Best Actor Performances of the Decade (with clips!)
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
He is the greatest actor of all time, so it is not surprising that he would probably belong on this list for each of the last three decades. Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well-known historical figures in American history, but has largely been relegated to black and white still images. In Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” Day-Lewis is Lincoln. This is not a parlor trick or carnival impression. This is the embodiment of the man in temperament, affect, and spirit. If playing a real person is difficult, it must be doubly so for one we all likely had different mental pictures of. But regardless of what those pictures looked like before, there can be no doubt they have now been replaced by Daniel Day-Lewis.
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
His screen time is brief, his lines are few, but there is no denying the impact he had on what Moonlight ultimately winds up being. Even in the two-thirds of the movie he is not in, his absence is heavy. Jaun leaves his imprint on Little in a way that only feels genuine because Ali’s quiet scene-stealing left an equally large imprint on the audience.
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
How do you make a three hour comedy about bad people doing bad things work? By unleashing one of the most famous actors of his generation and dialing that charisma to 11. Leo is over the top, frenzied and riotously funny in what may go down as the best performance in a sterlingly storied career.
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Those eyes, those tears. There is just no way to get them out of your head once you see them. Jordan Peele’s insane, high concept, meta-commentary on race is a masterclass on allegorical storytelling. But it is Kaluuya’s Chris that makes the story feel real. Even as things go from crazy to outrageous, Kaluuya makes it feel grounded. With both feet firmly planted, he asks the audience to consider all of the high-minded ideas Peele is wrestling with. And it is that that makes the concepts land so well.
James Franco, Spring Breakers
This is easily the craziest performance on this list. He is asked to don cornrows and gold fronts, physically revel in firearms, seduce impressionable young women and ultimately make himself somewhat likable. As an avatar for white privilege and the flexibility that gives in crafting identity, he is at once cartoonishly simple and outlandishly complex. There is a reading of this performance as dumb and throwaway, but Franco is too in control to be construed as anything other than brilliant.
JK Simmons, Whiplash
Throwing things and shouting is not good acting—necessarily. It is here, however, as the conviction behind every verbal jab and outburst is why this nearly perfect film works. When Simmons is on screen, he is incandescent. The searing rage he brings to the story lends credence to the movie’s overall message—being great at all costs misses some of the costs.
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Mark Zuckerberg has to be a difficult character to play. He is at once admirable, but sort of loathsome; endearing, but sort of creepy; brilliantly altruistic, but sort of conniving. That concoction of characteristics is what Jesse Eisenberg had to live up to and he somehow pulls it off. He makes Zuck the irascible billionaire boy wonder that you both want to be like and choke. There is something seductive in his performance. It asks you to set aside what you know about him and identify with his plight as things spun out of his control and became a force in our daily lives.
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Brad Pitt is extremely famous. He has been for pretty much my entire life. What Moneyball manages to do is pair his quiet confidence with outsized fame to form a gratifyingly well-rounded portrait of a man who was cutting against the grain.
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Michael Shannon brings a mix of energies to every role he inhabits. There is a certain blend of manic and calm that he fills the screen with. Nowhere is this more true than 99 Homes. As the cold, calculating real estate developer, he shreds scene after scene and makes an otherwise forgettable outing genuinely gripping.
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
This was easily 2019’s best performance. He is the towering heart of a film that would suffer without him and earned his spot on this list with room to spare. He is always good at propulsive outbursts, but it’s the uncertainty he brings to the role that was a pleasant surprise. There is so much physicality and nuance in the work he does here that it is hard not to think of him as the best actor of his generation at this point.
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