Top 20 Performances of 2008
by Aunt-Peg | created - 19 Aug 2011 | updated - 13 Sep 2020 | PublicThese are my top 20 performances listed in order for each category (lead actor, lead actress, supporting actor & supporting actress).
1. Toni Servillo
Actor | La grande bellezza
Actor and director Toni Servillo was born in Afragola in 1959. In 1977 Servillo founded the Teatro Studio in Caserta for whom he directed 'Propaganda' (1979), 'Norma' (1982), 'Billy il bugiardo' (1983) and 'Guernica' (1985), amongst others. In 1986 he collaborated with the Falso Movimento group, ...
in Il Divo (best performance by an actor in a leading role 2008)
2. Sean Penn
Actor | Mystic River
Sean Penn is a powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work, who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints.
Sean Justin Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the ...
in Milk (2nd choice)
3. Mickey Rourke
Actor | Sin City
Mickey Rourke was born Phillip Andre Rourke, Jr. on September 16, 1952, in Schenectady, New York, the son of Annette Elizabeth (Cameron) and Philip Andre Rourke. His father was of Irish and German descent, and his mother was of mostly English and French-Canadian ancestry. When he was six years old,...
in The Wrestler (3rd choice)
4. Philip Seymour Hoffman
Actor | The Master
Film and stage actor and theater director Philip Seymour Hoffman was born in the Rochester, New York, suburb of Fairport to Marilyn (Loucks), a lawyer and judge, and Gordon Stowell Hoffman, a Xerox employee, and was mostly of German, Irish, English and Dutch ancestry. After becoming involved in ...
in Synecdoche, New York (4th choice)
5. Tom Cruise
Actor | Top Gun
In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. ...
in Valkyrie (5th choice)
6. Kristin Scott Thomas
Actress | Gosford Park
The acclaimed Cornish actress Dame Kristin Scott Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall, to Deborah (Hurlbatt) and Lieutenant Commander Simon Scott Thomas. Her father was a pilot for the British Royal Navy and died in a flying accident in 1964. Her stepfather, Lt. Cdr Simon Idiens, was also a pilot, ...
in I've Loved You So Long (best performance by an actress in a leading role 2008)
7. Michelle Williams
Actress | Blue Valentine
A small-town girl born and raised in rural Kalispell, Montana, Michelle Ingrid Williams is the daughter of Carla Ingrid (Swenson), a homemaker, and Larry Richard Williams, a commodity trader and author. Her ancestry is Norwegian, as well as German, British Isles, and other Scandinavian. She was ...
in Wendy and Lucy (2nd choice)
8. Yolande Moreau
Actress | Quand la mer monte...
Yolande Moreau was born on February 27, 1953 in Brussels, Belgium. She is an actress and director, known for When the Sea Rises (2004), Amélie (2001) and Seraphine (2008).
in Seraphine (3rd choice)
9. Sally Hawkins
Actress | The Shape of Water
Sally Cecilia Hawkins was born in 1976 in Lewisham hospital, London, England, to Jacqui and Colin Hawkins, authors and illustrators of children's books. She is of English and Irish descent. Hawkins was brought up in Greenwich, in southeast London. She attended James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich...
in Happy-Go-Lucky (4th choice)
10. Julianne Moore
Actress | Far from Heaven
Julianne Moore was born Julie Anne Smith in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on December 3, 1960, the daughter of Anne (Love), a social worker, and Peter Moore Smith, a paratrooper, colonel, and later military judge. Her mother moved to the U.S. in 1951, from Greenock, Scotland. Her father, from ...
in Blindness (5th choice)
11. Bill Nighy
Actor | Love Actually
Bill Nighy is an award-winning British character actor. He was born William Francis Nighy on December 12, 1949 in Caterham, Surrey, England, to Catherine Josephine (Whittaker), a psychiatric nurse from Glasgow, and Alfred Martin Nighy, who was English-born and managed a garage in Croydon.
At school,...
in Valkyrie (best performance by an actor in a supporting role 2008)
12. Tom Wilkinson
Actor | Michael Clayton
Popular British character actor Tom Wilkinson was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and came from a long line of urban farmers. He was the son of Marjorie (Percival) and Thomas Wilkinson. Economic hardships forced his family to move to Canada for a few years when Wilkinson was a child; then, ...
in Valkyrie (2nd choice)
13. Tom Arnold
Actor | True Lies
Tom Arnold was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, to Linda (Graham) and Jack Arnold. After his parents divorced, he was raised by his father. In 1983, he got his first taste of stand-up comedy when he performed at open microphone nights at the University of Iowa. Tom's comedy career had its ups and downs over ...
in Gardens of the Night (3rd choice)
14. Jamie Parker
Actor | Becoming Elizabeth
Jamie Parker is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Harry Potter in the original cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: London Show (2017), for which he received an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play and a WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a ...
in Valkyrie (4th choice)
15. Terence Stamp
Actor | The Limey
Terence was born in London and spent his early years watching American films and dreamed of being like the stars on the screen, He was awarded a scholarship for the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art. In his second year, during an audition, Peter Ustinov signed him for the title role in Billy ...
in Valkyrie (5th choice)
16. Ann Savage
Actress | Detour
For one tough cookie who achieved major cult stardom with her hard-bitten blonde looks and "Perfect Vixen" tag, Ann Savage in real life was a lovely, spirited, gentle-looking lady. She may have peaked only briefly in 1940s Hollywood low-budgeters, but she made the most of it during that fairly ...
in My Winnipeg (best performance by an actress in a supporting role 2008)
17. Marisa Tomei
Actress | My Cousin Vinny
Marisa Tomei was born on December 4, 1964, in Brooklyn, New York, to Patricia "Addie" (Bianchi), a teacher of English, and Gary Tomei, a lawyer, both of Italian descent. Marisa has a brother, actor Adam Tomei. As a child, Marisa's mother frequently corrected her speech as to eliminate her heavy ...
in The Wrestler (2nd choice)
18. Samantha Morton
Actress | Minority Report
Samantha Morton has established herself as one of the finest actors of her generation, winning Oscar nominations for her turns in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and Jim Sheridan's In America (2002). She has the talent to become one of the major performers in the cinema of this young century.
...
in Synecdoche, New York (3rd choice)
19. Elsa Zylberstein
Actress | Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
Elsa Zylberstein was born on October 16, 1968 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France. She is an actress and producer, known for I've Loved You So Long (2008), Un + Une (2015) and Van Gogh (1991).
in I've Loved You So Long (4th choice)
20. Hui-Jen Liao
Actress | Ai qing lai le
Hui-Jen Liao was born on December 29, 1970 in Taiwan. She is an actress, known for Love Go Go (1997), Help Me, Eros (2007) and Shards of Her (2022).
in Help Me Eros (5th choice)
Tell Your Friends