Oscars 2022: Every Acting Nominee Ranked

After Best Picture, the biggest awards handed out on Oscar night are surely the various acting trophies, which celebrate what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deem to be the best performances of the previous year.

As is the case with basically every category at the Oscars, picking the best actors over a twelve month period is hard work, and always leads to a great performance going unrecognised, whilst a less memorable one garners inexplicable love from Academy voters.

This year has been no different, with plenty of actors - both veteran and relative newcomer alike - being either surprisingly nominated or annoyingly snubbed. That being said, the nominees we've ended up with a strong overall, particularly in the supporting categories.

Given the eclectic mix of stats being recognised this year and certain races (mainly Best Actress) being impossible to call, the following list will take a look at every performance chosen by the Academy, by ranking all 20 of them worst to best. Let's see where they've gone wrong - and right - this time...

Whilst J.K. Simmons isn't by any stretch bad in Being the Ricardos, his nomination for playing sitcom legend William Frawley feels incredibly hollow.

Though he's quick-witted and commanding enough, the actor seems to have been nominated solely on the strength of his name and recent Oscar success, pushing out more deserving stars Jamie Dornan (Belfast) and Bradley Cooper (Licorice Pizza) so the Academy can heap praise on yet another tired biopic.

Simmons is incapable of phoning it in, and he certainly gives another commendable performance here, but he's ultimately stunted by Aaron Sorkin's self-indulgent script, showy direction, and the overall lack of challenge the role offers.

He gets the job done - as ever - but Oscar-worthy? Definitely not, especially given the competition and his lack of love all award season.