There were only a handful of iconic film performances in 2012, but there were a good number of excellent performances, often in smaller roles. I thought it'd be fun to make a list of the best 75 performances from films that I saw in 2012. Below are my picks. If there are other noteworthy performances that you think should be on here, let me know in the comments section!
75) Tom Holland, The Impossible 74) Tilda Swinton, Moonrise Kingdom 73) Susan Sarandon, Arbitrage 72) Jennifer Ehle, Zero Dark Thirty 71) Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild 70) Mark Duplass, Your Sister's Sister 69) Tom Hardy, Lawless 68) Noomi Rapace, Prometheus 67) Scoot McNairy, Killing Them Softly 66) Gina Carano, Haywire 65) Bruce Willis, Looper 64) Tom Hanks, Cloud Atlas 63) Anders Danielsen Lie, Oslo, August 31 62) Shirley MacLaine, Bernie 61) Edward Norton, Moonrise Kingdom 60) Kaya Scodelario, Wuthering Heights 59) Isabelle Huppert, Amour 58) Ray Liotta, Killing Them Softly 57) Alan Arkin, Argo 56) Eddie Redmayne, Les Miserables 55) Sam Riley, On the Road 54) Daniel Craig, Skyfall 53) Tom Hardy, The Dark Knight Rises 52) Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom 51) Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi 50) Mark Ruffalo, The Avengers 49) Robert Pattinson, Cosmopolis 48) Jude Law, Anna Karenina 47) Jim Broadbent, Cloud Atlas 46) Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild 45) Christian Bale, The Dark Knight Rises 44) Rosemarie DeWitt, My Sister’s Sister 43) Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained 42) Matthias Schoenaerts, Rust & Bone 41) Brad Pitt, Killing Them Softly 40) Muhammet Uzuner, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia 39) Emily Blunt, Looper 38) Greta Gerwig, Damsels in Distress 37) Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises 36) Michael Caine, The Dark Knight Rises 35) Thomas Doret, The Kid With the Bike 34) Judi Dench, Skyfall 33) Garrett Hedlund, On the Road 32) Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained 31) Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook 30) Ewan McGregor, The Impossible 29) Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables 28) Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina 27) James Howson, Wuthering Heights 26) Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook 25) Richard Gere, Arbitrage 24) Guy Pearce, Lawless 23) Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea 22) Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables 21) Sally Field, Lincoln 20) Amy Adams, The Master 19) Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained 18) Denzel Washington, Flight 17) Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour 16) James Gandolfini, Killing Them Softly 15) Michael Fassbender, Prometheus 14) Liam Neeson, The Grey 13) Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained 12) Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty 11) Javier Bardem, Skyfall 10) Cecile De France, The Kid With the Bike 9) Naomi Watts, The Impossible 8) Jack Black, Bernie 7) Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln 6) Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone 5) Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master 4) Denis Lavant, Holy Motors 3) Emmanuelle Riva, Amour 2) Joaquin Phoenix, The Master 1) Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln