10. Tom Cruise - Born on the 4th of July
Nothing Tom Cruise had done up to the point of Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July in 1989 had prepared us for what he does in this movie. Although his charisma carried movies like Risky Business and Top Gun, he'd seemed a bit out of his depth in Color of Money, miscast in Legend, and was overshadowed by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (though undeservedly, I think, as his performance is trickier and more impressive to me). But with the power he shows in Born, it was revelatory. Cruise is an actor that has never gotten his due for being as good as he is, but this is still his acting masterpiece and it came seemingly out of nowhere. The way he shows Ron Kovic's bright-eyed optimism and naiveté grow quickly into fear and overwhelm into anger and resentment. It's brilliant work, and it showed that Cruise was more than just a movie star, he was an actor too. He's given other great performances in his career, but never bested this.
9. Jim Carrey - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jim Carrey had shown in performances like The Truman Show and Man on the Moon that he had more depth to his talent than Ace Ventura literally talking out of his ass may've hinted at previously. And while I love those movies and performances, I can still see the performances. Carrey's work in Eternal Sunshine is his most nakedly vulnerable. It's almost uncomfortable to watch sometimes as Carrey doesn't hold back letting us see Joel Barrish's internal pain when we need to see it, or see that he's hiding when he doesn't want to be seen. And for a comedian who wants to be seen more than just about anyone in memory, for Carrey to so effortlessly play a guy who is mostly afraid to be seen, it's extraordinary. And we see his progression as his girlfriend Clementine (the predictably great Kate Winslet) counteracts him with her wild attitude and brashness. These two balance each other in really touching ways. But that's getting into the movie, and not just shining the spotlight on Jim Carrey's career best work.
8. Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
I remember when 2003's The Order was coming out, with Heath Ledger playing a supernatural fighting priest or some shit (I obviously never saw more than the previews) and thinking "Really? They're still trying to make him a star? Why?" and it kinda made me sad. I'd liked Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You (still one of the best teen movies, I think), and he was powerful in a supporting role in Monster's Ball. But mostly I'd found him forgettable in stuff like The Patriot, A Knight's Tale, and The Four Feathers. It seemed like he was going to be another in a very long line of guys that had a chance to be A-list stars, but didn't have the talent as much as he had the good looks. Then he and Jake Gyllenhaal got cast in a movie about gay cowboys and it seemed like his career was really going down the toilet.
South Park had famously parodied all independent movies as being "about gay cowboys eating pudding" so hopes were not high for Brokeback Mountain even with master filmmaker Ang Lee in the director's chair. When Ledger came on screen and gave a completely unexpectedly masterful performance it blew me away. His work in showing us the emotions of a man who doesn't show emotions is one of the most complex, subtle, heartbreaking pieces of acting I've ever seen. He followed it up with great work in movies like Candy, I'm Not There, The Dark Knight, and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, leaving us realizing that he'd always had the talent and just needed to really hit his prime to show it off consistently. Sadly, with his overdose death we can only imagine what he would've done next, but his work in Brokeback Mountain stands as a testament to his talent and one of the times I was truly blown away by an actor. For that matter, The Dark Knight is the polar opposite in performance, just as surprising as a totally different type of character and equally as brilliant. I feel like he would've continued to surprise us over the years if he'd had the chance.
7. Colin Farrell - In Bruges
Like Ledger, Farrell had shown signs of his talent before his best work came along. He was really good in The New World, Intermission, and Daredevil (of which his wildly over-the-top villain is about the only redeeming thing) but he'd also been bland and forgettable in a number of movies both big and small (Cassandra's Dream, SWAT, Alexander, Miami Vice, The Recruit). Again like Ledger, he seemed to me to be a relatively harmless actor with a pretty face that just didn't have the talent to be a star or a great actor. And then In Bruges came along and Farrell's performance really caught me off guard. His Ray is funny, almost childlike sometimes, but with a depth of experience, anger, and sadness that is sometimes hidden and sometimes allowed to come out. Farrell plays each of these aspects, in his native accent (where he works best), with almost effortless ease. This performance never reaches for a moment or a laugh. It never tries to make you cry or identify with him. It just works. And it really was like a springboard for Farrell to become one of our best actors. He's since shown such range and talent in everything from The Lobster to Crazy Heart, Seven Psychopaths, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and filling in after Ledger's passing in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. But for me, In Bruges was where he most surprised me. Seeing this performance now wouldn't be so shocking, but at the time, he'd not shown this level of talent yet. Now I expect it of him.
6. Max Pomeranc - Searching for Bobby Fischer
This is a different case. Max Pomeranc was a top 100 child chess player when picked to play Josh Waitzkin in Searching for Bobby Fischer. The true story of a child chess prodigy, it's one of my favorite movies. But the surprise comes not from the seasoned actors like Joe Mantegna, Joan Allen, and Ben Kingsley, although they're all wonderful, but from 8 year old Pomeranc. This is the best child performance I've ever seen. Pomeranc is not the precocious child star, nor the almost savant-like character that other children have been on screen. Instead, he's a real child, innocent, emotional without being able to articulate, driven by the things he likes, and just wants his dad to love him. It's a great movie, but the movie doesn't work without this central performance, because unlike in other movies of this kind, the child is also the main character (or co-lead at least). Pomeranc has to carry the movie as much as Mantegna does, and he does it brilliantly. The sensitivity, intelligence, curiosity, and real emotions he brings to the role is staggering when compared to even other great child performances. He went on to act in a couple of other movies, but mostly leaves Searching for Bobby Fischer as his calling card, and what a card it is.
5. Hayden Christensen - Shattered Glass
Oh, poor Hayden Christensen. He was a promising young actor when cast as Anakin Skywalker in the second and third Star Wars prequels (he'd won or been nominated for a slew of awards for 2001's Life as a House). But his performances in the Star Wars prequels are laughable and have been thoroughly ridiculed in the last 15 years. Unfortunately for Christensen, he's taken the brunt of the criticism, despite those movies being littered with bad performances and other things to criticize. Shattered Glass may have looked initially like an actor trying to gain respect when he doesn't have the talent to deserve it, but instead it's a fascinating look at a pathological liar and Christensen is astonishing in the role. Nowhere else has he shown what he does here, where we can see his mind moving to come up with a lie to cover a previous lie he is now caught in. Christensen also shows us the wounded child underneath, the main aspect of his personality that allowed him to get away with his lies for so long. It's a great movie, wonderfully written and directed, but like all movies it would need a real performance to bring it up a level. He hasn't really shown this depth of talent in his other work, but it's on full display here for us to know that it's inside of him.
4. Kate Hudson - Almost Famous
Like Christensen, this is a masterful performance, and also like Christensen, I don't think Hudson has shown anywhere near this depth anywhere else. That's what surprises, both on first viewing when I didn't know her at all, and subsequent viewings when I do. But the sensitivity and emotion Hudson brings to her role as Penny Lane is truly heartwarming, heartbreaking and wonderful. It's a great role, from Cameron Crowe's Oscar-winning script, but it's not just that. Hudson really handles little moments, looks, certain body language, tones of voice in a way to let us know who Penny is and what she's feeling. That's what makes this work so surprising, because Hudson hasn't hinted at it anywhere else. She has a fine talent for rom-coms. She has the charisma to carry lightweight fluff like that, she does it well. She inherited her mother's thousand watt smile, and she has the great breezy personality of many rom-com queens. But Penny Lane is something else, something deeper, and Hudson knocks it out of the park effortlessly. While others on this list had performances that might've hinted at their talent elsewhere in their career, I don't think Hudson has. That's why this one hits so hard.3. Jimmy Stewart - Vertigo & John Wayne - The Searchers
I couldn't decide which to choose between these performances, so I didn't. These could've topped the list, honestly, because of how surprising they are in and of themselves, but we knew Wayne and Stewart's talents before this. Although Wayne was more personality than actor, he'd been very good previously in movies like The Sands of Iwo Jima, Stagecoach, and Red River. Stewart, of course, was very similar in that he often played "Jimmy Stewart", more personality than actor. But he too had done plenty of good work in movies like It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and The Philadelphia Story among others. The reason I picked these two performances (and felt okay lumping them together) is because they both play unsavory characters at odds with the rest of their careers.
Wayne's Ethan Edwards in The Searchers is a racist scumbag who only wants to save his kidnapped niece so that he can kill her, because she's been soiled by living with the Native Americans who took her. He's not the knight in shining armor trying to save the damsel in distress. He's driven by his racist hatred for the people who took her, not his beating heart. Wayne loved playing the strong, take control, almost superheroic character. He was good at it. But he surprises with not only the role choice, which is bold, but the depth and power of his performance. It's great actor work, not just star presence. Stewart's Scotty in Vertigo is a slow burn piece of work who is subtly falling into madness over his obsessive love of Kim Novak's character. He becomes controlling, disturbed, and ultimately unhinged. It's a frightening performance from a guy who was essentially the Tom Hanks of his day. He was a likable, comforting presence on screen. Not in Vertigo. Well, he is at first, he's initially sympathetic, it's over the course of the movie that we're surprised by the nightmarish spiral downward that he takes. It's what makes the movie work. And it wouldn't have worked with just any ole actor.
2. Jack Black - High Fidelity/Bernie
Jack Black really knocked my socks off twice in his career. First was the first time I ever saw him, in 2000's High Fidelity where he comes into the movie like a whirling dervish, a Tasmanian devil spinning out of control through the life of John Cusack's lead character. It's a big, brash, showy, scene stealing role that was really surprising and delightful, but it's a role that Black then played variations of for most of his career. It became the "Jack Black" persona. So when it came to 2011's Bernie, based on a true story, where Black plays an impossibly nice, effeminate man accused of murdering his hateful elderly friend (Shirley MacLaine), I was again surprised, this time by the lack of "JACK BLACK" in the performance. Black’s extraordinary work as Bernie is pitched just this side of caricature. None of Bernie’s mannerisms are camp or insincere at all, Black goes for realism, making the performance all the more astounding in its creation of this odd character. He showed real actor chops, and I still contend should have an Oscar on his shelf for it.1. Jamie Foxx - Ray/Collateral
Like former cast mate Jim Carrey before him, but even more so, I was blown away by Jamie Foxx in Ray. I'd always known he was funny, I'd been a huge In Living Color fan and he was one of the funniest cast members. They'd also done something one time on the show that let Foxx sing, showing he had great talent there as well. But like others on the list, even though you could see there was talent there it wasn't until the right role came along that that talent got to shine. 2004 was the year Foxx showed it all. In August I went to see him in Michael Mann's Collateral, which had mostly been given attention for Tom Cruise's villainous turn. But it was Foxx who most impressed me, with his low key, realistic work in the lead role (which he was somehow nominated as Best Supporting Actor for at the Oscars, which has to be the most screen time by a "supporting" role in Oscar history, he's unquestionably the lead). But then two months later Foxx really broke out with his show stopping role in the Ray Charles biopic Ray. His capturing of Charles's mannerisms, singing voice, and infectious character really blew me away. Foxx has since gone on to do all kinds of work across singing, acting, even hosting a game show. But I've never been more surprised in a performance than I was with Ray.
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