3. Joel Barish - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
This is the big one, the role that many felt should have finally bagged Jim Carrey an Oscar - or Hell, at least a
nomination - and though the film's screenplay indeed won a gong, while Kate Winslet was nominated as Best Supporting Actress, no dice for Carrey. Likely a result of Academy prejudices against the funnyman - despite him having decisively proven himself a great actor by this point - Carrey was snubbed for a performance more mired in melancholy and sadness than anything else he has done. Carrey plays Joel, who falls in love with Clementine (Winslet), yet after the relationship fails, they have a memory-wiping procedure to erase it from their minds. However, Joel's operation didn't go totally according to plan, and so his memories began to return, which director Michel Gondry conveys in jaw-dropping fashion. More so than any other performance, this is Carrey digging deep, burying his more popular persona, and coming up with something utterly sublime.