4. Hugh Jackman
Anne Hathaway will be the one walking away with most of the film's acting plaudits this awards season, but don't count Hugh Jackman out as a possible contender for the Academy Award for Best Actor, even if he, like everyone else who might be nominated, already knows that they're going to lose to Daniel Day-Lewis. As reformed rogue Jean Valjean, Jackman is a statuesque presence, which isn't exactly a surprise given the sure physicality he's given to the likes of Wolverine in the X-Men films throughout his career. It's a very physical role, one which sees Jackman go from grizzled and dirty to clean and refined, and then a little bit back again. What really makes his casting work, though, is his wonderful voice, which should come as no surprise given that he won a Tony Award in 2004 for his performance in The Boy From Oz. Here his Valjean is a highly sympathetic figure who pushes the right emotional buttons, and given Jackman's penchant for genre fare, this will be a welcome feather in his cap from "serious" film people and casual audiences alike.