All the Oscar Nominated Performances, Ranked (2010-2016)

Per reader request!

ALL 140 OF OSCAR NOMINATED PERFORMANCES THIS DECADE RANKED (THUS FAR)
by Nathaniel R
Asterisks indicate Oscar winners

1. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine *
2. Cate Blanchett, Carol
3. Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
4. Marion Cotillard, Two Days One Night
5. Christopher Plummer, Beginners *
6. Isabelle Huppert, Elle
   
   
7. Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
8. Viola Davis, The Help
   🔺 for the ages...  
9. Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln *
10. Edward Norton, Birdman
11. Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
12. Michael Keaton, Birdman
13. Christian Bale, The Fighter *
14. Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
15. Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
16. Rooney Mara, Carol
17. Viola Davis, Fences
    
    
18. Melissa Leo, The Fighter *
19. Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables *
20. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
21. Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
22. Denzel Washington, Fences
23. Brad Pitt, Moneyball
24. Jean DuJardin, The Artist *
25. Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
26. Natalie Portman, Jackie
27. Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave *
    🔺the awesomeness...
    
    
    ...just love em 🔻
28. Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
29. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
30. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood *
31. Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
32. Amy Adams, The Fighter
33. Nicole Kidman, Lion
34. Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
35. Brie Larson, Room *
36. Emma Stone, La La Land
    
    
37. Sally Field, Lincoln
38. Reese Witherspoon, Wild
39. Bruce Dern, Nebraska
40. Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
41. Jessica Chastain, The Help
    ...with deep appreciation  🔻 
42. Naomie Harris, Moonlight
43. Helen Hunt, The Sessions
44. Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
45. Natalie Portman, Black Swan 
46. Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
47. Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
48. Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
49. John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
50. Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
51. Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
52. Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
53. Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
    
    
    
    worthy fine choices. They brought it
54. Matt Damon, The Martian
55. Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
56. Julianne Moore, Still Alice *
57. Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
58. Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
59. Ryan Gosling, La La Land
60. Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
61. James Franco, 127 Hours
62. Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
63. Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyer's Club *
64. Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
65. Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
66. Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
67. Sylvester Stallone, Creed
68. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
69. Denzel Washington, Flight
70. Demian Bichir, A Better Life
71. Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
    
    
72. Ruth Negga, Loving
73. Amy Adams, American Hustle
74. Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything *
75. Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies *
76. Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl *
77. Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
78. Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
79. Judi Dench, Philomena
80. Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
81. Jeremy Renner, The Town
    
    
    
    i get it even if I wouldn't necessarily have gone there... 
82. Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
83. Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
84. Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
85. Naomi Watts, The Impossible
86. Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
87. Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
88. Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
89. Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
90. Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
91. Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
92. Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
93. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant * 
94. Colin Firth, The King's Speech *
95. Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
96. Octavia Spencer, The Help *
97. Dev Patel, Lion
98. Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady *
99. Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
100. Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
     
     
101. Jeff Bridges, True Grit
102. Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
103. JK Simmons, Whiplash *
104. Javier Bardem, Biutiful
105. Sandra Bullock, Gravity
106. June Squibb, Nebraska
107. Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
108. Jared Leto, Dallas Buyer's Club *
     
     
     
     things that make you go "hmmmm..."
109. Julia Roberts, August Osage County
110. Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
111. Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
112. Tom Hardy, The Revenant
113. Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
114. Christian Bale, The Big Short
115. Laura Dern, Wild
116. Emma Stone, Birdman
117. Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
118. Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook *
119. Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
120. Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
121. Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
122. Nick Nolte, Warrior
     
     
     
     Was this really necessary??? 
123. Jonah Hall, Moneyball
124. Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
125. Amy Adams, The Master
126. Berenice Bejo, The Artist
127. Alan Arkin, Argo
128. Christian Bale, American Hustle
129. Jonah Hill, Wolf of Wall Street
130. George Clooney, The Descendants
131. Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit 
132. Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
133. Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
134. Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained *
135. Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
136. Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
137. Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
138. Robert Duvall, The Judge
139. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
140. Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Most Nominated This Decade (7 Years in...)
Four nominations: Jennifer Lawrence & Meryl Streep (nominated for 57% of this decade's Oscar nights)
Three nominations: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams (nominated for 43% of this decade's Oscar nights)
Two nominations: Cate Blanchett, Jeff Bridges, Jessica Chastain, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Eddie Redmayne, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Denzel Washington, and Jacki Weaver (nominated for 28% of this decade's Oscar nights)

Comments

[Jules]

Tim Grierson's list over at Rolling Stone was better (far less pretentious, try hard)...perhaps you should take a look.

Now, I remember why I rarely come to this site. It would be refreshing if for once, you didn't feel as if you had to pander to the twits on film Twitter and the wanna be actors, filmmakers who aren't going anywhere in their careers who believe anything popular can't possibly be terrific and whose biased opinions are full of shit.

Enough with the contrarion crap...it's corny and pretentious. Let me guess-you wore a beret when you compiled this list??.

[BJ]

I really don't understand what people are getting so upset about, this is Nathaniel's list of his personal rankings, not a definitive list for everyone. You can make your own list and rank them however you want, it's not a big deal.

[Arabella]

Great list-- especially love the top eight! I had completely forgotten about some of the films/performances, and it's fascinating to think about what's aged well, what hasn't, and how subjective movies/performances can be. Would you ever consider doing a list like this for directors or best picture?

[NATHANIEL R]

Jules -- i'm scared to ask what SJW means I feel like if i'm being insulted i should understand the insult ;)

[Mareko]

Oh, my. Some of us may need a refresher course in proper etiquette/civil discourse.

Polite: "I'm in general agreement with the shape of this list with a few exceptions."

Rude: "This list is made of someone who has nothing else to do!" (Uh, The Film Experience is his *job,* don'cha know?)

Polite: "I understand we all have different tastes..."

Rude: "...I cannnot take your list seriously." (Why? Because it's not your list? Doesn't match your opinion?)

Relax, y'all. This is an opinion site, not objective journalism. It's a passion project and (ideally) a safe place for movie lovers to share ideas, information, etc. without attaching or dismissing one another for it. We can have different opinions and yet not take each other's personally. Please, let's not let this devolve into IMDb's (now defunct) message boards. The Film Experience is "for the ages."

😘

[Mareko]

@Nat - SJW stands for "social justice warrior" and, yes, it is (usually) used as a pejorative.

[NATHANIEL R]

BJ -- thank you. I actually encourage everyone to make their own list. It's an interesting exercise because you suddenly realize how insane ranking is even though it's fun. like but i like pieces of #40 more than pieces of #20 so am i wrong? Or... but #100 is a better actor in general than #16 so have i lost my mind (those numbers were general examples not reflective of the numbers on this list)

Mareko -- thanks. it's funny how the internet gets so worked up about opinions sometimes. But i will readily admit that my favorite internet insult (ironically) is to be called a "try hard" because people say that about Anne Hathaway all the time and she's awesome so I'LL TAKE IT!

[NATHANIEL R]

Mareko -- oh good christ. I don't judge actors performances based on their race. Sometimes white people are great actors and sometimes they suck. Sometimes asian people are great actors and sometimes they suck. sometimes black people are great actors and sometimes they suck. REPEAT FOR EVERY ETHNICITY OR VARIATION THEREOF.

Acting is a gift and a skill and it has nothing to do with the color of anyone's skin.

Arabella -that would be fun for the pictures. not sure about directors

[Hustler]

The trolls are feasting today. Go away, trolls! It's High Holy Day weekend.

[Max]

Yeah. It's a job that it seems bloggers have to pay for!!??

[Tom Ford]

Your list seems to be focused on Cate, Viola and Nicole (natch), but I would put these in my top 50 memorable performances (not in any particular order)

Matt Damon, The Martian
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
James Franco, 127 Hours
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyer's Club *
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Viola Davis, The Help
Emanuelle Riva, Amour
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Nicole Kidman Rabbit Hole
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

[anonny]

If people who are ranked as worthy or above who are definitely not worthy and belong nowhere near the top 80. These should all be closer to the bottom. Even if I strongly disagree with the placement of others that are ranked high, at least I get/understand the love. The below performances are so actively blah, I just don't get it.
> Hawkins: I love her but this was a nothing one-note role. Likable =| worthy
> Tommy Lee Jones: a boring performance if there ever was one.
> Chastain (the help): cringe-worthy. So over-the-top
> Sally Field: same as above
> Day-Lewis: very boring/uninteresting.

[Bruno]

I feel like Rooney should be #1 for Carol. That performance is one of my all-time faves.

[Philip H.]

People are getting legitimately angry at a list and it's CRACKING me up.

Like, y'all must really take heed in Nathaniel's opinion to get that upset. Obviously he's going to rank certain people/performances in certain places on the list, as a list is obviously going to be subjective, and if you actually read the site regularly, none of the placements would really shock you.

[Sam]

Portman was nominated 3 times (Closer, Black Swan, Jackie), actually.

[Eva]

Come on, All 4 of Meryl's performances should be at least in the top 50, its almost insulting that they are so low, maybe not so much for Into the Woods, but considering how transformative the other three performances were. It doesn't make sense how both of Cate Blanchett's performances are 1 and 2 and you don't see a single Meryl performance for most of the list, considering they are easily the two best (Meryl being #1) actresses out there right now.

[Emi Grant]

Christ, what a shit list. Though some of your top choices are good.

[Bushwick]

You should update this! Would love to see where the rest fall.