10. Alicia Vikander - Ex Machina
Throughout Ex Machina, Alicia Vikanders Ava, an AI robot desperately longing to be human, is a disquieting presence, by turns inquisitive and sensual, abrupt and manipulative. In a star-making performance, Vikander here is most memorable for how she acts and moves - rather than what she says - the actress brilliantly balancing the rigidness of a robot with how we think a an artificially intelligent species might attempt femininity. She is svelte and attractive, but also bereft of little female ticks (the ability to play with her hair, for instance). She is at one moment unmistakably a woman, and at others undeniably a machine.
Vikander has said that her attempts to play Ava as physically perfect led to a more robotic grace, and since what makes people human is flaws and consistency, she had to throw in some offbeats to add the feminine yin to the artificial yang: I wanted her to be a girl, but I also wanted her to have some glitches. This shows, and the end product is a remarkable physical performance by one of the best young actresses on the planet.