Last week, I decided to share with all of you my feelings on the 10 Best Actor winners of the 2010s because I had seen all of them. This week, I decided to share with you my 10 favorite nominations that did not go on to a win. So, of the remaining 40 Best Actor nominations from films released from 2010 through 2019, with ceremonies from 2011 through 2020, I picked out my 10 favorite performances. I wasn’t necessarily worried about trying to get one from each year or anything like that. These are just my 10 favorites. I have not seen one performance, just to be honest, and I don’t think I ever will. I never did get a chance to see Javier Bardem in Biutiful, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film is not in English, and as far as I can tell, there is no dubbed or audio-described version of the film. I would basically have to become fluent in Spanish for me to enjoy that film. So, there were 39 options. And I don’t think there are nearly enough bad choices here to do the opposite list. Perhaps there are some nominations I might have swapped for somebody who wasn’t nominated, but I’m not going to do a top 10 worst nominations of the 2010s because there just aren’t 10 spots. I would much rather celebrate these performances. As I was whittling down the list, I also didn’t want to include a slew of performances from the same actors, so I limited myself to one performance from each actor, even though some of them were nominated multiple times throughout the decade. These are just my opinions, but you can definitely let me know what yours are in the comments.

Number 10: Matt Damon, The Martian

I’m actually pleasantly surprised that Matt Damon made it to the Oscars for The Martian because it doesn’t feel like the kind of film that would typically get nominated. It’s a big-budget blockbuster directed by Ridley Scott, and it really kicked off the Hollywood career of Andy Weir, who went on to bring us Project Hail Mary this year, which is starting a whole second wave of Oscar buzz, this time for Ryan Gosling. Weir’s books are so good and so rich and embedded with science and real-world potential that the characters become relatable. Matt Damon certainly brought his everyman value to the role of Mark Watney in The Martian, and it was fun to watch him survive on Mars just by “sciencing the shit” out of everything, as he puts it in the movie. Damon, of course, has to age over the course of the film, and his health degrades somewhat. He loses weight, becomes scraggly, and sheds that matinee-idol image that has helped him stay atop the A-list. The film was a hit, and The Martian managed to sneak into the Best Picture race as well as getting Matt Damon the nomination. Damon still has never won an Oscar for acting. His only win is for the screenplay for Good Will Hunting. While he might win this year for The Odyssey, The Martian certainly was another feather in his cap that suggested an acting win could be in his future.

Number 9: Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

That’s just a cool nomination. Get Out was the film that surprised everybody. It opened in February and rode that good-news, good-vibes Oscar wave that nobody really saw coming when it was released. Technically, it’s just a horror film. Just a damn fine one that became culturally significant and a stunner at the box office. It really helped launch not only the career of Daniel Kaluuya, sending him into the mainstream, but Jordan Peele became a force to be reckoned with in the horror genre, later bringing us Us and Nope as we anxiously await his fourth directorial effort. Kaluuya brought us this wide-eyed character following his girlfriend out to meet her parents, only to discover there’s a terrible secret that they all have and he should probably get out. This has been a much-discussed film since then, and its breakout and acceptance by the Oscars was one of the things that really started to kick-start our new, broader acceptance of the genre as a whole. Nominations like Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out led to nominations for Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein, Amy Madigan in Weapons, Demi Moore in The Substance, and possibly Onnaverretti in Obsession this year. He’s not the first nomination to come from a horror movie, but he is part of what seems to be a new, more permanent wave of acceptance of the genre. I prefer this performance to his Oscar-winning turn in Judas and the Black Messiah. He’s great in both, but one of the things I particularly love about Kaluuya is that he’s got these really expressive eyes, and they work particularly well in this genre because he is great at giving fear, surprise, and panic, things that can draw you in just by looking into the camera. There are certain scenes in Get Out that really complement Kaluuya’s style of acting versus some of the other films he’s chosen where he’s a good actor, but his expressiveness is not nearly as well highlighted. This is an excellent nomination. It’s one for the ages, and I’m glad he got in.

Number 8: Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

I’m sure for a second someone had a panic attack when they saw the name Viggo Mortensen, and then they read Captain Fantastic, and everything was better. No, of course I don’t think Viggo Mortensen for Green Book is one of the top 10 favorite nominations of the decade. Green Book has not aged well, and I’m not sure complimenting Viggo in his white-savior role for that film would necessarily be the right move. Out of the other performances that did not go on to win, however, there’s this little indie called Captain Fantastic that somehow got him into the Best Actor race. I’m not sure how. I’m not sure why. But I do love when the Oscars swing and capture a smaller film like Captain Fantastic and pull it into their orbit because it empowers people to see a smaller film like this. Captain Fantastic opened over the summer and had a little bit of word of mouth. Independent films in the 2010s used to be able to open in limited release, expand based on word of mouth, and do pretty well for themselves. It’s hard to imagine that nowadays with the way films are shuffled extremely quickly onto premium video on demand or a streaming service. Films like Captain Fantastic don’t really get the opportunity to break out. Maybe they have a little bit of a boost if they do it during Oscar season and the awards start piling in, and then they can grow. But even something as buzzy as this year’s The Invite hasn’t had the kind of box office, given the cast that’s in it, that it likely would have had if that film opened before COVID. Viggo Mortensen’s complex family drama is about a man trying desperately to keep his family together after the loss of his wife, having to step out of the comfort zone of what he and his wife had decided on for raising their kids, and then ending up in a custody battle with his in-laws, who do not approve of his unique way of raising children even though they’re incredibly gifted in many different ways. It is a surprising reminder that just because something is not necessarily the way you would do something or the way you think, it doesn’t mean it isn’t effective or that it is somehow wrong. Viggo is incredible here, one of a handful of performances he has been astounding in throughout the years, including films like Eastern Promises and A History of Violence. While I don’t need his Green Book nomination, I absolutely do need Captain Fantastic.

Number 7: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

I think I felt less pressure to put DiCaprio higher on my list for this film because I had already admitted I wouldn’t have picked him to win for this film, and he does win in the same decade for The Revenant. I think there are other performances of DiCaprio’s that can really be debated about which one he should have won for before The Revenant. The Wolf of Wall Street certainly has elements of it that I really respect. It seems perfectly catered to DiCaprio in so many ways, as Jordan Belfort is that sly, smooth, charismatic operator that DiCaprio has already played before. In some ways, this feels like an extension of Catch Me If You Can, just the raunchier R-rated version with an even more depressing ending. But the debauchery within The Wolf of Wall Street leads to one of the greatest moments when DiCaprio is trying with all of his might, after taking an impossible amount of drugs, to flop his way to his car, which he definitely should not be driving. It’s such a memorable sequence among so many other memorable sequences within this production that it certainly stands out. And you can’t go wrong with a Martin Scorsese film. The first time I saw The Wolf of Wall Street, I truly didn’t feel its runtime because it felt like it was so packed full of life and energy, and a lot of that has to do with DiCaprio’s performance. So I really do love and appreciate his work here in The Wolf of Wall Street. Within the decade, he was also nominated for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but between that and The Wolf of Wall Street, I’ve got to give it to Wolf.

Number 6: Denzel Washington, Fences

Denzel was another actor nominated several times throughout the 2010s. He was nominated for Flight, the Robert Zemeckis film where he played an alcoholic, drug-addicted airline pilot who really went through the wringer. The most memorable part of that film for me wasn’t Denzel. It was the supporting cast, namely Kelly Reilly and John Goodman, who I thought both stood out. Although Denzel is great, he just has such a long list of performances that it’s hard to put Flight up at the top 10 of anything. And then he also has Roman J. Israel, Esq., which, again, much like Flight, is another terrific performance because Denzel is just that good. But if I have to pick one Denzel performance, which I definitely want to, it’s got to be Fences. It’s got to be the film that you can tell Denzel had been wanting to make, where he directed and acted and paired himself with wonderful talent like Viola Davis, giving himself an excellent screen partner throughout the film. Denzel’s performance in Fences is not necessarily complimentary toward him in the way that Denzel sometimes gets to suavely move through some of his roles. I like that Denzel prefers complicated characters, and often those are the ones that the Oscars respond to. Sure, he’s great in Remember the Titans, but there’s a reason he won for Training Day. There’s just something about Denzel where he really relishes the complexities of man, and the more humanity he can bring to a character, like he does in August Wilson’s Fences, the better. The more recognizable somebody can be to you, then it seems like he has done his job. So many other actors have gotten their flowers for directing themselves to an Oscar victory or getting the directing win while still receiving an acting nomination. Both Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson come to mind in the ‘90s, and Clint Eastwood in the 2000s with Million Dollar Baby. Fences could have been Denzel’s time. It just wasn’t. I think everybody would have been happy if it was, although it’s hard to put Denzel much higher on this list given the fact that this would have been his third win. I’m very much a spread-the-love type of person, so even though I love his Fences nomination as well as his other nominations throughout the 2010s, I can only get just so excited about giving Denzel a third Oscar when there are plenty of actors who haven’t even been nominated yet. Namely, his Flight co-star John Goodman.

Number 5: Ryan Gosling, La La Land

Damien Chazelle’s Best Picture winner for all of five seconds before they realized it was Moonlight did manage to get Emma Stone her first Academy Award. However, it left Ryan Gosling in the lurch, which is kind of disappointing considering it wasn’t Gosling’s first nomination, and he is just as vibrant and magnetic in La La Land as Emma Stone is. The two of them work really well off each other, something Chazelle noticed after seeing them together in Crazy, Stupid, Love. When you take that chemistry that’s already there and magnify it again, you really start to create one of those favorite on-screen couples. I’m sure the next time Ryan and Emma are together on screen opposite each other, it’ll be another memorable experience. Ryan actually spent months learning piano so that he could functionally play during the scenes in which his accomplished jazz pianist is seen performing. Some of the scenes shot are really Gosling doing that, and I appreciate the attention to the craft. Some actors take the time to learn what it is that they’re supposed to be doing within a film. Other actors don’t, and then the camera has to always shoot them at weird angles, or you get shots of people who don’t look like they’re actually playing the piano. And in case you’re like, wait a minute, aren’t you a blind film critic? Yeah, I didn’t get diagnosed until 2017. That was when I lost my vision. La La Land predates that. So I was able to see this film visually, and I appreciated the work that Gosling put into actually looking like he was playing the piano in addition to his wonderful choreography. He had this sort of new-wave Fred Astaire vibe to him. I’m not entirely sure Ryan or Emma deserved to win this year, but they damn sure both deserved nominations because their performances are fantastic. Hopefully one day Gosling will win an Oscar for acting. I don’t think it’s going to be Project Hail Mary, but someday, as he has continued to prove himself a tremendous on-screen presence.

Number 4: Michael Keaton, Birdman

I think I love this nomination even more knowing that it was Michael Keaton’s first. Somehow, we went all the way to Birdman without giving him a nomination. This was a tough category for me to try to figure out who should win because I did really like his competition, but at the same time, I also really like Michael Keaton in Birdman. I think he really dominates and controls the film. Even since then, Keaton has mostly gone unrecognized by the Academy. But let’s face it, when you think of Michael Keaton performances, you think of some others in his roster that would have made for far cooler nominations. Could you imagine if he had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Beetlejuice? I know you’re thinking, shouldn’t he be lead? The film is called Beetlejuice. But when you look at Beetlejuice’s actual screen time in the film, he’s not actually the lead. It still would be one of the great nominations of our time had he been nominated for the original Beetlejuice back in the ‘80s. Instead, he had to wait until Birdman, which in some ways is poetic considering he was also the actor who brought Batman to the screen. I think Alejandro González Iñárritu understood that Michael Keaton was the right person for this role. Will he ever get a win? That depends on the kinds of roles he gets offered from now on. With the way streaming is, it feels like actors like Michael Keaton end up in a Taylor Sheridan show more likely than they continue moving on toward Oscar glory. But it’s always possible. Nevertheless, at least he can say he’s nominated, whereas plenty of actors still are not. I think the thing I always remember about Birdman the most is that incredible score. Then, right after that, Michael Keaton’s performance.

Number 3: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

I really love this film, and I think Jesse Eisenberg was the perfect person at the right time to play Mark Zuckerberg. I’m perfectly okay with the fact that he turned down returning for The Social Reckoning. He shouldn’t have to do that same role twice. He was expertly cast the first time, and he proved it by knocking it out of the park. When I was going back over the winners of the 2010s, I had Colin Firth pretty high on my list, and the reason for that was that first, it was the right time for him. Jesse Eisenberg was on his first nomination, and I still believe, especially looking at this year with his newest directorial effort already getting so much attention before it’s even debuted, that Eisenberg is the kind of talent who could still win for almost anything. Eisenberg is so multifaceted. He could win for screenplay, he could win for directing, or he could win for acting. The Social Network was an investment in his future. I said at the time that I wanted and appreciated Colin Firth’s win for The King’s Speech because he had previously been nominated for A Single Man. I wouldn’t have changed the acting win, but I would have changed the win for Best Picture. The King’s Speech doesn’t deserve that spot. It goes to The Social Network, as does director to David Fincher. That’s what should have happened. That’s why Jesse Eisenberg isn’t in first, because he wouldn’t have toppled Firth for me. There were only two years where I would have taken the Oscar away from the actual Best Actor winner. One of them was Jean Dujardin’s year for The Artist, and while no performances from that year made this list, that’s because I would have had Dujardin in fifth place. So any of the other performances that year could have won, but when I’m trying to pick a top 10 for the entire decade, none of them really make it. It was a little bit of a weak year for Best Actor. However, Jesse Eisenberg came pretty close to making me want him to win. If it hadn’t been his first nomination, if he was older, if this was a DiCaprio situation where he had been working and getting so close for so many years, maybe it would have been different. But he really sold us on Mark Zuckerberg. It’ll be interesting to see how Jeremy Strong takes on the role in The Social Reckoning.

Number 2: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

I mean, this was a coin-toss year for me. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance in 12 Years a Slave is just such an iconic, epic, tremendous performance that it begs to be the winner. It’s the kind of thing that even though he hadn’t previously been nominated, it’s so damn good that if he goes on to win, you’re perfectly okay with giving him the pass to go straight to the gold. He just happened to be in the same year as Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club, another performance I love, which I actually had ranked at number one among the winners. Admittedly, Chiwetel is this close from the same year. The only thing that maybe puts him in second instead of first is that 12 Years a Slave is a tough film to watch the first time and to bring yourself back to multiple times. It’s not the most rewatchable thing in the world, but it’s one hell of an experience that everyone should go through at least one time, and his performance is iconic and one for the ages. He could have won, and I would have been perfectly happy with it. The only reason I stuck with McConaughey, whose performance I like slightly more, is also because that was part of the McConaissance, when Matthew McConaughey did a slew of films that all turned out to be really great. So the goodwill went to him for Dallas Buyers Club that year. As far as Chiwetel, I think we’re still waiting to see if he can return to the Oscars. He doesn’t always get the best roles offered to him, though he is really terrific this year in Backrooms. I don’t think that film is going to return him to the Oscars, but it would be crazy cool if it did.

Number 1: Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born

Yeah, this is the one. This is the one right here. I adore this movie. I love it. It’s one of my favorite things of the last 10 years. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. And the fact that Bradley Cooper co-wrote, directed, produced, and starred in A Star Is Born, the fact that this man has double-digit Oscar nominations and has never won, is kind of astonishing. Even specifically in the 2010s, this is a man who gets nominated for Silver Linings Playbook, American Sniper, and A Star Is Born in lead actor, not to mention American Hustle in supporting actor. He’s all over the place in the 2010s, and it would have been so epic to actually see him win for this. But unfortunately, it went to Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody, which I do not think has aged well. I think Rami, on his first nomination, would have been perfectly fine just getting the nomination. I mean, look at Timothée Chalamet years later. He couldn’t win for playing Bob Dylan. Why should Rami Malek have an Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody? It’s not a great film. It was never going to be. It had two directors involved with the production, starting out as one thing before another person picked it up and ran with it. It has a lot of performance and concert footage, and I just don’t think Bohemian Rhapsody is the kind of film that should have elevated Rami to this point. It did turn out to be a bit of a crowd-pleaser, as Queen is an insanely popular band, but damn, Bradley Cooper is great in A Star Is Born. I think when I get to the actresses, I’m going to have Lady Gaga high on this list as well because, again, I loved both of them. I even love Bradley Cooper’s little country song, which never stands out to anyone else but me. His one little solo that he has in the movie, I thought was exquisite. The direction in this, the choices he makes as an actor, he feels so far removed from stuff he’s done before, and the fact that he did all the work on the film and won none of the prizes for it is just a huge disappointment. At least if he had won for Best Actor, it would have been something, but this man got nothing for such a great film, and that is incredibly disappointing to me. Bradley Cooper still has not won an Academy Award to this date. Maybe someday. Or is that too shallow of me to think that he deserves an Oscar?