The 100 Best Film Performances of 2018

After discussing my favorite films of 2018, it's time to move on to my favorite performances. I've made this list for a few years now, and 100 always seems like a lot to me, yet every year there are fantastic performances that I can't believe I don't have room for. But, ultimately, I've finalized a list that I am incredibly satisfied with. It features a truly eclectic variety of performances. The actors on this list range from seasoned thespians to those making their debut. Some give great performances in great movies, and some elevate movies that were otherwise lackluster. Many of these performances made me laugh, many made me cry, and many made me do both. The roles run the gamut from terrifying villains to altruistic protagonists, real-life legends to imaginative original characters. The 100 roles on this list include a troll, a punk rock goddess, a British royal, both halves of one of film's greatest duos, a Wild West pioneer with a miniature pony named Butterscotch, a Mexican art thief, a Grammy-nominated polka player, someone never seen on screen, a reclusive bibliophile, an egotistical director, an egotistical actor, some great parents, some really awful parents, two cops played by the same actor, at least two serial killers, two stars being born, four children, and a zombie working in a pizzeria. Every single one of these performances is truly exceptional, and that's true of this year more than ever before. So, with so many performances to get through, let's get started! Here are my picks for the 100 best film performances of the year. Enjoy!

100: Tom Waits as The Prospector—The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
99: Bruno Ganz as Verge—The House That Jack Built
98: Lakin Valdez as Joe—Slice

97: Mathilde Auneveux as Josephine Besson—Custody

96: Paul Giamatti as Richard Grimes—Private Life

95: Jesse Plemons as Gary Kingsbury—Game Night

94: Gina Rodriguez as Anya Thorensen—Annihilation
93: Tomasz Kot as Wiktor Warski—Cold War

92: Haley Lu Richardson as Maci—Support the Girls

91: Jessica Dinnage as Iben Østergård—The Guilty

90: Dolly Wells as Anna Miller—Can You Ever Forgive Me?

89: Josh Hamilton as Mark Day—Eighth Grade

88: Jon Øigarden as Geir Lippestad—22 July

87: Robert Pattinson as Samuel Alabaster—Damsel

86: Raúl Castillo as Paps—We the Animals

85: Bill Nighy as Edmund Brundish—The Bookshop

84: Nicole Kidman as Queen Boadicea—How to Talk to Girls at Parties

83: Samantha Elisofon as Sarah Silverstein—Keep the Change

82: Yoo Ah-in as Lee Jong-su—Burning

81: Mike Myers as Clinton Sharp—Terminal

80: Nicole Kidman as Erin Bell—Destroyer

79: Jack Black as Jan Lewan—The Polka King

78: Shinobu Terajima as Setsuko Kawashima—Oh Lucy!

77: Dylan McDermott as Don Burnside—The Clovehitch Killer

76: Rachel McAdams as Esti Kuperman—Disobedience

75: Riley Keough as Simple—The House That Jack Built

74: Adam Driver as Flip Zimmerman—BlacKkKlansman

73: Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde—The Happy Prince

72: John Cho as David Kim—Searching

71: Blake Lively as Emily Nelson—A Simple Favor

70: Jay Pharoah as Nate Hoffman—Unsane

69: Elisabeth Moss as Masha—The Seagull

68: John David Washington as Dennis Williams—Monsters and Men

67: Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh—At Eternity’s Gate

66: Eva Melander as Tina—Border

65: Richard E. Grant as Jack Hock—Can You Ever Forgive Me?

64: Lady Gaga as Ally Campana-Maine—A Star is Born

63: Gael Garcia Bernal as Juan “Shorty” Nuñez—Museo

62: Marion Cotillard as Carlotta Bloom—Ismael’s Ghosts

61: Jakob Cedergren as Asger Holm—The Guilty

60: Hugh Grant as Phoenix Buchanan—Paddington 2

59: Thomas Gioria as Julien Besson—Custody

58: Peter Bogdanovich as Brooks Otterlake—The Other Side of the Wind

57: Matthias Schoenaerts as Gigi Vanoirbeek—Racer and the Jailbird

56: Olivia Cooke as Amanda—Thoroughbreds

55: Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor Sung-Young—Crazy Rich Asians

54: Jacki Weaver as Barb—The Polka King
53: Anya Taylor-Joy as Lily Reynolds—Thoroughbreds

52: Jeon Jong-seo as Shin Hae-mi—Burning 
51: Simone Missick as Jade Jennings—Jinn

50: Michael Shannon as Nick Everhart—What They Had

49: Rachel Weisz as Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough—The Favourite

48: Jason Ritter as Bill Allens—The Tale

47: Andrea Riseborough as Svetlana Stalina—The Death of Stalin

46: Marsha Timothy as Marlina—Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

45: Joanna Kulig as Zula Lichoń—Cold War 
44: Elsie Fisher as Kayla Day—Eighth Grade

43: Johnny Flynn as Pascal Renouf—Beast

42: Regina Hall as Lisa Conroy—Support the Girls

41: Elizabeth Debicki as Jane Graham—The Tale

40: Isabelle Nélisse as Jenny Fox—The Tale

39: Viggo Mortensen as Tony Vallelonga—Green Book

38: Emma Stone as Abigail Hill—The Favourite

37: Joaquin Phoenix as Joe—You Were Never Really Here

36: Anna Kendrick as Stephanie Smothers—A Simple Favor

35: Ben Foster as Will—Leave No Trace

34: John Huston as Jake Hannaford—The Other Side of the Wind

33: Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius Green—Sorry to Bother You

32: Ben Dickey as Blaze Foley—Blaze

31: J. Smith Cameron as Ellen Lynch—Nancy

30: Carey Mulligan as Jeanette Brinson—Wildlife

29: Tilda Swinton as Madame Blanc/Josef Klemperer/Helena Markos—Suspiria

28: Sakura Ando as Nobuyo Shibata—Shoplifters
27: Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury—Bohemian Rhapsody

26: Kirin Kiki as Hatsue Shibata—Shoplifters

25: Jim Cummings as Jim Arnaud—Thunder Road

24: John C. Reilly as Eli Sisters—The Sisters Brothers

23: Léa Drucker as Miriam Besson—Custody

22: Dominique Fishback as Angel Lamere—Night Comes On

21: Olivia Colman as Anne, Queen of Great Britain—The Favourite

20: Andrea Riseborough as Nancy Freeman—Nancy

19: Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel—Stan & Ollie

18: John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy—Stan & Ollie

17: Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel—Can You Ever Forgive Me?

16: Madeline Brewer as Alice Ackerman/Lola_Lola—Cam

15: Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Nina Geld—All About Nina

14: John David Washington as Ron Stallworth—BlacKkKlansman

13: Robert Redford as Forrest Tucker—The Old Man & the Gun

12: Jessie Buckley as Moll Huntington—Beast

11: Steven Yeun as Ben—Burning

And now, onto the top ten:

10: Charlize Theron as Marlo Moreau—Tully

Charlize Theron ushers in a new era of her career in Tully, crafting a performance with far more to it than meets the eye.

9: Mahershala Ali as Dr. Don Shirley—Green Book

Mahershala Ali brings much needed gravitas and depth to his portrayal of Dr. Don Shirley in Green Book.

8: Tatum Marilyn Hall as Abby Lamere—Night Comes On

Child actor Tatum Marilyn Hall is astounding and instantly charismatic in Night Comes On.

7: Lily Franky as Osamu Shibata—Shoplifters

Lily Franky is the anchor of the best ensemble cast of the year in Shoplifters.

6: Russell Hornsby as Maverick Carter—The Hate U Give

Russell Hornsby should have been a mainstay on this year's awards circuit for his powerful work in The Hate U Give.

5: Kathryn Hahn as Rachel Biegler—Private Life

Kathryn Hahn is given the best role of her career and more than rises to the task in Private Life. It's as if she's been preparing for this role her entire life.

4: Denis Ménochet as Antoine Besson—Custody

Denis Menochet is a powerful presence in Custody. A monster who doesn't know he's a monster, his portrayal of Antoine is a masterclass in restraint, making it all the more terrifying when he is allowed to let his emotions fly.

3: Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lisa Spinelli—The Kindergarten Teacher

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays one of the most disturbing characters of the year in The Kindergarten Teacher. What's so incredible is that she does so with sweetness and integrity that admirably trusts the writing to convey the more sinister undertones at play.

2: Matt Dillon as Jack—The House That Jack Built

Matt Dillon gives far and away his career-best performance in The House That Jack Built. Even the film's detractors must acknowledge the ferocity of Dillon's work, which demands attention even as you want to avert your eyes.

1: Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo Gutiérrez—Roma

The worst person out of all the characters on this list came in at #2, but the best person out of all the characters comes in at #1. Schoolteacher Yalitza Aparicio gives a brave, soulful, and commanding debut performance that will take your breath away in Roma.

And there you have it! My 100 favorite film performances from this year. Some statistics: The criminally under-seen French film Custody had the most actors appear on this list, with 4. After that, six films had 3 appearances on this list: Burning, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Favourite, The House That Jack Built, Shoplifters, and The Tale. 

Four actors appear on this list twice. Nicole Kidman, John C. Reilly, Andrea Riseborough, and John David Washington. Kidman's two performances I've included could not be any more different, and she just barely missed being on this list a third time for her work in Boy Erased. Reilly had an excellent year all-around (excepting the tragic bomb of Holmes & Watson) and brought tremendous heart to both of his roles here, which each made my top 25 picks. Riseborough is consistently excellent and woefully underrated, and this year not only anchored the weird and wonderful Nancy, but proved to me to be the clear standout in the star-studded The Death of Stalin. And the diehard fans of Mandy would be sad if I didn't mention that she also did great work in Mandy even if that performance didn't make my list. Last but not least we have Washington, who played a policeman cops in three different movies this year alone, but brought humanity to all of them. His cop in The Old Man & the Gun was too small a role for me to even consider including it, but his other two performances were stellar and thus earned him his position here.

So, how did I do? Do you agree with my picks? Who did I miss? Who did I place too high or too low? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to share your own favorite performances from the year!