The 100 Best Movie Performances of 2019

THE 100 BEST MOVIE PERFORMANCES OF 2019

Having already run down my favorite films of 2019, it's time to look at my favorite performances. Just as with my favorite films, I must say that I find a lot of the most buzzed about performances of the year rather underwhelming. When the SAG Award nominations were announced, I was dismayed by how boring the nominations were. They felt like they were determined by a robot who had not seen any of the films in question. And I should point out that in most cases this isn't me disparaging the actors themselves; a lot of the actors picking up major recognition at awards ceremonies this year are incredibly talented. But I find the roles themselves that are getting a lot of attention rather lackluster. For example, if Charlize Theron gets an Oscar nomination for Bombshell when she wasn't even part of the conversation for Tully last year it's a bit of a headscratcher. But my dissatisfaction over the acting awards of the year doesn't mean there weren't a litany of great performances this year. Below you'll find my list of what I believe to be the 100 best movie performances of the year. Let's see if your favorite made the cut!

100) Cho Yeo-jeong as Park Yon-gyo—Parasite

99) Winston Duke as Gabe Wilson/Abraham—Us

98) Vera Farmiga as Shareen Krager—Skin

97) Awkwafina as Billi Wang—The Farewell

96) Paula Beer as Marie Weidel—Transit

95) Rob Morgan as Herbert Richardson—Just Mercy

94) Alan Alda as Bert Spitz—Marriage Story

93) Alfre Woodard as Bernadine Williams—Clemency

92) Rose Adam as Aube—Slut in a Good Way

91) Bill Camp as Fred “Hammer” Krager—Skin

90) Saoirse Ronan as Jo March—Little Women

89) Juliette Binoche as Dr. Dibs—High Life

88) Patrick Wilson as Ross Humboldt—In the Tall Grass

87) Lily James as Deb Hale—Little Woods

86) Julian Hilliard as Julian—Greener Grass

85) Angela Ekeleme Pius as Madame—Joy

84) Danielle MacDonald as Julie Price—Skin

83) Almamy Kanoute as Salah—Les Misérables

82) Julieta Serrano as Jacinta Mallo—Pain + Glory

81) Lexy Kolker as Chloe Lewis—Freaks

80) Adèle Haenel as Héloïse—Portrait of a Lady on Fire

79) Harumi Shuhama as Narumi Higurashi—One Cut of the Dead

78) Maxwell Simba as William Kamkwamba—The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

77) Octavia Spencer as Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington—Ma

76) David Strathairn as Dean Ellis—Fast Color

75) Archie Yates as Yorki—Jojo Rabbit

74) Crispin Glover as Julian Blackwood—We Have Always Lived in the Castle

73) Kevin Garnett as himself—Uncut Gems

72) Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist—El Camino: A breaking Bad Movie

71) Park Myung-hoon as Geun-sae—Parasite

70) Nick Rutherford as Cal—The Unicorn

69) Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Luce Edgar—Luce

68) Trần Nữ Yên Khê as Hà—The Third Wife

67) Donald Sutherland as Judge Oliver Straight—American Hangman

66) Mike Colter as Daryle Jenkins—Skin

65) Beanie Feldstein as Molly—Booksmart

64) Rob Morgan as James Fails Sr.—The Last Black Man in San Francisco

63) Astro as Calvin Walker—See You Yesterday

62) Bruce Dern as Alan Lewis—Freaks

61) Wang Yuwen as Huang Ling—An Elephant Sitting Still

60) Danielle Brooks as Venus Al Shabaz—The Day Shall Come

59) Asier Etxeandia as Alberto Crespo—Pain + Glory

58) Lee Jung-eun as Gook Moon-gwang—Parasite

57) Zhang Yu as Yu Cheng—An Elephant Sitting Still

56) Robert Forster as Ed Galbraith—El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

55) Kathryn Wilder as Judith Shakespeare—All is True

54) Marchánt Davis as Moses Al Shabaz—The Day Shall Come

53) André Holland as Ray Burke—High Flying Bird

52) Vanessa Paradis as Anne Parèze—Knife + Heart

51) Romane Denis as Mégane—Slut in a Good Way

50) Robert Pattinson as Thomas Howard—The Lighthouse

49) Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino—The Irishman

48) Matthias Schoenaerts as Roman Coleman—The Mustang

47) Sophie Okonedo as Susannah—Wild Rose

46) Tessa Thompson as Ollie Hale—Little Woods

45) Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc—Knives Out

44) Lauren Lapkus as Malory Carter—The Unicorn

43) Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman—El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

42) Dante Crichlow as Sebastian J. Thomas—See You Yesterday

41) Peng Yuchang as Wei Bu—An Elephant Sitting Still

40) Julie Walters as Marion Harlan—Wild Rose

39) Matthew Broderick as Albert—To Dust

38) Chris Cooper as Jerry Vogel—A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

37) Adam Driver as Charlier Barber—Marriage Story

36) Jennifer Lopez as Ramona Vega—Hustlers

35) Willem Dafoe as Thomas Wake—The Lighthouse

34) Dawn Luebbe as Lisa Wetbottom—Greener Grass

33) Luna Kwok as Mindy—A Land Imagined

32) Bill Duke as Spence—High Flying Bird

31) Zac Efron as Ted Bundy—Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

30) Wendell Pierce as Reverend Joseph Tillman—Burning Cane

29) Antonio Banderas as Salvador Mallo—Pain + Glory

28) Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson/Red—Us

27) Liu Xiaoyi as Wang Bi Cheng—A Land Imaagined

26) Ray Romano as Andy Freeman—Paddleton

25) Park So-dam as Kim Ki-jung—Parasite

24) Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Lady Reed—Dolemite Is My Name

23) Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ruth—Fast Color

22) Jocelyn DeBoer as Jill Davies—Greener Grass

21) Nora Hamzawi as Valérie Spiegel—Non-Fiction

20) Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers—A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

19) Sônia Braga as Domingas—Bacurau

18) Song Kang-ho as Kim Ki-taek—Parasite

17) Armie Hammer as Will—Wounds

16) Behnaz Jafari as herself—3 Faces

15) Joy Anwulika Alphonsus as Joy Ogbeide—Joy

14) Zhao Shuzhen as Nai Nai—The Farewell

13) Baykali Ganambarr as Billy Mangana—The Nightingale

12) Peter Yu as Lok—A Land Imagined

11) Eden Duncan-Smith as Claudette “CJ” Walker—See You Yesterday

And now, onto the top ten:

10) Emily Beecham as Alice Woodard—Little Joe

Emily Beecham, who won Best Actress at Cannes for her work in Little Joe provides needed nuance and complexity to her role as a scientist whose experiment gets away from her.

9) Carloto Cotta as Diamantino Matamouros—Diamantino

One of the most difficult qualities to portray in a character is goodness, but Carloto Cotta brings a valuable endearing quality to the title role in Diamantino while making it feel authentic and meaningful.

8) James Badge Dale as Hank Peck—Mickey and the Bear

As the titular bear, it would have been easy for James Badge Dale to play Hank Peck as an out of control and violent drug addict. But by daring to play a monster with great sympathy he manages to tread new ground and allows this film to truly say something different and important.

7) Aisling Franciosi as Clare Carroll—The Nightingale

As a widow seeking revenge, Aisling Franciosi is a force to be reckoned with in The Nightingale, and gives us one of the screen's most memorable heroes of 2019.

6) Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore—Dolemite Is My Name

Eddie Murphy's passion for Dolemite Is My Name comes through in every single scene, providing a comeback for the versatile actor and a reintroduction of Rudy Ray Moore to audiences who don't know of him.

5) Camila Morrone as Mickey Peck—Mickey and the Bear

Camila Morrone gives one of the year's most significant breakout performances in Mickey and the Bear, and in a few years when her talent is recognized this film will perhaps be recognized as the start to a promising career.

4) Nguyễn Phương Trà My as Mây—The Third Wife

At the age of only twelve, Tra My tackled one of the most challenging roles of the year, and brought much needed humanity to a delicate issue.

3) Liu Congxi as Wang Jin—An Elephant Sitting Still

An Elephant Sitting Still follows the intersecting lives of four individuals, and while the whole cast is excellent, it is Liu Congxi who steals the show. As the most sympathetic of the principal figures, he is the heart of the film and his performance is natural and truly heartbreaking.

2) Lorraine Toussaint as Bo—Fast Color

As the matriarch of a family with superpowers, Lorraine Toussaint exudes power and resilience and single-handedly sells the mythology of the film. She simultaneously demonstrates Bo's humanity and sense of responsibility while always keeping an undercurrent of the godlike abilities she possesses.

1) Jessie Buckley as Rose-Lynn Harlan—Wild Rose

And just like that, a star is born. No performance this year carried a film or elevated the material the way Buckley's did. For Wild Rose to succeed as a film, we have to believe that Rose-Lynn Harlan is destined for greatness. She is, and so is the talented actor who portrays her.

And those are my picks for the best performances of the year. Who do you agree with? Who do you disagree with? Who do you think was unjustly left off my list? Let me know! Although if you say Joaquin Phoenix I will not respond.

Also, some thoughts on my list that I found interesting:

Parasite has the most actors on this list, with 5 making the cut. It's followed by An Elephant Sitting Still and Skin. An Elephant Sitting Still's inclusion of 4 actors is particularly notable since it really only has 4 prominent roles and all of them made it in, and Skin's inclusion of 4 actors is noticeable because it's really not a very good movie. But it does feature some strong performances, which all might have ranked higher on this list had the screenplay given them more to work with. After these, 7 movies had 3 actors apiece on the list: Wild Rose, Fast Color, See You Yesterday, A Land Imagined, Greener Grass, El Camino, and Pain + Glory.

Each year I've been compiling this list there are always a few actors who appear on the list more than once. This year, for the first time, there's only one: Rob Morgan. Morgan blew me away after his performance in Mudbound a couple of years ago and I think it's fair to say he's now one of my favorite actors working. Both of his performances that made the list this year are very small roles, almost cameos more than anything, but in both cases he stood out and used every second of his screentime to make an impression.

A record number of child actors made my list, with 7 total. I should also mention that Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex from Us very nearly made this list as well. I am resentful of how phenomenal Archie Yates was in Jojo Rabbit, forcing me to give that movie any recognition.

Lastly, of the 20 performances nominated for an Oscar this year, only 4 are also on my list, which I believe is an all-time low since I've been doing these. In particular, Scarlett Johansson didn't make my list for either of her acclaimed performances this year, in a devastating blow for diversity on the screen.