1. Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind, 2002)
Russell Crowe turns in a consummate performance in A Beautiful Mind as the genius mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. who is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The authenticity of Crowe's role as Nash is astounding and entirely believable. He takes the audience into the world of someone who has a metal illness and shows the reality of how it affects the people around him. At no point does Crowe go over the top or descend into caricature but rather provides an increasingly unsettling picture of schizophrenia one that depicts the downward spiral of Nash's mind superbly His facial expressions and tiny changes in demeanour are what make the performance. Crowe frighteningly shifts from a vacant look or a look of creative turmoil to one of bewilderment and terror, making his performance shockingly effective. It has to be said that Denzel Washington gave a commanding performance in Training Day and he exuded swagger with his smooth-talking, corrupt detective Alonzo Harris. However his performance had none of the range or complexity that Crowe's had. The Academy was making things right with Denzel for their 1993 blunder when they overlooked him for Malcolm X. Crowe's character felt singular like he had forged it from somewhere deep inside himself whereas Washington's felt like a pastiche of other celluloid villains.
Which Oscar-worthy actors have we missed? Let us know in the comments section below.