The 20 best performances of 2023
Actors didn’t exactly get an easy time in 2023, with SAG-AFTRA strikes sending them to the picket line for an extended period of time over the summer to rightfully protect the future of their careers. Yet, they still found the time to give some stellar performances, showing their worth in highly-anticipated movies like Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things.
In July, it was Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy who unexpectedly butted heads as they vied for box office supremacy during the unprecedented ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon. Thankfully for both parties, the rivalry was always friendly, with both films, Barbie and Oppenheimer, reaping the benefits of the competition, earning over $1billion a piece, with the latter becoming the highest-grossing biopic of all time.
The financial success of both movies places Robbie and Murphy at the top of the bookie’s predictions for the Oscars, with the actors being joined by the likes of Ryan Gosling and Florence Pugh from their own movies, respectively. Elsewhere, Emma Stone’s vibrant performance in Poor Things is also tipped for greatness alongside Lily Gladstone, who impressed in Killers of the Flower Moon.
Take a look at our list of the 20 greatest performances of 2023 below, where we explore every inch of the industry, from the glorious indie picks to the biggest and best films of the year.
The 20 best performances of 2023:
20. Ben Platt – Theater Camp (Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman)
Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s Theater Camp was one of 2023’s biggest surprises, being a much-needed burst of joy in a year that was packed full of global struggles. A mockumentary set at a summer camp for theatre kids, Ben Platt played Amos, a former camp mate turned leader whose enthusiasm for his job buoys not only the fictional camp but also the film itself.
It should, indeed, be said that while Platt thrives, he does so alongside Molly Gordon as Rebecca-Diane, with the pair making indisputably the year’s best double act. Yet, Platt is given a little more to do, with his energy being infectious and his comedic timing effortlessly on-point.
19. Ayo Edebiri – Bottoms (Emma Seligman)
The teen comedy genre has been delivering less and less memorable movies in recent years – a true shame considering it has birthed some classic comedies in the past, such as Superbad, Clueless and Mean Girls. Yet, Emma Seligman, director of 2020’s Shiva Baby, returned in 2023 with her second film, Bottoms, suggesting that not all hope is lost.
Putting a new spin on the genre by centring around the pursuits of two lesbian best friends desperate to catch the attention of their cheerleader crushes, Bottoms stars Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri, with the latter proving her rising star power, having also recently given an impressive performance in The Bear. The actor is not afraid to let loose and dedicate herself to providing shameless laughs, no matter how bizarre the narrative gets.
18. Jordan Firstman – Rotting in the Sun (Sebastián Silva)
Major releases like Barbie and Oppenheimer dominated the online discourse around the state of cinema. One brilliant gem that flew under the radar is Sebastián Silva’s black comedy Rotting in the Sun, starring Silva as a depressed filmmaker whose morbid jokes about death suddenly turn into reality after encountering a real-life TikTok star.
The standout performance in the movie belongs to none other than Jordan Firstman, an aggressively extroverted social media influencer who attempts to get into Silva’s pants, both professionally and personally. However, when the director disappears, Firstman embarks on a surreal journey to uncover the bizarre details surrounding his death. Given that this is the first major starring role for the real-life influencer, it’s remarkable just how much of a command he gets over the material, well and truly diving in headfirst.
17. Carey Mulligan – Maestro (Bradley Cooper)
Bradley Cooper followed up A Star Is Born with his second feature, Maestro, in 2023, in which he plays the highly-acclaimed conductor Leonard Bernstein. While his performance has its merits, it’s Carey Mulligan who gives a stunning portrayal as his Bernstein’s wife, the actor Felicia Montealegre Bernstein, stealing the show in the process. The British actor, known for performances in films from The Great Gatsby to Promising Young Woman, brings terrific chemistry to the relationship between Felicia and Leonard, holding Felicia’s poised, proper elegance.
Demonstrating her ability to always give a strong performance, there is no doubt that Mulligan will gain recognition for her work for Maestro at the Academy Awards, and rightfully so, tackling the character with an utterly fearless approach.
16. Juliette Gariépy – Red Rooms (Pascal Plante)
Although Anatomy of a Fall is the courtroom drama that received the most attention this year, Red Rooms is the psychological thriller that deserves more recognition. Delving deep into the eponymous online phenomena found on the dark web that follows a model who becomes obsessed with a high-profile case of murder, it constructs a harrowing investigation of the impact of true crime on modern culture.
Juliette Gariépy is simply flawless as Kelly-Anne, a model who makes a living by playing online poker and leads a sterile, emotionless existence. The only thing she feels strongly about is a serial killer responsible for torturing and murdering teenage girls, involving herself in legal proceedings while destroying her own life. Certainly not an easy performance to pull off, Gariépy manages to get a good hold over the complex screenplay.
15. Mia McKenna-Bruce – How to Have Sex (Molly Manning Walker)
Eagle-eyed viewers will recognise the young Mia McKenna-Bruce from the CBBC show Tracy Beaker Returns, but it’s fair to say that the actor has come a long way since her major TV debut. In Molly Manning Walker’s excellent drama How to Have Sex, which follows a group of teenage girls on a ‘rite-of-passage’ trip abroad after their GCSE exams, McKenna-Bruce plays Tara, who is emotionally abused and sexually assaulted on the trip by another group of youths.
Remarkably, McKenna-Bruce holds all the emotional maturity required to pull off such a demanding role, with her complex range giving one of the year’s most subtle powerhouse performances in one of 2023’s biggest cinematic surprises.
14. Tia Nomore – Earth Mama (Savanah Leaf)
Following her short film The Heart Still Hums, co-directed by Taylor Russell, Savanah Leaf released her debut feature, Earth Mama, this year. Basing the movie on her initial short, Earth Mama follows Tia Nomore’s Gia, a single mother expecting her third child, who must fight for custody of her children, who have each been placed into foster care.
The film delicately tackles themes of race, class and gender, focusing specifically on the theme of black parenthood, with the rapper Tia Nomore giving a stunning debut performance. Despite having never worked on a feature film before, the sensitivity that Nomore gives to her character allows the film to blossom, becoming better than even its excellent script facilitates.
13. Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)
This year, Cord Jefferson made his directorial debut with American Fiction, a delightful blend of comedy and drama that has racked up several pending nominations from prestigious awards, such as the Golden Globes and Independent Spirit. The movie stars Jeffrey Wright – who also notably appeared in Asteroid City earlier this year – alongside Tracee Ellis Ross, Sterling K. Brown and Issa Rae.
Wright gives a beautiful performance as the struggling professor Thelonious Ellison, who decides to write a purposefully cliché African-American novel, which becomes an unexpected bestseller. The actor moves flawlessly between moments of humour and drama, giving a compelling turn in one of this year’s more underrated releases. Keep your eyes out for a potential nod at the 2024 Oscars.
12. Teyana Taylor – A Thousand and One (A.V. Rockwell)
A.V. Rockwell’s debut feature, A Thousand and One, follows Teyana Taylor as Inez de la Paz, who has recently been released after serving time at Rikers Island. When she sees her son on the street with the other kids from his foster home, she sets out to reunite with him, even if that means going to extreme measures.
Taylor has had an impressive career so far, having earned a choreography credit for a Beyoncé music video when she was just 15. Since then, she has excelled in other pursuits, such as modelling and music, and her incredible performance in A Thousand and One leaves us questioning what she can’t do. As a flawed yet devoted mother, Taylor’s character does all she can in the face of adversity and gives a truly mesmerising performance. A Thousand and One is, indeed, one of 2023’s greatest triumphs, with Taylor being worthy of Oscar plaudits.
11. Vanessa Kirby – Napoleon (Ridley Scott)
Ridley Scott’s Napoleon surprised a lot of people when it regularly made detours into farcical black comedy that ended up working wonders, and nothing encapsulates that unexpected approach better than Vanessa Kirby’s dead-eyed stare into the middle distance on the repeated occasions Joaquin Phoenix’s ambitious soldier demands – and tries to procreate – a son.
Outside of that, Kirby convincingly moves through the emotional gears as her on/off courtship with Napoleon progresses throughout the narrative. Initially every bit as ambitious as he is with eyes on reaching the pinnacle of high society, the inevitable distance that grows between them finds her closing the distance between them a little too late, a devastating blow for what had been presented both to the audience and in private as a decidedly one-way relationship in terms of genuine love and affection. Phoenix may get the love for Scott’s surprising success, but Kirby far exceeds him.
10. Andrew Scott – All of Us Strangers (Andrew Haigh)
If there’s one movie you should watch this Christmas and New Year, it’s the incredibly powerful drama All of Us Strangers by director Andrew Haigh, which speaks to the loneliness epidemic of modern society. A gripping tale, All of Us Strangers is held together by the two lead performances of Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, with the former leading much of the film as the emotionally tortured protagonist.
Mescal could easily also be included on this list, but Scott is the one who has this film by the reins, knowing exactly what the film needs at any given moment, holding the ability to change the tone at a mere glance or smirk. In such a tender, emotional movie, Scott matches the mood effortlessly, giving the audience a character to which they can latch onto in this often mystical yet oddly detached modern classic.
9. Joaquin Phoenix – Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster)
There’s definitely a distinct difference between an ‘actor’ and a ‘movie star,’ but when you’ve got Joaquin Phoenix fearlessly plunging himself into the tragi-comic surrealist stylings of Beau Is Afraid not too long after winning an Oscar for leading a billion-dollar comic book adaptation, the lines are nonetheless blurred.
Ari Aster’s sojourn outside the confines of horror may have split opinion like few other movies to release in 2023, but the recurring theme, regardless of which side of the fence anybody fell on, is that Phoenix added another tour-de-force turn to a career that was already full of them. Haunting, hilarious, heartbreaking, effervescent, excruciating, deranged, and delightful are just some of the terms that apply to the star’s extraordinarily committed work, and they regularly apply within the space of the same scene, too.
8. Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
2023 has been a great year for Sandra Hüller, who has proven once again that she is among the most interesting actors in the global landscape. In addition to her hilarious outings in the black comedy Sisi & I and the disturbing A24 drama Zone of Interest, Hüller made the headlines once again with an immensely masterful performance in Justine Triet’s legal drama Anatomy of a Fall.
A powerful element of a controversial movie, Hüller is stellar as Sandra Voyter, a novelist who finds herself in the middle of an intense trial after her husband’s corpse is suddenly found outside their house. Despite often being some of the most gripping movies, courtroom dramas aren’t easy to pull off, yet Hüller makes the entire lawful process utterly captivating. Indeed, it is no mean feat.
7. Ryan Gosling – Barbie (Greta Gerwig)
The sceptics who didn’t think Ryan Gosling was capable of mastering the broad comedy required of his casting as Ken in the all-conquering Barbie hadn’t just made it clear they’d never seen his hilarious contributions to The Nice Guys; they also vastly underestimated one of the most talented actors in the business.
While Gosling has been funny before, outside of the aforementioned Shane Black vehicle, it was largely situational. Here, though, he dives into the absurdity of Ken both in and outside of BarbieLand, a man who abandons his lifelong vocation of “just beach” to fall under the spell of the patriarchy. Complete with showstopping musical numbers, dance-offs, and a deadpan approach to obliviously being the dumbest person in any given room and a pink-clad embodiment of toxic masculinity, Barbie required a Ken who fully understood the complicated assignment while never being anything less than likeable, and the film got it and then some.
6. Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan)
Having worked together multiple times already, Christopher Nolan obviously and implicitly trusted Cillian Murphy to play the title role in Oppenheimer, with the actor being the first – and presumably only – person who was offered the part.
Headlining any biopic requires the performer in question to toe the line between accuracy and immersion without devolving into outright impression or caricature, and it’s one Murphy masters from the first to last scene. His Oppenheimer might be a socially awkward, neurotic, and maverick scientist, but it’s also made perfectly clear in both the grandstanding and more dramatic moments that he knows full well he could be the man who destroys the world.
Maintaining an audience’s attention for three hours is no easy feat, either, and the fact Murphy commands the lion’s share of screentime with such grace, poise, and charisma while playing somebody hardly blessed with an abundance of either is a testament to his powerhouse turn.
5. Koji Yakusho – Perfect Days (Wim Wenders)
If there is one filmmaker who can proudly claim to have stormed 2023, it’s the German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who released both the magnificent drama Perfect Days, as well as the captivating documentary Anselm in the very same year. Both movies sit among the very best of his filmography, but Perfect Days sticks out largely for one reason alone: the sensational lead performance of Koji Yakusho.
An iconic Japanese actor best known for his role in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure, Yakusho approaches the role of Hirayama, a janitor who embraces his job to the tune of a rock soundtrack, with pure bliss. Yet, even still, behind his simply joyous performance that radiates a refreshing lust for life is a wistful soul who makes Wenders’ magnificent film so utterly endearing.
The simple beauty of the script, penned by Takuma Takasaki and Wenders, certainly aids his performance, but it’s Yakusho himself who is able to extract the juice of this luscious cinematic creation.
4. Emma Stone – Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)
The Favourite and now Poor Things have made it patently clear that Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone bring out the most unhinged in each other and in the best way possible. There are few – if any – A-list superstars ready, willing, and able to commit themselves as wholly as Stone does when the Greek auteur is at the helm, with audiences once again turning out to be the winners.
Resurrected by an eccentric scientist, Stone’s Bella Baxter captivates with an intensely physical, regularly outrageous, borderline slapstick, but constantly commanding performance regardless of the film’s whacky plot. Indeed, despite the fact she’s playing a grown woman with the brain of an infant experiencing the world for the first time in a body that’s far too equipped to do what the mind wants, Stone manages to ground her performance.
It could have descended into a mugging, scenery-chewing exercise in excess with a less dedicated talent in the role, but that was never going to be the case based on the magic Stone and Lanthimos had made before and will no doubt make again.
3. Greta Lee – Past Lives (Celine Song)
Celine Song’s directorial debut, Past Lives, has undoubtedly been one of the standout surprises of the year. It chronicles the journeys of two childhood friends from South Korea who find each other in adulthood after years of living apart. Navigating deep emotions connected to love and nostalgia, they discover each other and their former selves once again.
Greta Lee delivers a sublime performance as Nora, a Korean immigrant who finds herself questioning her own amalgamated identity after studying and working in North America. Picking up several accolades along the way, Past Lives is definitely the greatest performance of Lee’s career.
Through her fascinating character, Lee examines greater questions about cultural disconnects and how much the human psyche is moulded by the immigration experience. Due to the universal nature of the subjects touched by the performance, Lee’s work has strongly resonated with audiences across the world.
2. Julianne Moore – May December (Todd Haynes)
Todd Haynes has never shied away from challenging narratives, and his latest movie, May December, is no different, telling the story of a married couple whose strength is tested after a reporter comes prying. Indeed, the optics of Julianne Moore’s Gracie, the initiation of her relationship with Charles Melton’s Joe, and the way in which she attempts to flip the power dynamics on their head by claiming he was the one in control during their initial encounter in spite of the vast age difference make for queasy reading, but Moore’s increasingly-frayed performances never flirts with the danger of descending into cut-and-dried villainy.
May December as a whole is a complicated movie that deals with weighty subject matter and thematic subtext ranging from true crime and questionable romances to sexual manipulation and requires its cast to be firing on all cylinders to not just weave the various story threads together but ensure that none of them come across as sensationalist within the context of the film.
Charles Melton and Natalie Portman do incredible work, but Moore’s Gracie leaves the longest-lasting impression by trying to justify her decade-spanning hold on Joe, an exercise in peeling back layers of perception to uncover a truth that might just be too uncomfortable for some to handle. Such a performance is complex and extremely difficult to pull off, explaining why Moore is, indeed, considered one of the best female actors of all time.
1. Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese)
While Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro give fantastic performances in their own right – ones that can justifiably be deemed ‘showier’ and hold more highlight reel potential based on isolated clips alone – the best turn in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon comes from Lily Gladstone as Mollie Kyle.
Defined by its subtlety and control, one of the many remarkable aspects of Gladstone’s work is the way in which she regularly informs the audience of her mindset without having to utter so much as a word. Through her eyes and expression, we feel the weight of both history and Mollie’s place in the world permeating every scene, making the more explosive moments hit even harder as a result.
There’s even a rich vein of humour to be found, too, ensuring her multifaceted, undeniably captivating, and fully realised performance comfortably eclipses those of De Niro and DiCaprio, with Gladstone making Mollie the heart, soul, and narrative anchor of a sprawling epic. Gladstone’s performance demonstrates the true range of her talents, being the best and most important performance of the year.
