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Best Actor Performances of 2023

Just like last year unfortunately, women had it much better than men when it comes to acting. Thus, making this list was quite difficult as most of the renowned performances in my opinion were wildly overrated, so I had to populate this list with some lesser-known actors and highly underrated performances. In a weak year for actors, these men stood out from the pack.

5. Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon

Lily Gladstone is the star of Killers of the Flower Moon, but Robert De Niro also delivered stellar work in one of his best performances in quite a while. He was perfectly cast in the role of the devious Hale and he should be cast in more villainous roles as he is excellent at them. Hale is the definition of evil working in the open, so De Niro is obviously impossible to like in this movie, but he is so easy to despise, which is a testament to his great work in the role.

4. Thom Green – Of an Age

Of an Age is another superb work from the great Goran Stolevski and one of the most underseen movies of 2023. While Elias Anton was also terrific in this gay romance, Thom Green was to me the more memorable performer of the two. Especially toward the end of the movie he shined and in his eyes alone you can see a world of pain and lost opportunities. The two actors had terrific chemistry and both were great, but Thom Green’s performance is the more moving of the two, so he gets on this list.

3. Barry Keoghan – Saltburn

Barry Keoghan delivered one of the year’s finest acting performances and one of the most underappreciated. He was superb as the manipulative and obsessive Oliver who would stop at nothing to get what he wants. Keoghan was perfectly cast and very effective not just in his line delivery, but also in his impressive physicality. Oliver is such a fun character and the movie truly came alive whenever he was on screen calculating his every move. Keoghan was already nominated last year, but he was snubbed this year only because of Saltburn being polarizing.

2. Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction

Yes, Sterling K. Brown’s character in American Fiction did feel unnecessary in the bigger scope of things and the movie did feel like two films disconnected from each other. But at the end of the day he ended up stealing the movie from Jeffrey Wright, who was excellent himself. But the reason why I put him him above Wright is because his character’s arc is much more emotional and Sterling K. Brown was not only touching in the role, but also highly charismatic. I was so glad to see him get nominated and he entirely deserved that recognition.

1. Andrew Scott – All of Us Strangers

And the best male acting performance of the year has to be Andrew Scott’s work as Adam in the heartbreaking All of Us Strangers. He’s always been an underrated actor, but this year his snub by the Academy really hurts as he by far delivered the most impactful performance of 2023. Just in his eyes you can see so much sadness and longing, but the highlight for me was his acting in the scenes where he meets his parents as he turns to the childlike wonder and vulnerability in his facial expressions that were downright astonishing to witness. This is a very minimalist film that relies heavily on Scott’s performance to carry it through the finish line, which is exactly what he did.

Honorable Mentions:

Dominic Sessa – The Holdovers – I get that Paul Giamatti was recognized so much due to his name alone, but Dominic Sessa is the real star of The Holdovers, delivering one of the best breakout performances of the year.

Jamie Bell – All of Us Strangers – Jamie Bell delivered one of the most overlooked and emotional performances of the year as the protagonist’s father in this touching film.

Glenn Howerton – BlackBerry – It was wonderful seeing Glenn Howerton of ‘Sunny’ fame finally get a movie role worthy of his talents. BlackBerry is an unexpectedly strong movie about a product, but Howerton stole it from everybody else as such a fun, unhinged character.