Every year, we as critics and as film buffs love to keep track of who and what dominated the year - which films hit and missed both critically and commercially, but also, who were the relevant talents both in front of and behind the camera? Like any year, there has been a collection of great actors who have worked their way to the forefront of popular contemporary cinema, and we've decided to single out the 10 who gave the most interesting, often surprising contributions to the world of cinema in 2012. Either through their consistent presence in our cinema-going or by fully realising their "rising star" status from years previous, these 10 actors all helped to enrich our film-watching experiences this year, and should be commended for it. Here are 10 actors who ruled 2012.
10. Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard is already a well-celebrated actress, having garnered an Academy Award in 2008 for her performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, which allowed her to breakthrough to the Hollywood mainstream with turns in Public Enemies, Nine, Inception, Midnight in Paris and Contagion cementing her status as a certifiable movie star. In 2012, she took this to new heights with two great but very different turns; the first - depending on where you live and what film festivals you attended - was as Stephanie in Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard's riveting drama about a woman coping with losing her legs in a tragic accident. Cotillard created an affecting - yet never overly sentimental - portrait of a character who slowly comes to regain meaning to her life, and Cotillard fully commits to the more difficult aspects of that study, specifically as it relates to her character's sex life. The Oscar buzz remains strong that she may get a Best Actress nomination. Her other role was as Miranda Tate - and we're warning you of spoilers ahead - aka Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Liam Neeson's Ra's, who reveals herself at the film's climax by shoving a blade in Batman's side. Though set pictures had ruined the surprise many months before, Cotillard gets to play both the kind, warm presence to Bruce and then his attempted foil, encompassing that duality with convincing aplomb. She next stars alongside Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix in James Gray's Nightingale, pencilled in for a release some time in 2013.