Entertainment
10 Best Oscar-Winning Performances Ever, Ranked
For an actor, winning an Oscar is perhaps the most exceptional honor that they can hope to achieve in the film industry. However, some Oscar-winning performances are undeniably better than others. Indeed, throughout history, there have been certain pieces of acting that have proved themselves worthy of the Academy’s love, and which have gone down in history as some of the greatest performances of all time.
From Hollywood’s Golden Age with its very unique brand of acting, to method acting from the modern era, the performances that can be called the best Oscar winners ever are of varying types and tones. Whether it’s a terrifying villain, a complex lead in a character study, or a nuanced antihero, these actors and actresses are able to play complicated characters like absolute pros.
10
Mo’Nique as Mary
Won Best Supporting Actress for ‘Precious’ (2009)
Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, is far and away one of the most harrowing and hard-to-watch coming-of-age dramas of all time. Unflinching in its darkness yet beautifully genuine in the bits of triumphant hope that it throws into the mix, it’s a remarkably effective melodrama that proves that the genre doesn’t need to be all gloom and doom without any space for flashes of joy.
Even still, make no mistake: This is a dark, dark film. A lot of that comes from the performances, particularly that of comedian Mo’Nique, cast very much against type in the role of the titular protagonist’s abusive mother. No comedian-turned-dramatic-actor performance had ever been this astonishingly transformative before, and perhaps none ever will be again. Though Mo’Nique certainly peaked with this Oscar-winning performance, it’s a jaw-dropping piece of acting nonetheless, horrifyingly gritty yet with a surprising amount of sympathy and emotional layeredness.
9
Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman
Won Best Actor for ‘The Pianist’ (2002)
Despite the negative associations that come with director Roman Polanski, it’s impossible to deny that The Pianist is one of the greatest war movies ever made, anchored by one of the greatest war movie performances ever delivered. That was by Adrien Brody as real-life pianist and Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman, a portrayal which made Brody the youngest winner in the Best Actor Oscar category ever—a record he still holds.
It’s a well-earned record, too. The work that Brody delivers in The Pianist is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of performance. Utterly transformative both physically and spiritually, it’s a profoundly moving example of what flawless dramatic acting looks like. Painful, sympathetic, and largely—perhaps even primarily—responsible for how devastating the film is, it’s a portrayal which will go down in history as one of the best of the 2000s.
8
Jack Nicholson as R.P. McMurphy
Won Best Actor for ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975)
One of Jack Nicholson’s most essential films, the brilliant One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest holds the impressive Oscars record of being the second of only three movies that have won the Big Five Oscars (Picture, Directing, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress), the other two being It Happened One Night and The Silence of the Lambs. The Best Actor award went to Jack Nicholson, who delivered here what some might call the best performance of his illustrious career.
Everything that the extraordinary script of Cuckoo’s Nest calls for, Nicholson delivers. He’s irresistibly magnetic as the charming R.P. McMurphy; he can be incredibly funny when the scene demands it; and when a different scene calls for a much darker, more devastating tone, he’s also up for the challenge. It’s an almost unbelievably complicated performance, but it’s hardly surprising that Nicholson, one of the greatest thespians the big screen has ever seen, was able to deliver.
7
Holly Hunter as Ada McGrath
Won Best Actress for ‘The Piano’ (1993)
Jane Campion is a legendary filmmaker with impeccable taste, and she’s also able to get some terrific performances out of her actors. Her eight feature films are full of excellent performances, but the best of the best is perhaps Holly Hunter‘s in The Piano. Haunting, evocative, erotic, and psychologically charged, it’s one of the best female-led movies of the 1990s.
Hunter’s performance in The Piano is one of the greatest of all time, let alone one of the best Oscar-winning performances. It’s an exquisitely inscrutable piece of work; silent, as her character is mute, yet full of understated power. Hugely dedicated and surrounded by an enigmatic intensity, it’s a fierce performance that fully deserved Oscar gold.
6
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone
Won Best Actor for ‘The Godfather’ (1972)
Many would call Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Godfather the greatest film of all time, making its three Oscar wins entirely deserved. This crime epic is the peak of filmmaking in every sense imaginable, from writing to directing to visuals to, of course, performances. Though Al Pacino‘s tends to be praised as the best of the bunch, there’s one that’s even more iconic—and thus won a Best Actor Oscar: Marlon Brando‘s as the titular Godfather, Vito Corleone.
If The Godfather is one of the most timeless movies of all time (and that it certainly is), it’s largely thanks to the excellence of each and every member of its cast, but it’s undeniable that Brando steals every scene Vito is in. Idiosyncratic yet never cartoonish, layered as much as it is entertaining, it’s acting at its most hypnotizing and its most admirable. Whether Brando should have instead campaigned in the Supporting Actor category (where Pacino was mysteriously nominated) is up for debate, but what’s unarguable is that this is one of the most memorable acting performances ever.
5
Heath Ledger as The Joker
Won Best Supporting Actor for ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
Ever since it came out, Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight Trilogy has been praised as one of the best comic book movie franchises of all time. Not coincidentally, many would refer to 2008’s The Dark Knight as the single greatest comic book film ever. It’s hard to deny that that would probably not be the case without Heath Ledger‘s legendary performance as The Joker, Batman’s mortal enemy.
This is one of the best Oscar-winning performances of the 21st century, as flawless and memorable as a supervillain performance could ever be. It’s the gold standard for acting in the genre, and it has been for nearly two decades. Ledger is simply faultless as the Clown Prince of Crime; horrifying, indecipherable, and terribly imposing, but also with just the right doses of camp and humor. It’s proof that even genres typically considered “lowbrow,” like superhero films, can also be home to legendary acting.
4
Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois
Won Best Actress for ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (1951)
When it comes to film acting, particularly the style present during the period of Classical Hollywood, people always end up referring back to A Streetcar Named Desire. With three acting Oscar wins to its name, it might just be the best-acted film in the history of Hollywood’s Golden Age, with an impeccable Vivien Leigh in the lead role.
Though it wasn’t the role that brought her fame, Leigh’s portrayal of the iconic Blanche DuBois is probably the best work of her career, and thus is usually praised as one of the best performances of the period. Transforming her elegant, beautiful star persona into a character that’s sad, broken, and washed-out, it was a remarkably bold casting choice for the era, and it paid out marvelously.
3
Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview
Won Best Actor for ‘There Will Be Blood’ (2007)
Probably the greatest Best Actor-winning performance of the 21st century, Daniel Day-Lewis‘ portrayal of the complicated antihero/villain Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s impeccable There Will Be Blood is perhaps the actor’s best and most iconic performance. It’s a dark, gritty, intimidating piece of acting, proof that Day-Lewis’ method undeniably yields historic results.
The actor brings unbelievable depth and complexity to the flawlessly-written role of Plainview, turning him into a figure who the audience is fascinated by yet can’t quite finish deciphering. It’s one of the most Oscar-deserving performances in history, and the experience of watching DDL completely disappear into this role and create such a complex and realistic individual out of thin air is mesmerizing.
2
Meryl Streep as Sophie
Won Best Actress for ‘Sophie’s Choice’ (1982)
Arguably the best female Oscar-winning performance of all time (ergo, the most deserving performance of 3-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep), Streep’s portrayal of Nazi concentration camp survivor Sophie in Sophie’s Choice needs no introduction. The story is about Sophie finding a reason to live in the form of Nathan, a sparkling American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.
Sophie’s Choice is a haunting, phenomenally crafted Holocaust drama in its own right, but it isn’t the least bit controversial to say that the primary reason to watch it has always been Streep’s performance. It’s a piece of acting as hypnotic as it is absolutely shattering, perhaps the most perfect female acting performance of any American movie in history. This is the gold standard for Oscar-winning performances.
1
Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta
Won Best Actor for ‘Raging Bull’ (1980)
The most deserving male Oscar winner in history is Robert De Niro for his incomparable work in Martin Scorsese‘s Raging Bull. It’s not even a competition. It may just be the greatest male acting performance in film history, and one of the main reasons why many consider De Niro the greatest actor of all time. The actor’s portrayal of real-life boxer Jake La Motta is as flawless as an acting performance can be.
Raging Bull is one of the most essential De Niro movies, a gloomy and thought-provoking biopic with some of Scorsese’s best direction and some of Paul Schrader‘s best screenwriting. Highly dedicated both physically and psychologically, incredibly intense, and full of raw sincerity, it’s the peak of prime De Niro. If ever an Oscar has been fully and entirely deserved, it’s this one.
