My favourite acting performances for every year I’ve been alive

This is not a list of my favourite movies for every year of my life (I made that list 5 years ago), but rather the performances that I love most from each year. From 1999 on it was very difficult to pick, and consequently you will see 2nd place picks because I couldn’t imagine talking about great performances of a given year without bringing these ones up.

And here we go: 

1972 – Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather

1973 – Tatum O’Neal as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon

1974 – Robert De Niro as young Vito Corleone in

The Godfather, Part II

1975 – Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

1976 – Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Rocky

1977 – Harrison Ford as Han Solo in Star Wars

1978 – Christopher Reeve as Clark Ken/Superman in Superman

1979 – Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley inAlien

1980 – Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining

1981 – Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982 – Ricardo Montalbán as Khan in

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1983 – Ralph Macchio as Johnny Cade in The Outsiders

1984 – Tom Hulce as Mozart in Amadeus

1985 – Crispin Glover as George McFly in Back to the Future

1986 – Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

1987 – John Candy as Del Griffith in Planes, Trains and Automobiles

1988 – Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man (Close 2nd: Roddy Piper as Nada in They Live)

1989 – John Candy as Buck Russell (Moley Russell’s wart) in Uncle Buck

1990 – Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito inGoodfellas

1991 – Bill Murray as Bob in What About Bob? (Close 2nd: Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in Hook; I’m sure the popular vote and the critics vote would be Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal the Cannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs, but these are my personal favourites.)

1992 – Jack Nicholson as Col. Jessup in A Few Good Men

1993 — Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone

1994 – Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas in

Dumb and Dumber

1995 – Alicia Silverstone as Cher in Clueless

1996 – Billy Bob Thornton as Karl Childers in Slingblade

1997 – Robert Duvall as Sonny/E.F. in The Apostle (Close 2nd: Roberto Benigni as Guido in Life is Beautiful)

1998 – Jeff Bridges as The Dude in The Big Lebowski

1999 – Jim Carrey as Andy Kauffman in Man on the Moon (Close 2nd: Mike Myers as Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery)

2000 – Brad Pitt as Mickey O’Neal in Snatch

2001 – Denzel Washington as Alonzo in Training Day

2002 – Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher Cutting in Gangs of New York (Close 2nd: Cedric the Entertainer as Eddie in Barber Shop) 

2003 – Charlize Theron as Aileen in

Monster

2004 – Rachel McAdams as Regina George in Mean Girls (Close 2nd: Bruno Ganz as Adolph Hitler in Downfall and Jim Carrey as Joel Barish in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

2005 – Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line

2006 – Jack Black as Nacho in Nacho Libre

2007 – Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood

2008 – Heath Ledger as Joker in The Dark Knight

2009 – Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (Close 2nd: Brad Pitt as Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds and Sharlto Copley as Wikus in District 9)

2010 – Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund in The Fighter

2011 – Melissa McCarthy as Megan in Bridesmaids

2012 – Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie in Django Unchained

2013 – Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman 2

2014 – Alicia Vikander as Ava in Ex Machina (Close 2nd: Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom in Nightcrawler and Steve Carell as John du Pont in Foxcatcher)

2015 – Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road

2016 – John Goodman as Howard in

10 Cloverfield Lane

2017 – Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya (Close 2nd: Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev in The Death of Stalin)

2018 – Bradley Cooper as Jackson Mayne in A Star is Born

2019 – Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood(Close 2nd: Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck in Joker)

2020 – Carey Mulligan as Cassandra inPromising Young Woman (Close 2nd: Paul Bettany as Frank in Uncle Frank)

2021 – Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci

2022 – Too early to say, but so far it’s either Jamie Lee Curtis as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All At Once or Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis

And despite Robbie’s 2017 appearance above, the win goes to the classic dark comedy of 2013. Congratulations The Wolf of Wall Street. This is your week.

And the Oscar goes to…

Best Actress:

Aside from Robbie, I’d pick Charlize Theron. She is awesome as Megyn Kelly in Bombshell.

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (You’re welcome Petrina.)

Best Quote: “It was like being abused all over again. Only this time it was by you. All of you. You’re all my attackers too.” — Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya

If you ever get a hankering to make a list like this, whether it’s favourite actors, movies, or performances, please send it along. Let me see!