Spotlight on the finest performers of 2012
The Oscars are behind us, so I guess it’s time we declare the 2012 movie year oficially finished. For that reason, by the end of the week I’ll finally be posting my top 10 list, but before I do that, I’d like to shine a spotlight on the best performers of the past year in cinema. Here are 72 actors and actresses who caught my eye, made me laugh, made me cry, made me cheer and left an impression in 2012 (click on each collage to see the full-size image).
Top row: Tom Hiddleston – The Avengers; Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender – Prometheus; Andrew Garfield – The Amazing Spider-Man; Salma Hayek – Savages; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine – The Dark Knight Rises; Tom Cruise – Rock of Ages; Channing Tatum – 21 Jump Street; Giovanni Ribisi – Ted
Bottom row: Omar Sy, François Cluzet – Intouchables; Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford – The Cabin in the Woods; Pierce Gagnon, Emily Blunt – Looper; Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Judi Dench – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Javier Bardem, Judi Dench – Skyfall; Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts – De Rouille et D’os
Top row: Tessa Ia – Después de Lucía; Matthew McConaughey, Juno Temple – Killer Joe, Keira Knightley – Seeking a Friend for the End of the World; Richard Gere, Brit Marling – Arbitrage; Edward Norton, Lucas Hedges, Kara Hayward, Tilda Swinton – Moonrise Kingdom; Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Bottom row: Tom Holland, Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor – The Impossible; Suraj Sharma – Life of Pi; Ben Whishaw, Hugh Grant – Cloud Atlas; Steve Carell – Hope Springs; Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Chris Messina – Ruby Sparks; Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Top row: Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook; Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln; Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson – Django Unchained; Helen Mirren – Hitchcock; Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry – Beasts of the Southern Wild; Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey – Bernie
Bottom row: Emanuelle Riva, Jean-Louis Trintignant – Amour; Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke – Zero Dark Thirty; Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master; Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables; John Hawkes, Helen Hunt – The Sessions; Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly – Flight
I can’t believe I didn’t make the list… 😦
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Sorry, man. Better luck next year 😉
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Awesome article, Fernando. I’d also include Liam Neeson (The Grey), Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken (Seven Psychopaths), Mike Birbiglia (Sleepwalk with Me), and Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi)
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Thanks, Nick. I haven’t seen the first three so can’t really comment on them. I did see Life of Pi and while I thought Khan was solid, he didn’t really stand out for me.
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Great stuff!
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Thanks a lot, Keith! 😀
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Good selections.
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Thanks! I appreciate it.
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Really great piece mate. I’ve not seen everything here but from the stuff I have seen, it looks pretty spot on! Great looking post as well!
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I’ve shared this on Reddit too mate, so hopefully that’ll bring some traffic your way.
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Thanks a lot! I did see a spike in my views.
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Dude, thanks for sharing on Reddit. It gave me quite a big boost on views!
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Thanks a lot, Chris! I spent a while searching for the best pictures (doing the collages was pretty quick). Glad it paid off.
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Nice list Fernando! I agree w/ a lot of your picks. Nice to see the cast of ‘Marigold Hotel’ on here, esp. Judi Dench (who’s also most excellent in Skyfall!). I also like Blunt in Looper, and Suraj in Life of Pi. Channing surprised me in 21 Jump Street and of course Lawrence is so awesome in SLP, so I’m glad she won that Oscar. Great photos here, too, well done!
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Thanks a lot, Ruth! Glad you liked it 🙂
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