My Top 10 Favorite Film Acting Performances of All Time

It is Awards Season and I thought after holding off on this list for about 3 months I figured why not talk about some of my favorite movie performances since were inching closer and closer each day to the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. Now I want to make this clear before writing this list as yes I want to talk about amazing acting performances in film but not every performance on here is going to be a nominating performance. For instance a great performance might be great because a certain actor fits the role very perfectly and yet it isn’t an Academy or Golden Globe nominating performance, yet somehow it manages to be an amazing performance. Now to be on this list the actors in question must put on some memorable performances that left us on the edge of our seat or in shock and awe of how fantastic the performance was. Also a lot of people might not agree with every performance I put on this list and that is okay as we all have different opinions. I’m just picking ten performances from 10 different actors that left a huge impact in my life as their performance make me fall more in love with movies and with their acting. Also I will only be counting live action performances; voice acting performances will have a list of their own in the future. Comment below your favorite film acting performance of all time and let’s countdown my Top 10 Favorite Film Acting Performances of All Time.

My Top 10 Film Acting Performances of All Time

10. Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine (The X-Men franchise) – Given the fact that this performance was credited in 10 different X-Men films, it’s a no brainer to put the Australian actor on this list for his most well known role. Shockingly out of all the superhero performances I wanted to put on this list my heart picked Jackman’s performance as Logan/Wolverine because of how much he impacted the role. So much so that many people do not want the role of Wolverine to be played by any other actor. That’s how you know your acting performance as the character left an impact to not only movie buffs, but to the entire world. Now while it wasn’t the greatest acting performance of all time, for me Hugh Jackman really delivered a solid, lasting performance that for 17 years he literally took the role and literally hit it out of the park. Now while not all the X-Men films will show his great acting abilities, it is X-Men 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Logan where you will see the incredible acting from Jackman; especially in Logan where we got to see the send off performance of Logan/Wolverine. His performance in Logan really stands out from the other films as not only was it legit a comic book movie, but it was a comic book movie that was very dark and gritty, felt like a western and a movie where we legit could see the amazing acting ability of Hugh Jackman. As I said before, many people do not want anyone to touch the role of Wolverine and I’m one of those people. Hugh Jackman’s performance left an impact in my life that I would literally judge anyone who took on the role as they would literally need to outperform someone who took on the role for 17 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-fj-raR5Ek

9. Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates (Psycho) – When it comes to horror movies an acting performance might get overlooked but maybe it shouldn’t. Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger or Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector is some horror movie performances that have become iconic and beloved by many. But when it comes to the one that impacted me that award goes to Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Psycho. The performance from Anthony Perkins in Psycho was groundbreaking as it has become iconic and the most well known acting performance in horror. What makes this performance so amazing is how intense and creepy Bates is and how Perkins portrays him. Each time I re-watch Psycho i can feel how creepy Norman Bates is and Anthony Perkins really sells the performance very well. You also have to think that this film and his character began the future uprising of slasher films and Perkins’ performance as Norman Bates stands out from all the other slasher film performances. It also is pretty shocking that the Academy snubbed his performance for the 34th Academy Awards. This performance impacted me in a very great way as I loved how Perkins made a psychopath look so innocent throughout the film, so innocent that he wouldn’t hurt a fly. Plus the performance and character inspired me to create my own horror movie short film, BabyFace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv88ASiLmgk

8. Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody) – This performance from Rami Malek is very recent and it is on this list for more of a personal reason. When I first watched Bohemian Rhapsody in the movie theater I had my eyes and mind opened wide as I was watching a performance of a life time, a performance where I believed the actual Freddie fucking Mercury was on screen. While the film as a whole might not be the most amazing film ever, it is Malek’s performance as the lead singer of Queen that stands out from this entire film and brings it its glory and acclaim that it obtained. During the last 20 minutes of the film I just watched and didn’t take my eye off the screen as I was watching Rami perform as Freddie but it felt so real and shockingly everything from that Live Aid scene legit happened and Rami Malek was able to pull it all off. But he pulled it all off throughout the entire film. I loved his performance so much that I was rooting for him to win every award that he was nominated for. In fact Malek took home some big awards for his performance including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. I really began to believe that this man was literally Freddie Mercury throughout the entire film and I was shocked ho beautiful and amazing his performance was. For me this is one of the best performances in any film within the last 10 years and I think no one else could had put on a hell of a acting performance like he did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrTbZ1TKt1g

7. Robin Williams as Sean Maguire (Good Will Hunting) – If there was one performance from Robin Williams that made me shed a tear and fall in love with his dramatic roles then by all means we need to talk about his Oscar winning performance as Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. I love Robin Williams’ comedic performances but when this man puts on a dramatic acting performance he literally blows the roof off and takes off. His role as Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting is by far his greatest acting performance of all time (live action of course). The way he spoke the dialogue was so perfect; it’s like you can see the emotions coming off of him each time he said something. This man literally put on a career highlighting performance, so much so that he ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the 70th Academy Awards. You can feel the pain and heartbreak when his character spoke and when he was on the screen. He played a character that pretty much lost everything in his life, had a terrible childhood and yet he still manages to help others in need and make them feel love and push them to do better things. Robin brought this character to life and in the end he did a phenomenal job at bringing this Oscar winning performance to life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRG2jlQWCsY

6. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles (Ray) – I was 9 years old when I first watched Ray on TV and I didn’t understand much, didn’t even know who Ray Charles is but the one thing that stood out to me was the performance. Of course I was young and couldn’t understand much but once I grew a bit older and learned to pay attention to everything about a movie, I became very aware of how great of a performance Jamie Foxx put on as the legendary Ray Charles. Looking back at it now I believe Jamie Foxx is somehow a magician or something because he literally put on one of the greatest acts ever and made me believe that his performance as Ray was literally young Ray just acting as himself but in reality Jamie Foxx is just a great fucking actor. From the mannerisms to literally his singing voice, Jamie Foxx became Ray Charles and put on such a perfect performance. It is such a memorable performance and it was so great that it won Jamie Foxx a Best Actor award in the Academy Awards. This was one of those few movies that I remember watching as a kid and remember the performance more than I remember the movie and it is still like that today. This is without any question Jamie Foxx’s greatest acting performance ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx3LhHPoDAw

5. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort (The Wolf of Wall Street) – Honestly Leonardo DiCaprio can get a list of his own on his best acting performances but out of all his amazing and Oscar nominating performances I’m choosing my favorite one from my favorite DiCaprio film aka Jordan Belfort from The Wolf of Wall Street. This was the performance that made me believe that DiCaprio was finally going to win the Academy Award and yet the Academy let me down. This performance was over the top, hilarious, was dramatic at times and DiCaprio literally showed the real life story of Jordan Belfort and his corruption as a stockbroker in Wall Street. Every line that DiCaprio spoke in this film was engaging and each time DiCaprio was on the screen was gold, hell no it was more than gold, it was a 24k diamond, that’s how fucking great DiCaprio was in this film. You also have to think that the film and DiCaprio’s performance is made for us to feel bad for this real life asshole who literally stole millions and to make us both hate and feel sympathy for this one character is by far amazing and I’m still in shock that this man didn’t win the Academy Award for this film. I fell in love with DiCaprio’s acting because of this movie and because of this performance. Granted I thought DiCaprio was a great actor and I liked some of his films, but this was the one where DiCaprio grabbed me and held onto me and said “I will get you to fucking love me and be one of your favorite actors ever” and you know what he did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XYwNiNh0sY

4. Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone (The Godfather) – Before I get everyone on my ass let me just say that I know that this is literally the greatest acting performance in cinema history but for me this is my 4th favorite performance of all time. If you never seen The Godfather then you need to wake the fuck up, smell the morning coffee and watch the greatest movie of all time and watch the greatest performance of all time aka Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone. This was the performance that brought Brando back on the map and a legend in cinema. Brando is only in this film for less than an hour but he puts on one hell of a performance. When I finally watched The Godfather for the first time my mind was blown from how amazing it was but by how extremely amazing Marlon Brando is. He literally took this role and told everyone that he was coming back for his star and wanted to become Hollywood’s biggest name and he did just that. Brando did so much for this one role that it’s hard to forget. He added in so much to the character like using fangs to peel the orange to add in a frightening effect and it legit made the character frightening. He did much more but to keep it short it’s best to watch the movie to see how amazing this performance is. I guarantee you that you will become a fan and have your mind blown after watching The Godfather. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmX2VzsB25s

3. Mickey Rourke as Randy “The Ram” Robinson (The Wrestler) – This one might shock people considering where it ranks, especially above the greatest movie acting performance of all time, but folks this one kind of is close to my heart considering I love wrestling. The Wrestler is about an aging wrestler and how he struggles with life after wrestling. Mickey Rourke had a career comeback with this Oscar nominating performance as he literally put on one hell of a performance in this movie. You feel bad for The Ram as the thing he loved the most, wrestling, was taken away from him because of his health and you start to see him struggle with life after his career abruptly ends and Rourke really shows the struggles that some professional wrestlers deal with after they retire or when their careers just abruptly ends because of career ending injuries or their health. A lot of former professional wrestlers like Mick Foley, Bret “The Hitman” Hart and the late great Rowdy Roddy Piper all were touched by not only the film but by Rourke’s performance as they are a few examples of wrestlers who kind of went through the same struggles Rourke’s character went through. For me this performance opened me up to see the other side of professional wrestling, the people that put on the character and what they have to deal with after the lights go out. Mickey Rourke literally trained to become a wrestler during the shooting of the film, that right there shows how much heart he had for this role and how hard it worked to make this his greatest performance of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1dmtWR9RxA&t=140s

2. Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood) – Daniel Day-Lewis is probably the most perfect actor ever as I can’t think of one bad film that he starred in. Now while he has put on some really big memorable roles in his career, Daniel Plainview is his greatest performance of all time. There Will Be Blood is possibly the greatest film of the 21st century, not my opinion but hey I wouldn’t argue with that statement and Day-Lewis’ role as Daniel Plainview is by far perfection. Daniel Plainview is more than just your ordinary character, he is a manipulated madman who wants to gain as much money as possible. He is a man that will self destruct at any time and when he does you better hope you are not in the same room with him. I remember watching There Will Be Blood for the first time. I was taking a film class in college that centered around the Anderson brothers and I got the opportunity to watch the film in class and I was so amazed by Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance. I thought he did more than put on a performance, he brought this madman to life and by the end I didn’t see Daniel Day-Lewis anymore, I saw a monster disguised as a business man who becomes rich and wants to destroy the competition that stands in his way. This man, this fucking amazing actor, made this villain so iconic and so legendary that in the end of the film I wanted this man to go off on someone and then he did. The final scene of this film is one of the greatest finales of all time and of course Daniel Day-Lewis killed it with his iconic line of “I’m drinking your Milkshake”. This performance is a classic example of top tier acting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX-9wXFQRgA

1. Heath Ledger as The Joker (The Dark Knight) – This one isn’t really hard to figure out when it comes to my favorite acting performance in a movie as this role literally impacted my life and is the one role I love to death. Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker was legendary and considered one of the greatest movie performances of all time. This was a performance where Ledger legit became The Joker on screen and we didn’t see the man behind the clown makeup as all we saw was the mass murdering, schizophrenic clown. The crazy part was many people were against Ledger playing the role as many people thought he wasn’t a perfect fit to play Batman’s arch enemy and he proved those people wrong and put on such a perfect performance. I never studied a character before like I did with The Joker. This performance in general was extremely flawless as Ledger created his own version of The Joker and made him really dark. Ever since then no other actor has set the bar as high as Ledger did when it comes to playing the clown prince. I would say Joaquin Phoenix is probably the only man to reach his level but not fully. Ledger’s performance was so impactful to me as I based his characteristics onto my own character BabyFace. It’s a shame that he never got to witness his own character on the big screen and it’s a shame that he passed away before the film was released into theaters. I could watch Ledger’s performance a million times and never get tired of it as I love his version of The Joker, I love how he made the character a hundred times more menacing and horrifying, I love monologues that he says in the film as he makes it seem so badass but at the same time it will leave goose bumps all over your body because he delivers his lines in such a perfect way. He deserved that Best Supporting Actor award and he is truly missed to this day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGcfBRkJSWQ

Honorable Mentions

Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice) – He only in the movie for like not even 15 minutes and he puts on one hell of a performance. Yes it’s not the greatest acting performance of all time but it is one that truly was a favorite throughout my lifetime and had to get a mention for this list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io0PZTAcBes

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Deadpool) – I mean this man should have been nominated for an Academy Award for this role. I mean what the shit, this man put on the performance for some half ass Wolverine movie and it became known as a joke. So he decided fuck that shit, helped to create the movie and boom he put on one of the best comic book performances of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy8nPI85Ih4

Jessie Eisneberg as Mark Zuckerberg (The Social Network) – I don’t need to say much about this role as simply put he does it with perfection. I’ll let the link do all the talking for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpj7rqTgy1k

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker (Joker) – This is probably the most recent acting performance that I literally fell in love with real quick. I mentioned earlier that his version of Joker was almost as great as Ledger’s performance but he is my 2nd favorite Joker. His performance was so beautiful and even when he wasn’t wearing the makeup, his performance as Arthur Fleck was perfect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlue-wk9lXo