not:

Leslie Cheung in Inner Senses

Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dirty Pretty Things

Bill Paxton in Frailty

Hiroyuki Sanada in The Twilight Samurai

Sol Kyung-gu in Oasis

Predict Those Five, These Five Or Both:

Greg Kinnear in Auto Focus

Olivier Gourmet in The Son

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Love Liza

David Gulpilil in The Tracker

Timothy Spall in All or Nothing

Alternate Best Actor 2008: Results

10. Kim Yoon-seok in The Chaser - Kim gives a good performance in creating this conflicted state of a former detective turned pimp returning to his roots, yet the film lets down Kim by not granting enough time or importance to the development of this idea.

Best Scene: Final confrontation. 

9. Vincent Cassel in Mesrine - Cassel gives in the first part an effective, if ridiculously rushed, portrayal of the different facets leading towards the life of a gangster, then in the second part becoming the "legend" partially in truth, and partially as a purposefully grotesque creation of the man's purposeful making.

Best Scene: In seclusion/trial.

8. Mads Mikkelsen in Flame and Citron - Mikkelsen, as usual, gives a striking turn in realizing the convictions of a man fighting for a righteous cause, while also realizing the turmoil from the evil he must do to pursue this fight.

Best Scene: His final words.

7. Josh Brolin in W. - Brolin gives an entertaining performance that brings the best out of the more comedic elements of the satire, while also finding whatever nuance he can within the bit of complexity within the character.

Best Scene: Failed press conference.

6. Song Kang-ho in The Good The Bad The Weird - Song gives a very charismatic and appropriately off-beat turn that is properly fitting to his character's moniker while also creating a most unusual western hero for us to follow.

Best Scene: Tripping.

5. Chiwetel Ejiofor in Redbelt - Ejiofor gives a great performance that not only anchors the film through the sheer charisma of his presence, but also importantly grants any reality to the overly stylized dialogue as well as offering a very much needed consistency within the convoluted narrative.

Best Scene: Championship.

4. Jean Claude Van Damme in JCVD - Van Damme, who is not known for his acting ability, at least proves his ability to give a great performance in French as Jean Claude Van Damme through his amusing, yet also heartbreaking introspective turn.

Best Scene: "oos"

3. Sam Rockwell in Snow Angels - Rockwell gives a harrowing and heartbreaking performance that manages to humanizes the terrible descent of his character.

Best Scene: A moment of "clarity".

2. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Synecdoche, New York - Hoffman gives a fascinating turn here. He not only manages to tread so carefully within the film's tone, but also manages to give a deeply moving performance through this portrayal of a man who tries to make observation into his way of life.

Best Scene: Final scene with his daughter.

1. Johannes Krisch in Revanche - Good predictions Emi Grant, Michael McCarthy and Luke. Krisch gives an outstanding performance that subverts the usual tropes involved with a revenge narrative to realize a wholly atypical, yet absolutely harrowing portrayal of a man's journey involving facing hate, sorrow, and perhaps in the end finding forgiveness.

Best Scene: Revealing the truth.

Updated Overall

Next: 2008 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 2008: Chiwetel Ejiofor in Redbelt

Chiwetel Ejiofor did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Mike Terry in Redbelt.

Redbelt follows a mixed martial arts instructor into a tournament. That seems a simple enough premise however David Mamet's screenplay takes this idea towards a strangely convoluted direction made all the weirder through his excessively stylized dialogue where the majority of the characters speak in seemingly as portions of dramatic monologues even in casual conversations.

Chiwetel Ejiofor's lead performance thankfully seems to be one of aspect of the film that insists on preventing the film from collapsing in on its owe indulgences. Now just from first glance Ejiofor's performance here is yet another example of why it is mind boggling that he isn't a bigger star. Ejiofor is incredibly charismatic here. He just projects off the screen beautifully here to the point that he is simply just a traditionally great leading man here in a very general sense. His work though needs to go beyond this given Mamet's fairly bland direction that does nothing to grant any sense of verisimilitude to the flamboyancy of his writing. The funny thing is that Ejiofor has an easy way out, however he doesn't take it. In that one could almost forgive Mike as the one character who speaks in the way that Mamet's writes this film. That is because he's suppose to be a man with a very personal philosophy who has almost an otherworldly perspective towards the world. It would not be out of the ordinary for such a man to speak a little oddly. The interesting thing is though Ejiofor doesn't accept this loop hole, as he also gives the most naturalistic performance even if discounting that Mike is not the most ordinary man.

One should be thankful though for Ejiofor's approach though because as much as one could get away with Mike being bit off-beat his Zen attitude could be grating in the wrong hands. Ejiofor is anything but grating here offering the substance within the words that go far beyond potential fortune cookie sayings. I quite frankly could listen to Ejiofor just teach one of Mike's classes for a whole film because of how well he delivers every single one of his lines. Ejiofor captures this inherent passion into each word that the man speaks, and only allows the utmost conviction in the ideas he's presenting. What I love about Ejiofor's approach in this is frankly how welcoming he is in the presentation of his ideals. When he speaks about the nature of a fighter, where one should not fight without proper cause, he does not come off as a pretentious fool, but rather endears you towards these sentiments. There is such a earnestness within the presentation that Ejiofor brings that encourages you to see the meaning of his explanations. They never feel like platitudes through the empathy of this that Ejiofor offers in them. He does not just speak to those around him, but interacts. The words themselves contain a real power however there is also such a sense of concern, and encouragement within his eyes as he seems to wish to bring out the same passion to the one he speaks that he himself holds.

Ejiofor anchors the film even beyond being the center of the film through his portrayal of Mike that creates an investment into the story no matter how overly complex if not ridiculous it becomes. He realizes Mike as this center point of just this honest man engaging in what slowly reveals itself to be a dishonest world, an excessively dishonest world in the case of this film. Ejiofor is great here though because he manages to make the spirit of the character as such that it never feels intangible even though it is ethereal in some ways. He grounds it in his work that essentially is a man telling everyone around him that they can behave as he does, he even encourages it. One of my favorite moments in Ejiofor's performance is when he gives a basic lesson to the somewhat unstable lawyer Laura (Emily Mortimer) who stumbles across his dojo. In the scene he essentially is telling her how to kill someone wielding a knife, however Ejiofor in the moment doesn't emphasize the idea of violence. He rather projects this wish to inspire strength within the woman, and he is absolutely convincing in this idea. Ejiofor ensures throughout the film that Mike wins you over with his attitude towards life, as he shows you its value at every turn.

That becomes a particularly essential facet towards this film as Mike just has one tragedy after another befall him and those around him due to the amorality of all others. Ejiofor manages to maintain the inherently good nature of the man in a way that never feels bland nor naïve. He again brings such an earnest passion and considerable charm within that passion to which he not only makes you believe Mike as man he also makes you care about his plight. He also acts a proper surrogate for the audience in expressing the right low key confusion, and exasperation towards every plot development, caused by the immorality of others. I love the way Ejiofor portrays this effectively as below Mike's philosophy to the point he conveys the idea that Mike just believes such people should be disregarded and ignored much of the time. An over abundance of revelations though forces Mike to eventually face them. Ejiofor is great in bringing a real power to Mike's expressions of his personal dismay at the men's actions. The biggest affront being when he finds out the champion in the mixed martial arts tournament intends to take dive despite the presence of a master of the form known as the professor.  There is only with such a sincerity in every word that he finds in just again echoing how strongly the man's beliefs stand go deep within his very core, and realizes how these violation shake him. There is not a false word only this most remarkable quiet discontent Ejiofor finds in his blunt delivery and earnest eyes. The final fight sequence is a great moment for Ejiofor as he conducts that same passion within his physical performance portraying so well that in every physical interaction it is towards this attempt to strive to reveal the truth than to try to beat the man. Although the setup itself is excessively contrived, and rather rushed I will say I found Mike's final embrace of the professor rather moving. This is almost entirely to do with Ejiofor's work which maintains such a conviction within the character's personal philosophy that he has created the meaning of the moment within mostly his work. This is a terrific performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor as he brings to life a character worthy of your empathy and investment even if he is stuck in an often questionable film.

Alternate Best Actor 2008

And the Nominees Were Not:

Kim Yoon-seok in The Chaser

Chiwetel Ejiofor in Redbelt

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Synecdoche, New York

Vincent Cassel in Mesrine: Killer Instinct

Josh Brolin in W. 

And for the Second Set of Predictions:

Song Kang-ho in The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Mads Mikkelsen in Flame & Citron 

Sam Rockwell in Snow Angels

Johannes Krisch in Revanche

Jean-Claude Van Damme in JCVD  

Best Actor 2013: Results

5. Christian Bale in American Hustle- Although the film consistently backhands him Bale tries hard to try to make the film's plot work. I won't say he succeeds but I appreciate the effort.

Best Scene: Irving tells Carmine the truth.

4. Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave- A year where this performance stands in fourth place is a truly great year indeed. Ejiofor gives a powerful performance by truthfully portraying every painful phase of his character's horrible predicament.

Best Scene: Solomon finally returns home.

3. Bruce Dern in Nebraska- Bruce Dern gives a interesting portrayal of the result of one man's life in terms of his physical state and a powerful portrayal of his emotional state.

Best Scene: Woody drives through town.

2. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street- Leonardo DiCaprio might give his best performance with his extremely entertaining and very funny depiction of the sinful behavior of one man.

Best Scene: Lemmon Quaaludes 714

1. Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club- Well this year was amazing to say the least and I would not mind if any one of these top four were to take the prize, but if I were to vote I actually would be very tempted to go with Bruce Dern, I would love to see him win. The likely winner though and the one that I will declare as the best of the best goes to Matthew McConaughey's outstanding work in Dallas Buyers Club. It is actually hardest to pick his best scene because every single one of his scenes is remarkable. McConaughey just hits every emotional note of this performance perfectly and gives a truly compelling and believable portrayal of his character's transformation.

Best Scene: Ron comforts Rayon.

Best Actor Ranking:

1. 2013
2. 1962
3. 1939
4. 1964
5. 2002
6. 1978
7. 1965
8. 1970
9. 1974
10. 2012
11. 1976
12. 1954
13. 1966
14. 1982
15. 1960
16. 1983
17. 1967
18. 1979
19. 1955
20. 2011
21. 1986
22. 1973
23. 1972 
24. 1994
25. 1940
26. 1950
27. 1963
28. 1975
29. 1952
30. 1980
31. 1953
32. 1959
33. 1987
34. 1977
35. 1968
36. 2006
37. 1938
38. 1969
39. 1992
40. 1961
41. 1971
42. 1956
43. 1951
44. 1984
45. 1943
46. 1958
47. 1948
48. 1998
49. 1999
50. 1988
51. 1944
52. 1936
53. 1946
54. 1957
55. 2007
56. 2005
57. 1942
58. 1947
59. 1993
60. 1981
61. 1989
62. 1995
63. 2004
64. 1937 
65. 2009
66. 1941
67. 1997
68. 1931
69. 1996
70. 1949
71. 2003 
72. 2010
73. 1990
74. 1945
75. 1985
76. 2001
77. 2008
78. 1991
79. 2000

1. F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus (1984)
2. Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
3. James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 
4. Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story (1999)
5. Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer (1960) 
6. Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
7. William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) 
8. Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot (1989)
9. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954) 
10. Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy (1969)
11. George C. Scott in Patton (1970)    
12. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975)
13. Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies (1983)
14. Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973)
15. Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter (1968)
16. Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy (1969)
17. Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
18. Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces (1970)
19. Paul Newman in The Verdict (1982)
20. Laurence Olivier in Sleuth (1972)
21. Peter Finch in Network (1976)
22. Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948)
23. Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter (1978)
24. Clark Gable Gone With the Wind (1939)
25. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)
26. Ernest Borgnine in Marty (1955)
27. Joaquin Phoenix in The Master (2012)
28. Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (2012)
29. Bob Hoskins in Mona Lisa (1986)  
30. William Holden in Stalag 17 (1953)
31. Paul Newman in Hud (1963) 
32. Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) 
33. James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
34. Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in From The Cold (1965)
35. Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity (1953)
36. Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (2013) 
37. Stuart Whitman in The Mark (1961)
38. Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961) 
39. Richard Burton in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)  
40. Jack Lemmon in Days Of Wine And Roses (1962)
41. Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
42. Kirk Douglas in Lust For Life (1956)
43. Laurence Olivier in Richard III (1956)
44. Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker (1965)
45. Tom Hulce in Amadeus (1984)
46. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)
47. Laurence Olivier in Rebecca (1940)
48. Leonardo DiCarpio in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
49. Michael Caine in Alfie (1966)
50. Paul Scofield in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
51. Giancarlo Giannini in Seven Beauties (1976)
52. Jeremy Irons in Reversal of Fortune (1990)
53. Jean Dujardin in The Artist (2011)
54. Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951)
55. Robert Montgomery in Night Must Fall (1937) 
56. Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
57. Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987)
58. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934)
59. Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (1992)
60. James Woods in Salvador (1986)
61. Alec Guinness in The Lavender Hill Mob (1952)
62. Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
63. Spencer Tracy in A Bad Day At Black (1955)
64. Art Carney in Harry and Tonto (1974)
65. Peter O'Toole in Becket (1964)
66. Adrien Brody in The Pianist (2002)
67. Jack Nicholson in Chinatown (1974)
68.  Victor McLaglen in The Informer (1935)
69. Al Pacino in The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
70. Bruce Dern in Nebraska (2013)
71. Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (2013)
72. James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes Washington (1939)
73. Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek (1964)
74. Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland (2006)
75. Rod Steiger in The Heat of the Night (1967)
76. Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973)
77. Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
78. James Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) 
79. Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry (1960)
80. Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
81. Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top (1959)
82. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005) 
83. James Dean in East of Eden (1955)
84. Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947) 
85. Jon Voight in Coming Home (1978)
86. Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights (1939)
87. Tom Wilkinson in In The Bedroom (2001)
88. Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt (2002)
89. Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (2008)
90. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007)
91. Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field (1963)
92. Richard Harris in This Sporting Life (1963)
93. Albert Finney in Tom Jones (1963) 
94. Marcello Mastroianni in Divorce Italian Style (1962)
95. Gene Hackman in The French Connection (1971)
96. Edward Norton in American History X (1998)
97. Demian Bichir in A Better Life (2011)
98. Marlon Brando in Julius Caesar (1953)
99. Robert Donat in The Citadel (1938)
100. Charles Boyer in Gaslight (1944)
101. Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
102. James Mason in A Star is Born (1954)
103. Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940)
104. Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939)
105. Leslie Howard in Pygmalion (1938)
106. Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove (1964)
107. Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
108. Peter Sellers in Being There (1979)
109. Walter Huston The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
110. Michael Caine in Sleuth (1972)
111. Robert Duvall in The Apostle (1997)
112. Emil Jannings in The Last Command (1928)
113. Liam Neeson in Schindler's List (1993)
114. Walter Huston in Dodsworth (1936)
115. John Hurt in The Elephant Man (1980)
116. Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982)
117. Jack Lemmon in The Apartment (1960)
118. Laurence Olivier in Henry V (1946)
119. Nicolas Cage in Adaptation (2002)
120. Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker (2009)
121. Kirk Douglas in Champion (1949)
122. Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda (2004)
123. Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1943)
124. Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
125. Fredric March in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
126. Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (2007)
127. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator (2004)
128. Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 
129. Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York (2002)
130. Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning (1988)
131. William Hurt in Children of Lesser God (1986)
132. Ronald Colman in Bulldog Drummond (1930)
133. Richard Burton in Becket (1964)
134. Marlon Brando in Viva Zapata! (1952)
135. Bing Crosby in The Country Girl (1954)
136. Dudley Moore in Arthur (1981)
137. Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
138. Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond (1981) 
139. Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way (1944)
140. Nigel Hawthorne in The Madness of King George (1994)
141. Charles Laughton in A Witness for the Prosecution(1957)
142. John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977)
143. Tom Courtenay in The Dresser (1983)
144. Oskar Werner in Ship of Fools (1965)
145. Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
146. Sean Penn in Dead Man Walking (1995)
147. Marcello Mastroianni in A Special Day (1977)
148. William Powell in The Thin Man (1934)
149. Monty Woolley in The Pied Piper (1942)
150. William Hurt in Broadcast News (1987) 
151. Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (1982)
152. Maximilian Schell in The Man in a Glass Booth (1975)
153. Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables (2012) 
154. Alexander Knox in Wilson (1944)
155. Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters (1998)
156. Tom Hanks in Cast Away (2000)
157. James Stewart in Harvey (1950)
158. Gary Busey in The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
159. Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
160. Robert Duvall in The Great Santini (1980)
161. Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain (2005)
162. William Holden in Sunset Blvd. (1950)
163. Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network (2010)
164. Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac (1950)
165. Daniel Day-Lewis in In the Name of the Father (1993) 
166. Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
167. Leonardo DiCaprio Blood Diamond (2006)
168. John Travolta in Pulp Fiction (1994)
169. Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind (2001)
170. Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967)
171. Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
172. Peter Fonda in Ulee's Gold (1997)
173. Paul Muni in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1933)
174. Alan Bates in The Fixer (1968)
175. Anthony Quinn in Wild is the Wind (1957)
176. Albert Finney in The Dresser (1983)
177. Albert Finney in Under The Volcano (1984)
178. Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones (1958)
179. Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones (1958)
180. Orson Welles in Citizen Kane (1941)
181. Sam Waterson in The Killing Fields (1984)
182. Michael Douglas in Wall Street (1987)
183. Brad Pitt in Moneyball (2011)
184. Russell Crowe in The Insider (1999)
185. Richard Harris in The Field (1990)
186. Roy Scheider in All that Jazz (1979)
187. Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (1965)
188. Topol in Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
189. Colin Firth in A Single Man (2009)
190. Melvyn Douglas in I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
191. Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
192. Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan (1998)
193. Marlon Brando Last Tango in Paris (1973)
194. Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
195. David Niven in Separate Tables (1958)
196. Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson (2006)
197. Richard Jenkins in The Visitor (2008)
198. Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
199. Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin (1992)
200. Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul (1931)
201. Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952)
202. Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome (1979)
203. Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride (1950)
204. Dan O'Herlihy in Robinson Crusoe (1954)
205. Peter O'Toole in The Ruling Class (1972)
206. Paul Newman in A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
207. Fredric March in A Star is Born (1937)
208. Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire (1996)  
209. Jackie Cooper in Skippy (1931)
210. Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory (1951)
211. Ronald Colman in Random Harvest (1942)
212. Kirk Douglas in The Bad and The Beautiful (1952)
213. Gregory Peck in The Keys of the Kingdom (1945)
214. Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year (1982)
215. James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
216. Montgomery Clift in The Search (1948)
217. Richard Burton in Equus (1977)
218. Mickey Rooney in The Human Comedy (1943)
219. William Holden in Network (1976)
220. Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient (1997)
221. William Powell in My Man Godfrey (1936)
222. Cliff Robertson in Charly (1968)
223. Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool (1994)
224. Maximilian Schell in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
225. Laurence Olivier in The Boys from Brazil (1978)
226. Ronald Colman in Condemned (1930)
227. Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man (1980)
228. Kenneth Branagh in Henry V (1989)
229. Laurence Olivier in Othello (1965)
230. Peter O'Toole in Venus (2006)
231. Warner Baxter in In Old Arizona (1929)
232. Dustin Hoffman in Lenny (1974)
233. Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
234. Fredric March in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
235. Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
236. Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
237. Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait (1978)
238. Michael Caine in The Quiet American (2002)
239. James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope (1970)
240. Marcello Mastroianni in Dark Eyes (1987)
241. Fredric March in The Royal Family of Broadway (1931)
242. Michael Caine in Educating Rita (1983)
243. Al Pacino in ...And Justice for All (1979)
244. Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart (2009)
245. James Franco in 127 Hours (2010)
246. Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day (1993)
247. Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (1953)
248. James Dean in Giant (1956)
249. Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City (1981)
250. William Powell in Life With Father (1947)
251. Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
252. Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot (1959)
253. Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade (1930)
254. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003)
255. Jude Law in Cold Mountain (2003)
256. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur (1959)
257. Rock Hudson in Giant (1956)
258. Charles Boyer in Algiers (1938)
259. Stephen Rea in The Crying Game (1992)
260. Tom Conti in Reuben, Reuben (1983)
261. Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah (2007)
262. Jack Lemmon in Missing (1982)
263. John Garfield in Body and Soul (1947)
264. Ron Moody in Oliver! (1968)
265. Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964)
266. Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty (1948)
267. Denzel Washington in Malcolm X (1992)
268. Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
269. Charles Boyer in Conquest (1937)
270. Lew Ayres in Johnny Belinda (1948)
271. Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (1992)
272. Max von Sydow in Pelle the Conqueror (1988)
273. George C. Scott in The Hospital (1971)
274. Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men (1949)
275. Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind (1960)
276. Steve McQueen in The Sand Pebbles (1966)
277. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999)
278. Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam (1987)
279. Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
280. Al Pacino in Serpico (1973)
281. Trevor Howard in Sons and Lovers (1960)
282. Christian Bale in American Hustle (2013)
283. James Cagney in Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
284. David Straithairn in Good Night and Good Luck (2005) 
285. Harrison Ford in Witness (1985)
286. Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver (1988)
287. Ryan O'Neal in Love Story (1970)
288. Spencer Tracy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
289. Geoffrey Rush in Shine (1996)
290. Alan Arkin in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
291. Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl (1977)
292. Paul Newman in The Color of Money (1986)
293. Woody Allen in Annie Hall (1977)
294. Tom Hanks in Big (1988)
295. Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny (1954)
296. Richard Burton in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
297. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988)
298. Michael Redgrave in Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)
299. Richard Barthelmess in the Patent Leather Kid (1928) 
300. Nick Nolte in Affliction (1998)
301. Peter O'Toole in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
302. Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz (1964)
303. Walter Pidgeon in Mrs. Miniver (1942)
304. Charlie Chaplin in The Circus (1928)
305. Robert Redford in The Sting (1973)
306. Walter Matthau in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
307. James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
308. John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
309. Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets (1997)
310. Paul Muni in The Valiant (1929) 
311. Adolphe Menjou in The Front Page (1931)
312. Denzel Washington in The Hurricane (1999)
313. Dustin Hoffman in Wag the Dog (1997)
314. Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)
315. Alan Arkin in The Russians are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966)
316. Spencer Tracy in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
317. Louis Calhern in The Magnificent Yankee (1950)
318. Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man (1959)
319. Sean Penn in Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
320. Gregory Peck in Twelve O'clock High (1949)
321. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994)
322. Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010)
323. Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
324. Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd (2007)
325. Gary Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
326. Russell Crowe in Gladiator
327. Walter Pidgeon in Madame Curie (1943)
328. Billy Bob Thorton in Sling Blade (1996)
329. Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland (2004)
330. Albert Finney in Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
331. Spencer Tracy in San Francisco (1936)
332. Johnny Depp in The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
333. Bing Crosby in Going My Way (1944)
334. Mickey Rooney in Babes in Arms (1939)
335. Spencer Tracy in Boys Town (1938)
336. Franchot Tone in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
337. Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line (2005)
338. John Wayne in True Grit (1969)
339. Paul Winfield in Sounder (1972)
340. Jose Ferrer in Moulin Rouge (1952)
341. Anthony Hopkins in Nixon (1995)
342. Denzel Washington in Flight (2012)
343. Gerard Depardieu in Cyrano De Bergerac (1990)
344. Cary Grant in None but the Lonely Heart (1944)
345. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951)
346. Robert De Niro in Awakenings (1990)
347. Richard Todd in The Hasty Heart (1949)
348. Frank Sinatra in The Man With the Golden Arm (1955)
349. Morgan Freeman in Invictus (2009)
350. Alfred Lunt in The Guardsman (1932)
351. Charles Boyer in Fanny (1961)
352. Tom Hanks in Philadelphia (1993)
353. Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001)
354. James Whitmore in Give 'Em Hell Harry! (1975)
355. Robin Williams in The Fisher King (1991)
356. Ed Harris in Pollock (2000)
357. Sean Penn in Mystic River (2003)
358. Gregory Peck in Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
359. James Garner in Murphy's Romance (1985)
360. Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
361. Robert Montgomery in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
362. Sylvester Stallone in Rocky (1976)
363. Wallace Beery in The Champ (1932)
364. George Arliss in The Green Goddess (1930)
365. Gregory Peck in The Yearling (1946)
366. George Clooney in Michael Clayton (2007)
367. Fredric March in Death of a Salesman (1951) 
368. Gary Cooper in The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
369. Geoffrey Rush in Quills (2000)
370. Walter Matthau in Kotch (1971)
371. George Arliss in Disraeli (1930)
372. Wallace Beery in The Big House (1930)
373. Paul Newman in Absence of Malice (1981)
374. Frank Morgan in The Affairs of Cellini (1934)
375. Jeff Bridges in True Grit (2010)
376. Javier Bardem in Before Night Falls (2000)
377. Warren Beatty in Reds (1981)
378. Massimo Troisi in The Postman (1995)
379. Dan Dailey in When My Baby Smiles At Me (1948)
380. Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945)
381. Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog (2003)
382. Robert De Niro in Cape Fear (1991)
383. Jon Voight in Runaway Train (1985)
384. Nick Nolte in The Prince of Tides (1991)
385. Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
386. Marlon Brando in Sayonara (1957)
387. Laurence Fishburne in What's Love Got To Do With It (1993)
388. Richard Burton in The Robe (1953)
389. Leslie Howard in Berkeley Square (1933)
390. Bing Crosby in Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
391. Rex Harrison in Cleopatra (1963)
392. Spencer Tracy in The Old Man and The Sea (1958)
393. Frank Langella Frost/Nixon (2008)
394. Dexter Gordon in 'Round Midnight (1986)
395. Jack Nicholson in Prizzi's Honor (1985)
396. Jack Lemmon in Tribute (1980)
397. Javier Bardem in Biutiful (2010)
398. Sean Penn in Milk (2008)
399. Woody Harrelson in The People vs Larry Flynt (1996)
400. Larry Parks in The Jolson Story (1946)  
401. Warren Beatty in Bugsy (1991)
402. Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow (2005)
403. Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting (1997)
404. Robin William in Dead Poet's Society (1989)
405. Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
406. George Clooney in Up in The Air (2009)
407. Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956)
408. George Clooney in The Descendants (2011)
409. Cornel Wilde in A Song to Remember (1945)
410. Jeff Bridges in Star Man (1984)
411. Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous (1937) 
412. Gary Cooper in Sergeant York (1941)
413. Chester Morris in Alibi (1929)
414. Will Smith in Ali (2001)
415. Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (1998)
416. Sean Penn in I Am Sam (2001)
417. Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves (1990)
418. Jamie Foxx in Ray (2004) 
419. Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
420. Anthony Franciosa in A Hatful of Rain (1957)
421. Richard Dix in Cimarron (1931)

1. F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus (1984)
2. Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
3. William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) 
4. Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot (1989) 
5. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954)
6. George C. Scott in Patton (1970)
7. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975) 
8. Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies (1983)
9. Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973) 
10. Peter Finch in Network (1976)
11. Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948)
12. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)
13. Ernest Borgnine Marty (1955)
14. Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (2012)  
15. William Holden in Stalag 17 (1953) 
16. Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (2013)  
17. Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
18. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)
19. Paul Scofield in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
20. Jeremy Irons in Reversal of Fortune (1990)
21. Jean Dujardin in The Artist (2011) 
22. Charles Laughton in The Private life of Henry VIII (1933)
23. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934)
24. Art Carney in Harry and Tonto (1974)
25. Adrien Brody in The Pianist (2004)
26. Victor McLaglen in The Informer (1935)
27. Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland (2006)
28. Rod Steiger in In the Heat of the Night (1967)
29. Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
30. Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry (1960)
31. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005)
32. Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947)
33. Jon Voight in Coming Home (1978)
34. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007)
35. Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field (1963)
36. Gene Hackman in The French Connection (1971)
37. Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
38. Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
39. Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
40. Emil Jannings in The Last Command (1928)
41. Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982)
42. Fredric March in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
43. Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
44. Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond (1981)
45. Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac (1950)
46. Michael Douglas in Wall Street (1987)
47. Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (1965)
48. David Niven in Separate Tables (1958)
49. Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul (1931)
50. Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952)
51. James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy
52. Cliff Robertson in Charly (1968)
53. Maximilian Schell in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
54. Warner Baxter in In Old Arizona (1929)
55. Fredric March in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
56. Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
57. Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
58. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur (1959)
59. Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964)
60. Al Pacino in The Scent of a Woman (1992)
61. Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men (1949)
62. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999)
63. Geoffrey Rush in Shine (1996)
64. Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl (1977)
65. Paul Newman in The Color of Money (1986)
66. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988)
67. James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
68. Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets (1997)
69. Paul Muni in The Story Louis Pasteur (1936)
70. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994)
71. Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010)
72. Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000)
73. Bing Crosby in Going My Way (1944)
74. Spencer Tracy in Boys Town (1938)
75. John Wayne in True Grit (1969)
76. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951)
77. Tom Hanks Philadelphia (1993)
78. George Arliss in Disraeli (1930)
79. Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001)
80. Sean Penn in Mystic River (2003)
81. Sean Penn in Milk (2008)
82. Wallace Beery in The Champ (1932)
83. Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956)
84. Spencer Tracy in Captains Courageous (1937)
85. Gary Cooper in Sergeant York (1941)
86. Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (1998)
87. Jamie Foxx in Ray (2004)

Supporting Actor Ranking:

1. 1944
2. 1981
3. 1975
4. 2008
5. 1972
6. 1966
7. 1974
8. 1988
9. 1987
10. 1964
11. 1986
12. 1959
13. 1983
14. 1980
15. 1951
16. 1998
17. 1963
18. 1952
19. 1999
20. 1989
21. 2013
22. 1993
23. 1946
24. 1969
25. 1954
26. 1961
27. 2012
28. 2007
29. 1992
30. 1968
31. 1939
32. 1970
33. 1979
34. 1994
35. 2002
36. 1978
37. 2010
38. 1947
39. 1996
40. 1945
41. 1990
42. 1982
43. 1941
44. 1971
45. 2001
46. 1937
47. 1955
48. 1962
49. 1995
50. 1967
51. 1973
52. 2009
53. 2005
54. 2011
55. 1942
56. 2006
57. 1984
58. 1957
59. 1950
60. 1958
61. 2000
62. 1976
63. 2004
64. 1960
65. 1997
66. 1943
67. 1956
68. 1949
69. 1965
70. 1977
71. 1948
72. 1940
73. 1991
74. 1938
75. 2003
76. 1936
77. 1953
78. 1985

1. Martin Landau in Ed Wood (1994)
2. Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter (1978)
3. Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields (1984)
4. Gene Hackman in Unforgiven (1992)
5. Sessue Hayakawa in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
6. James Dunn in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
7. Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990)
8. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008) 
9. Claude Rains in Notorious (1946)
10. Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)
11. Al Pacino in The Godfather (1972)
12. Ralph Fiennes in Schindler' List (1993) 
13. Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master (2012)
14. Rod Steiger in On the Waterfront (1954)
15. George Sanders in All About Eve (1950)
16. Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach (1939)
17. Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now (1979)  
18. Gene Hackman in I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
19. Montgomery Clift in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961) 
20. Melvyn Douglas in Hud (1963)
21. Peter Ustinov in Topkapi (1964)
22. Martin Landau in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
23. Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
24. Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way (1944)
25. Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can (2002)
26. Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
27. Jason Miller in The Exorcist (1973)
28. Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
29. Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
30. Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
31. Jackie Gleason in the Hustler (1961) 
32. Ralph Richardson in The Heiress (1949)
33. Albert Brooks in Broadcast News (1987)
34. Morgan Freeman in Street Smart (1987)
35. Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
36. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained (2012)
37. Jack Nicholson in Reds (1981)
38. Claude Rains in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939
39. Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds (2009)
40. William H. Macy in Fargo (1996)
41. Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie (1963)
42. Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips (2013) 
43. Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave (2013)
44. Lee J. Cobb in On the Waterfront (1954) 
45. Edward Norton in Primal Fear (1996)
46. Jack Albertson in The Subject Was Roses (1968)
47. James Mason in The Verdict (1982)
48. Van Heflin in Johnny Eager (1942)
49. Karl Malden in On the Waterfront (1954)
50. Burgess Meredith in Day of the Locust (1975)
51. George Burns in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
52. Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death (1947)
53. George C. Scott in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
54. Joe Pesci in Raging Bull (1980)
55. Tom Courtenay in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
56. Alec Guinness in Little Dorrit (1988)
57. Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (1995)
58. Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man (1976)
59. George C. Scott in The Hustler (1961)
60. Tom Cruise in Magnolia (1999)
61. Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People (1980)
62. Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
63. Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis (1951)
64. Pete Postlethwaite in In the Name of the Father (1993)
65. Sam Jaffe in The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
66. John Gielgud in Arthur (1981)
67. Billy Bob Thorton in A Simple Plan (1998)
68. George Segal in Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)
69. Walter Brennan in The Westerner (1940)
70. Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier (1943)
71. Ian Holm in Chariots of Fire (1981)
72. Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff (1983)
73. Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II (1972)
74. Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men (2007) 
75. Danny Aiello in Do the Right Thing (1989)
76. James Caan in The Godfather (1972)
77. Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts (1955)
78. Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder (2008)
79. Tommy Lee Jones in JFK (1991)
80. Paul Newman in The Road To Perdition (2002)
81. Robert Shaw in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
82. Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (1999)
83. Gene Hackman in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
84. Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
85. Burl Ives in The Big Country (1958)
86. Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972)
87. Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider (1969)
88. Lee Strasberg in The Godfather Part II (1974)
89. Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (1994)
90. Brad Dourif in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (1975)
91. William Hurt in A History of Violence (2005)
92. Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
93. Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
94. Charles Coburn in The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
95. Jeff Bridges in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
96. Gene Wilder in The Producers (1968)
97. John Hawkes in Winter's Bone (2010) 
98. Burgess Meredith in Rocky (1976) 
99. Tom Berenger in Platoon (1986)
100. Ian Mckellen in Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
101. James Coburn in Affliction (1998)
102. Willem Dafoe in Platoon (1986)
103. Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
104. Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
105. Clifton Webb in Laura (1944)
106. Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show (1971)
107. Seymour Cassel in Faces (1968)
108. Thomas Mitchell in The Hurricane (1937)
109. Alec Guinness in Star Wars (1977)
110. Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life (1956)
111. Robert Duvall in A Civil Action (1998)
112. Claude Rains in Mr. Skeffington (1944)
113. Hume Cronyn in The Seventh Cross (1944)
114. Jackie Earl Haley in Little Children (2006)
115. Josh Brolin in Milk (2008)
116. Thomas Haden Church in Sideways (2004)
117. Sal Mineo in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
118. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt (2008)
119. Charles Coburn in The Green Years (1946)
120. John Mills in Ryan's Daughter (1970)
121. James Cromwell in Babe (1995)
122. Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
123. Ethan Hawke in Training Day (2001)
124. Chris Cooper in Adaptation (2002)
125. Claude Rains in Casablanca (1943)
126. Victor McLaglen in The Quiet Man (1952)
127. Terence Stamp in Billy Budd (1962)
128. Richard Farnsworth in Comes A Horseman (1978)
129. Peter Falk in Murder, Inc. (1960) 
130. Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata! (1952)
131. Peter Ustinov in Spartacus (1960)
132. John Gielgud in Becket (1964)
133. Benicio Del Toro in Traffic (2000)
134. Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur (1959)
135. Michael Chekhov in Spellbound (1945)
136. Joseph Schilderkraut in The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
137. Jack Palance in Sudden Fear (1952)
138. Christian Bale in The Fighter (2010)
139. Stanley Holloway in My Fair Lady (1964)
140. Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
141. Anthony Perkins in Friendly Persuasion (1956)
142. Rip Torn in Cross Creek (1983)
143. Robert Mitchum in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
144. George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
145. River Phoenix in Running on Empty (1988)
146. Justin Henry in Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
147. Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile (1999)
148. Robert Forster in Jackie Brown (1997)
149. John Lithgow in The World According to Garp (1982)
150. Lou Gosset Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
151. Lee J. Cobb in The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
152. Gig Young in Come Fill The Cup (1951)
153. James Mason in Georgy Girl (1966)
154. Walter Brennan in Kentucky (1938)
155. Vincent Gardenia in Moonstruck (1987)
156. Jim Broadbent in Iris (2001)
157. Walter Brennan in Come and Get It (1936) 
158. Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights (1997)
159. Klaus Maria Brandauer in Out of Africa (1985)
160. Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
161. Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech (2010)
162. Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
163. Donald Crisp in How Green Was My Valley (1941)
164. John Malkovich in In the Line of Fire (1993) 
165. Martin Landau in Tucker: A Man And His Dream (1988)
166. Gig Young in Teacher's Pet (1958)
167. Jeremy Renner in The Town (2010)
168. Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers (1986)
169. Bobby Darin in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
170. Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman (1951)
171. Arthur O'Connell in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
172. Red Buttons in Sayonara (1957)
173. Sal Mineo in Exodus (1960)
174. Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast (2001)
175. Frederic Forrest in The Rose (1979)
176. Kenneth Branagh in My Week With Marilyn (2011)
177. Lee Tracy in The Best Man (1964)
178. Hugh Griffith in Tom Jones (1963)
179. John Huston in The Cardinal (1963)
180. Robert Vaughn in The Young Philadelphians (1959)
181. Robert Ryan in Crossfire (1947)
182. Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture (1971)
183. Max Von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)
184. Jason Robards in Julia (1977)
185. Roy Scheider in The French Connection (1971)
186. Arthur Hunnicutt in The Big Sky (1952)
187. Tim Robbins in Mystic River (2003)
188. Bruce Davison in Longtime Companion (1990)
189. Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth (1937)
190. Monty Woolley in Since You Went Away (1944)
191. Elliot Gould in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
192. Michael V. Gazzo in The Godfather Part II (1974)
193. Richard Burton in My Cousin Rachel (1952)
194. Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (2005)
195. Jason Robards in Melvin and Howard (1980)
196. Edmond O'Brien in Seven Days in May (1964)
197. James Whitmore in Battleground (1949)
198. Ed Wynn in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
199. Michael Lerner in Barton Fink (1991)
200. Armin Mueller-Stahl in Shine (1996)
201. Charles Durning in To Be Or Not To Be (1983)  
202. Eddie Albert in The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
203. Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
204. John Hurt in Midnight Express (1978)
205. Jack Palance in Shane (1953)
206. Rupert Crosse in The Reivers (1969)
207. Robert Morley in Marie Antoinette (1938)
208. Adolph Caesar in A Soldier's Story (1984)
209. Thomas Gomez in Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
210. Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment (1983)
211. Howard Rollins in Ragtime (1981)
212. John Lithgow in Terms of Endearment (1983)
213. Ed Harris in The Truman Show (1998)
214. Vincent Gardenia in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
215. Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game (1992)
216. Denzel Washington in Glory (1989)
217. Greg Kinnear in As Good As It Gets (1997)
218. Matt Dillon in Crash (2005)
219. Christopher Plummer in Beginners (2011)
220. Peter Firth in Equus (1977)
221. Brian Aherne in Juarez (1939)
222. Robert Duvall in The Godfather (1972)
223. Chief Dan George in Little Big Man (1970)
224. Clive Owen in Closer (2004)
225. Michael J. Pollard in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
226. Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom (1987)
227. James Coco in Only When I Laugh (1981)
228. Woody Harrelson in The Messsenger (2009)
229. Michael O'Keefe in The Great Santini (1980)
230. Walter Huston in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
231. Paul Giamatti in Cinderella Man (2005)
232. Mark Wahlberg in The Departed (2006)
233. Andy Garcia in The Godfather Part III (1990)
234. Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump (1994)
235. Victor Buono in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
236. Tim Roth in Rob Roy (1995)
237. Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton (2007)
238. Robert Preston in Victor Victoria (1982)
239. Arthur Kennedy in Champion (1949)
240. Cecil Kellaway in The Luck of the Irish (1948)
241. Paul Scofield in Quiz Show (1994)
242. Jack Warden in Heaven Can Wait (1978)
243. Arthur Kennedy in Trial (1955)
244. Al Pacino in Dick Tracy (1990)
245. Jack Kruschen in The Apartment (1960)
246. Fred Astaire in The Towering Inferno (1974)
247. Alan Alda in The Aviator (2004)
248. Dean Stockwell in Married to The Mob (1988)
249. John C. Reilly in Chicago (2002)
250. Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Blvd. (1950)
251. Frank Finlay in Othello (1965)
252. Robert Strauss in Stalag 17 (1953)
253. Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
254. Chazz Palminteri in Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
255. John Marley in Love Story (1970)
256. Nick Nolte in Warrior (2011)
257. Randy Quaid in The Last Detail (1973)
258. Bruce Dern in Coming Home (1978)
259. Richard S. Castellano in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
260. Vittorio De Sica in A Farewell to Arms (1957) 
261. Hal Holbrook in Into The Wild (2007)
262. Nick Adams in Twilight of Honor (1963)
263. Dan Aykroyd in Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
264. Mickey Rooney in The Black Stallion (1979) 
265. Charles Bickford in Johnny Belinda (1948)
266. Pat Morita in The Karate Kid (1984)
267. Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road (2008)
268. Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men (1992)
269. Arthur O'Connell in Picnic (1955)
270. Marlon Brando A Dry White Season (1989)
271. Jack Wild in Oliver! (1968)
272. James Woods in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
273. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
274. Brian Donlevy in Beau Geste (1939)
275. Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai (2003)
276. Matt Damon in Invictus (2009)
277. John Houseman in The Paper Chase (1973)
278. Mako in The Sand Pebbles (1966)
279. Judd Hirsch in Ordinary People (1980)
280. Anthony Hopkins in Amistad (1997)
281. John Malkovich in Places in the Heart (1984)
282. Mickey Rooney in The Bold and the Brave (1956)
283. William Bendix in Wake Island (1942)
284. Jack Warden in Shampoo (1975)
285. Alan Arkin in Argo (2012) 
286. Jack Gilford in Save the Tiger (1973)
287. Henry Travers in Mrs. Miniver (1942)
288. Robert Stack in Written on the Wind (1956)
289. Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive (1993) 
290. Frank Morgan in Tortilla Flat (1942)
291. Christopher Plummer in The Last Station (2009)
292. Walter Brennan in Sergeant York (1941)
293. Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln (2012)
294. Roland Young in Topper (1937)
295. David Paymer in Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
296. Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond (2006)
297. Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
298. Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls (2006)
299. Denholm Elliot in A Room With A View (1986)
300. Jason Robards in All the President's Men (1976)
301. Robert Loggia in Jagged Edge (1985)
302. Richard Jaeckel in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
303. Maximilian Schell in Julia (1977)
304. J. Carrol Naish in Sahara (1943)
305. Peter Falk in Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
306. Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)
307. John Cassavetes in The Dirty Dozen (1967)
308. Jack Palance in City Slickers (1991)
309. Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones (1958)
310. Charles Bickford in The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
311. Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
312. Ned Beatty in Network (1976)
313. J. Carrol Naish in A Medal For Benny (1945)
314. Charles Bickford in The Song of Bernadette (1943)
315. Edmund Gwenn in Mister 880 (1950)
316. Harvey Keitel in Bugsy (1991)
317. Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love (1998)
318. Albert Bassermann in Foreign Correspondent (1940) 
319. Basil Rathbone in Romeo and Juliet (1936)
320. James Stephenson in The Letter (1940)
321. Alec Baldwin in The Cooler (2003)
322. Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)
323. Harry Carey in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 
324. Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator (2000)
325. Anthony Quayle in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
326. Clifton Webb in The Razor's Edge (1946)
327. Albert Finney in Erin Brockovich (2000)
328. Leonard Frey in Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
329. William Demarest in The Jolson Story (1946)
330. Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones (2009)
331. Joe Mantell in Marty (1955)
332. Cecil Kellaway in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
333. H.B. Warner in Lost Horizon (1937)
334. Martin Balsam in A Thousand Clowns (1965)
335. Gene Lockhart in Algiers (1938)
336. Jonah Hill in Moneyball (2011)
337. Jamie Foxx in Collateral (2004)
338. Jeff Bridges in The Contender (2000)
339. Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys (1995)
340. John Garfield in Four Daughters (1938)
341. Michael Dunn in Ship of Fools (1965)
342. Graham Greene in Dances With Wolves (1990)
343. Ed Harris in Apollo 13 (1995)
344. Jack Oakie in The Great Dictator (1940)
345. Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules (1999)
346. Arthur Kennedy in Peyton Place (1957)
347. Mark Ruffalo in The Kids are All Right (2010)
348. Ralph Richardson in Greystoke (1984)
349. Djimon Honsou in In America (2003)
350. Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams (2003)
351. Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday (1953)
352. Bradley Cooper in American Hustle (2013)
353. Burt Young in Rocky (1976)
354. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting (1997)
355. William Gargan in They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
356. Charles Durning in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
357. Ben Kingsley in Bugsy (1991)
358. William Hickey in Prizzi's Honor (1985)
359. Jeff Chandler in Broken Arrow (1950)
360. Dean Jagger in Twelve O'clock High (1949)
361. Oskar Homolka in I Remember Mama (1948)
362. Akim Tamiroff in The General Died at Dawn (1936)
363. Brandon De Wilde in Shane (1953)
364. Akim Tamiroff in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
365. Telly Savalas in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
366. Russ Tamblyn in Peyton Place(1957) 
367. Basil Rathbone in If I Were King (1938)
368. Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running (1958)
369. John Ireland in All the King's Men (1949)
370. Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
371. Ed Harris in The Hours (2002)
372. Daniel Massey in Star! (1968)
373. Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire (1996)
374. Leo Genn in Quo Vadis (1951)
375. George Clooney in Syriana (2005)
376. John Dall in The Corn is Green (1945)
377. Chill Wills in The Alamo (1960)
378. James Gleason in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) 
379. Stuart Erwin in Pigskin Parade (1936)
380. Tom Tully in The Caine Mutiny (1954)
381. Ian Bannen in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
382. George Chakiris in West Side Story (1961)
383. Jon Voight in Ali (2001)
384. Jose Ferrer in Joan of Arc (1948)
385. Mischa Auer in My Man Godfrey (1936)
386. Don Murray in Bus Stop (1956)
387. Don Ameche in Cocoon (1985)
388. Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity (1953)
389. Eric Roberts in Runaway Train (1985) 
390. Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Turning Point (1977)

Actual Winners:

1. Martin Landau in Ed Wood (1994)
2. Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter (1978)
3. Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields (1984)
4. Gene Hackman in Unforgiven (1992)
5. James Dunn in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
6. Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990)
7.  Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008)
8. George Sanders in All About Eve (1950)
9. Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach (1939)
10. Melvyn Douglas in Hud (1963)
11. Peter Ustinov in Topkapi (1964)
12. Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
13. Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way (1944)
14. Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
15. Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
16. Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
17. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained (2012)
18. Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds (2009) 
19. Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie (1963)
20. Jack Albertson in The Subject Was Roses (1968)
21. Van Heflin in Johnny Eager (1942)
22. George Burns in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
23. Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
24. Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (1995)
25. Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People (1980)
26. John Gielgud in Arthur (1981)
27. Walter Brennan in The Westerner (1940)
28. Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier (1943)
29. Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II (1972)
30. Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men (2007) 
31. Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts (1955)
32. Burl Ives in The Big Country (1958)
33. Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972)
34. Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
35. James Coburn in Affliction (1998)
36. Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
37. Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show (1971)
38. Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life (1956)
39. John Mills in Ryan's Daughter (1970)
40. Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
41. Chris Cooper in Adaptation (2002)
42. Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata! (1952)
43. Peter Ustinov in Spartacus (1960)
44. Benicio Del Toro in Traffic (2000)
45. Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur (1959)
46. Joseph Schilderkraut in The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
47. Christian Bale in The Fighter (2010)
48. George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
49. Lou Gosset Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
50. Walter Brennan in Kentucky (1938)
51. Jim Broadbent in Iris (2001)
52. Walter Brennan in Come and Get It (1936) 
53. Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
54. Donald Crisp in How Green Was My Valley (1941)
55. Red Buttons in Sayonara (1957)
56. Jason Robards in Julia (1977)
57. Tim Robbins in Mystic River (2003)
58. Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
59. Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment (1983)
60. Denzel Washington in Glory (1989)
61. Christopher Plummer in Beginners(2011)
62. John Houseman in The Paper Chase (1973)
63. Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive (1993) 
64. Jason Robards in All the President's Men (1976)
65. Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)
66. Jack Palance in City Slickers (1991)
67. Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
68. Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)
69. Martin Balsam in A Thousand Clowns (1965)
70. Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules (1999)
71. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting (1997)
72. Dean Jagger in Twelve O'clock High (1949)
73. Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
74. Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire (1996)
75. George Clooney in Syriana (2005)
76. George Chakiris in West Side Story (1961)
77. Don Ameche in Cocoon (1985)
78. Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity (1953)

 Next Year: 2013 Lead

Best Actor 2013: Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave

Chiwetel Ejiofor received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave.

12 Years a Slave is an excellent film about the story of one educated freeman who was forced into slavery.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup who is an educated man living in New York with his family at the beginning of the film, he makes his living through his skills as a violinist which leads him into contact with two strange man who claim to work for a circus. There is not technically anything special about Solomon in this setting as he is just a pretty average guy who loves his family and rather seems to enjoy his life. Ejiofor does well in just making Solomon a pretty average family man without any unnecessary pretense. Solomon should just be a normal man and Ejiofor portrays him as such, he also does not put on his happiness too much to make it overblown, rather he establishes the right type of contentment one would expect from a man with his life.

His good life is put on a definite hold when the meeting with two mysterious men takes an odd turn and in the morning he finds himself in chains. From this point on Ejiofor work has a similar trajectory to Adrien Brody's performance in the Pianist or the second of Haing S. Ngor performance in The Killing Fields. His performance is a bit different as Solomon's time as a slave did allow him to speak where Dith Pran and Wladyslaw Szpilman could not speak a word at times lest it cost them their lives. What is similar though is the portrayal of the physical and psychological torture that he must go through his time as a slave, which all starts when his new hosts whip him until he will go by the name they have given him which is Platt, to hide his true identity.

Ejiofor is extremely effective in bringing the emotions to life as Solomon has undergo such hardships. In his earliest scenes his hardships are pretty much very direct pain both because of the gashes to his back, but as well in his realization that he won't be able to see his family ever again. Ejiofor makes it very easy to feel for Solomon's plight and he does not hold back on the emotional intensity of the moment of these early scenes. Solomon is going through hell and Ejiofor reflects this with his performance. Solomon has been beaten down and we see this through Ejiofor's eyes that shows a man who has been beaten down and absolutely is in fear of someone taking his life. That is not all there is to Ejiofor's portrayal of Solomon though.

Just like Brody in The Pianist and Ngor in The Killing Fields, the most important underlying factor to Ejiofor's portrayal of Solomon is the strong resilience in the man. Solomon of course suffers one hardship after another, but never does Ejiofor show it to be outright despair. Ejiofor shows the will in the man to do more than drown in his sorrows as Solomon never does give on the chance of once again seeing his family again, even if it seems very unlikely considering his current circumstances. Ejiofor brings the power of the man's spirit fervently to life. It is always evident in some way whether it be in a quiet moment where the hope always seems to be in him, or a somewhat louder moment where Ejiofor gives a great passion to Solomon's refusal to give up.

Ejiofor gives a very interesting performance in regards to the way he shows Solomon's particular place on the plantation. For better and for worse Solomon does stand out and Ejiofor is effective in creating this distance that Solomon sets himself from the other slaves, but as well makes him to be considered exceptional by the slavers which is both a good and a bad thing for him. Ejiofor intelligently plays these scenes because he does not show Solomon to be some sort of show off, but rather he properly shows that really Solomon can't fit in with the rest for two reasons. One reason being his background which Ejiofor makes something very innate in his performance and secondly because Ejiofor always reinforces the idea that Solomon won't become any other slave as they would be him giving up.

This is of course mostly a reactionary performance by Ejiofor but he brings such power in these reactions that he never is overshadowed by the direction by Steve McQueen or the more flamboyant performances around him. Ejiofor stands his ground by making the emotional impact of every scene all the greater because of his entirely genuine performance. There are many harrowing and frankly disturbing scenes throughout 12 Years a Slave such as when Solomon witnesses the brutal hanging of two runaway slaves. These are not just merely images to be horrified by because of Ejiofor's work at the center of it all. He does not let a single scene go by without making his own mark through his honest depiction of Solomon's reactions to these cruelties that he must witness.

Chiwetel Ejiofor gives a great performance here and carries this film on his shoulders from beginning to end. Solomon Northup is actually not an excessively complex character, but in Ejiofor's hands he never seems simple either. Ejiofor realizes the difficulty of Solomon's journey without ever devolving into a repetitive performance. Ejiofor only ever bring truth to his performance and finds that within a man such as Solomon. When Solomon apologizes to the family for his appearance, it does not seem strange in the least and is incredibly heartfelt because Ejiofor has made this the nature of Solomon as a man. Ejiofor performance absolutely works in perfect tandem with film by only ever giving an earnest and very sympathetic depiction of the trial of Solomon Northup, making his story a powerful and poignant depiction of survival.