Great performances don’t just entertain—they resonate, haunt, and sometimes even redefine what we expect from an actor. Every year, a handful of performances transcend mere acting and become something truly unforgettable—transforming films, elevating storytelling, and leaving audiences in awe.
In 2025, we saw performances that pushed boundaries, breathed life into complex characters, and made films unforgettable. It was an incredible year that spawned multiple instant classics, as well as plenty of other gems. From massive films with huge ensembles to intimate family dramas, a wide range of talent was on display. Several young stars asserted their arrivals, while a few familiar faces reminded us of their prowess.
These are the performances that truly defined cinema last year. These are the 50 Best Movie Performances of 2025.
40. Andrew Garfield as Hank Gibson in After the Hunt
After hosting the 2026 Golden Globes, Nikki Glaser appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where she revealed the following After the Hunt joke that was cut from the ceremony: “Julia Roberts is nominated for After the Hunt. I don’t know what it’s about, but I’m assuming the hunt was to find someone who’s seen it?” Savage but true: many opted to skip Luca Guadagnino’s latest film, which is unfortunate because it’s filled with great performances.
While Roberts’ performance has received the most praise, I feel Andrew Garfield deserves some recognition. He delivers yet another powerful and emotional performance as Hank Gibson, a professor accused of assault by a student. After the Hunt is slow-burning in how it handles the accusation, with Garfield’s performance key to casting doubt over the audience as to whether Gibson is innocent or guilty. However, it’s when the cards are finally laid on the table that Garfield is really allowed to have some fun, showing a wide range of manipulative emotions. A masterclass performance from an actor who is quickly becoming one of this generation’s greatest.
–Marmaduke Karlston
39. Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet Shakespeare in Hamnet
While his adult co-stars get the awards love this season, Jacobi Jupe—who plays the titular role of Hamnet—is the glue that holds the movie together and is excellent not just for a child actor, but for any actor. He brings a sense of playfulness and deep sensitivity to Hamnet, making the second half of the film truly tragic and rock you to your core.
–Jacob Holmes
38. Odessa A’zion as Rachel Mizler in Marty Supreme
Considering that Marty Supreme revolves so tightly around a towering performance by Timothée Chalamet, it’s impressive that relative newcomer Odessa A’zion is able to match him toe-to-toe in many scenes. A’zion plays Rachel, the closest thing Marty has to a girlfriend—despite the fact that she is married. She shows herself to be Marty’s match, with some schemes of her own, and also provides the touchstone as maybe the person most hurt by Marty’s shenanigans. Their screaming match late in the film requires an electricity that A’zion is able to make look easy.
–Jacob Holmes
37. Billy Crudup as Timothy Galligan in Jay Kelly
All the awards attention (or, perhaps, lack thereof) for Jay Kelly went to George Clooney and Adam Sandler for their lead and supporting performances in the Netflix comedy-drama about an aging actor reflecting on his life choices. However, not enough has been said about Billy Crudup’s scene-stealing performance as Timothy Galligan, a former friend of the title character’s, who never got his big break.
Crudup, who instantly improves any project he’s part of, dominates the screen despite his limited screentime. The movie at first makes you believe that Timothy’s wanting to catch up with Jay is nothing more than two old buddies who haven’t seen each other in a long time. However, that farce is soon dropped after a few drinks, with Timothy stating, “You kinda stole my life.”
You can feel the hate behind every single word said by Crudup, as Timothy reminds Jay that the only reason he got his big break was that he tagged along to his audition and stole the role from him. (It’s hard not to imagine that Noah Wyle might have played out a similar scenario in his head over the years before The Pitt.)
It’s Crudup’s scene that propels the rest of Jay Kelly forward, with Clooney’s Jay spending the rest of the movie grappling with how his career has negatively impacted those he considers (or once considered) to be his closest friends. While Crudup never appears again in the movie until the very end as a hallucinatory image, his presence and the words he exchanged with the title character are felt throughout the rest of Jay Kelly.
–Marmaduke Karlston
36. Julia Garner as Justine Gandy in Weapons
Garner’s character Justine is a mess, but we never feel disconnected from her. Even when she does horrific things (particularly during her chapter’s focus), we can’t help but feel bad for her and find her sort of endearing. Garner’s performance keeps us connected and sympathetic to a character that’s kind of a menace, and her natural charisma shines in every scene she’s in. Whether she’s running from the horrors or trying to convince her ex to abandon his sobriety, she’s just so real. She’s flawed and impulsive, but never mean on purpose. The way she threads the needle without ever losing the heart of her character is really great acting, and she’s definitely one of the more memorable performances of the year for me.
–Valerie Morreale
35. Joaquin Phoenix as Joe Cross in Eddington
Full disclosure, I had some real problems with Eddington, but Phoenix’s performance is very solid. Despite a meandering plot with loads of filler, Phoenix’s Joe Cross is the film’s only true constant, and his performance (in my opinion) really saves this from being a complete dumpster fire. Phoenix is obviously a world-class actor, and it’s interesting to see him portray a completely different kind of messed-up weirdo. Where I found other members of the cast pretty one-note, he plays his role with nuance, and despite the insanity, you feel for him especially in the film’s final act. Eddington may be a weird movie, but Joaquin Phoenix makes it worth seeing.
–Valerie Morreale
34. Olivia Colman as Ivy Rose in The Roses
The Roses is being overlooked, as many people didn’t dig it, but I will never be upset spending money to hear Olivia Colman giving the best possible delivery of the “c word” in her accent. Besides that, you can really feel both the sweetness of this character and yet just as believable at her most acerbic. Her chemistry with Benedict Cumberbatch crackles, and you can always feel the deep love beneath the fighting in the latter half. Not all actors can do that.
–Jacob Holmes
33. Taron Egerton as Nate McClusky as She Rides Shotgun
I considered naming the child star Ana Sophia Hager here instead, but people are really moreso overlooking what Taron Egerton does in this film. My feeling walking away from the movie was that Egerton comes off as an actually genuine and sincere version of a Jason Statham character. Egerton is not some super-fighter, but a former convict with an absolute need to protect his daughter from the forces that are coming after them, and you can see his desperation and doggedness in every glance. He is also able to convince me that he has a real father-daughter bond instead of simply informing me through the script. You can feel the familial connection in your bones, and it makes all the difference here in elevating this beyond standard fare.
–Jacob Holmes
32. Oona Chaplin as Varang in Avatar: Fire and Ash
I’m not going to even entertain the idea that motion capture performances are anything less than “real acting”. The evidence that points to this truth can be seen in various roles over the past two decades, and what Oona Chaplin delivers in Avatar’s third instalment simply adds to those of Andy Serkis (as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Planet of the Apes) or Tom Hanks (The Polar Express). Arguably, though, the greatest champion for the craft is none other than James Cameron, who continues to push the boundaries of the technology.
But what good is the tech without great performers behind it? Chaplin’s performance cuts through the digital spectacle with ferocity, becoming a character defined less by motion capture than by menace. In Fire and Ash, we are introduced to a rogue clan of Pandora who reject the teachings and practices of the local deity, Eywa. Her presence in the film is strongly felt right from her entrance to her final appearance. She is fearless, erratic, and filled with hate, and her introduction could not have come at a better time – Stephen Lang is great, but I really don’t want to watch Colonel Quaritch chase down Jake Sully for another three hours. She adds a quick, potent injection into the huge Avatar storyline, and I sincerely hope we get more of her in the planned fourth and fifth films in the-ever-expanding franchise.
–Thomas Riest
31. Molly Gordon as Iris in Oh, Hi!
I went into Oh, Hi! completely blind, but came out charmed by Molly Gordon. She is so funny, but never in a way that feels too forced. Oh, Hi! is packed to the gills with hijinks, but Gordon never feels like a caricature. She somehow feels fully realized and fleshed out as a character, and with the amount of scenes that are just her, she really carries the movie. Her chemistry with the cast is great (particularly with Logan Lerman), and she’s just so believable as this unbelievably quirky human. Her performance is definitely worth watching, and might even be in the awards conversation if this year weren’t so stacked.
–Valerie Morreale
50-41 | 30-21
What were some of your favorite performances of 2025? Maybe they will show up later in this list!