A little housekeeping before we dive into this list, just to try to head off some yelling…
- This is the Uproxx staff’s attempt to compile a bunch of our favorite performances from the world of film and television in 2023
- The important word here is “favorite,” not “best,” as this is more an exercise in highlighting some cool things that jumped out at us this year than it is to present a definitive accounting of quality across the board
- Please read this list as a jumping-off point for a conversation, not the exhaustive list of good performances, as we are only a handful of people who probably did not see everything all of you saw
Okay, here we go. It was a really good year for some really weird stuff. That’s the biggest thing you should take from this. That and the thing where there’s a giant lizard on the list.
Jon Hamm — Fargo
Confidence is seductive. Nations march in one way or another because of it. The sight of someone, immovably secure in their conviction and the righteousness of it has the power to shatter or, at least, destabilize doubt and win converts. It’s a real-life weapon, in other words, and a powerful tool for actors who can project it in a believable way. Jon Hamm is one such actor. Used to great effect in Mad Men and in several other projects, it is the secret sauce that makes asshole lawman Roy Tillman work so well in the fifth season of Fargo. This man, who thinks himself a kind of hammer for the lord and the decider of right and wrong is dangerous and gigantic in his own mind and in the lives of his acolytes. It’s the kind of character that could take over the world if his appetites grew beyond his relatively tiny pond. The kind of character who feels like an impossible villain, inescapable because his belief system won’t allow for the notion that he might be going too far or that he can accept anything besides victory and what he thinks he’s entitled to. Tillman is terrifying because of all of this and we absolutely cannot look away. — Jason Tabrys
K. Devery Jacobs — Reservation Dogs
I’ve said just about everything I can say about Reservation Dogs — a truly special show — but it’s still all true. It was my favorite show of the year and probably my favorite of the last few years. The performances of all the unruly teens coming of age on an Oklahoma reservation were the backbone, but if I had to choose one, I’m taking Jacobs, the heart and soul of the crew and the one who delivered the show’s best line, or at least the one that’s stuck with me the longest. I hope we get to see a lot more of her going forward. — Brian Grubb
Joaquin Phoenix — Napoleon
Be honest: When you heard Ridley Scott was making a three-hour movie about a legendary military leader, you did not expect it to be, like, really funny in parts. And yet, it was, to the degree the whole theater was laughing out loud with me more than once. Most of the credit here goes to Phoenix, who plays Napoleon more as a petulant brat throwing tantrums than a powerful commander. Which is… a choice. And a surprisingly good one. There’s a part in here where he shouts “YOU THINK YOU’RE SO GREAT BECAUSE YOU HAVE BOATS” as a British naval officer and then storms off like an angry little brother. It’s delightful. Get Joaquin and Paul Rudd in a road trip movie as soon as possible. — Brian Grubb
Bella Ramsay — The Last of Us
Bella Ramsay knows how to play a badass – she’s done it to great effect in HBO’s Game of Thrones – but for this apocalyptic sci-fi drama she elevates the stereotypical. Her Ellie – a hardened teen burdened with a terrible responsibility – is aloof, cutthroat, and ballsy, just like her GoT counterpart. But Ellie is also lost, damaged, longing for connection in a world where killer fungi have robbed her of both her past and future in devastating ways. Ramsay switches from cold and callous to a broken, emotionally-stunted kid with just a crack of her voice and a shuttering sob, demanding we care about what happens to Ellie and those she loves despite the assurance that nothing good will come of it. — Jessica Toomer
Natasha Lyonne — Poker Face
Natasha Lyonne often gets compared to Peter Falk’s Columbo, and the affection for that kind of character (among others) is in the DNA of Poker Face, but credit where it’s due: Charlie is a unique character. A human lie-detector and dissectologist at heart with a strong sense of right and wrong, she easily turns from an amiable go-with-the-flow drifter into a suspicious sleuth who keeps dancing with danger, winning people over and sticking out like a sore thumb for her idiosyncratic manner. It might seem distractingly weird that one person would keep ambling into touchy situations and in-progress crimes, especially while trying to lie low, but Lyonne ties it all together and keeps us wanting more. — Jason Tabrys
Marshawn Lynch — Bottoms
There’s a long history of confused teachers in high school movies who try to teach and/or counsel confused and/or awkward teens. There not, however, a long history of profane teachers who read porno magazines in class and kind of accidentally end up as the student advisor of an all-girl fight club. That’s what makes Bottoms special. That and the thing where the teacher is played by former NFL great Marshawn Lynch. I could not believe how good he is in this movie. I hope he’s in more movies. All of them, if possible. Watch Bottoms. You’ll see what I mean. A star was born this year. — Brian Grubb
Jennifer Lawrence — No Hard Feelings
Back from her self-imposed Hollywood exile, Jennifer Lawrence’s turn in this raunchy rom-com (based on a bizarre Craigslist ad) confirmed what we all knew to be true: We’ve really missed her. While the actress is known for her dramatic chops, it’s her commitment to embarrassing herself at every turn in this film – whether it’s flailing up a flight of stairs on roller skates, taking a face-full of pepper spray during an impromptu kidnapping, getting karate chopped in the throat at a college house party, or body slamming teenage vagrants while completely nude – that justifies the laughs in this film. Even when she leans into her character’s worst impulses and most off-putting flaws, Lawrence still manages to convince us to root for her redemption arc, playing Maddie as a lonely, jaded young woman stuck in a rut of adolescent rebellion who, like her romantic mark, just needs someone to believe in her. — Jessica Toomer
Ayo Edebiri — The Bear
The highlight reel is unreal – the apartment scene with Carmy learning a recipe or the scene fixing the table, both while tip-toeing into conversations about life, sacrifice, and ambition. The scenes with Marcus, her father, or making that perfect omelet for Nat while demonstrating the root heartfulness of cooking for someone. In all of these moments and in so many more, Ayo Edebiri brings life to Sydney as an intense, awkward, frightened, fearless, and complex person, modulating tone and pace to make words thump with heart and purpose in the most human of ways. Syd is the least “acted” best acted character on this show which is filled with those kinds of performances; the ones that make you lose sight of the fact that you’re watching a TV show and not just standing in the kitchen watching these people absolutely cook. — Jason Tabrys
Godzilla — Godzilla Minus One
You know him, you love him, you run away from him so you don’t get squished by his giant foot. That’s right, it’s Godzilla. In Godzilla Minus One (arguably the best Godzilla movie since the original), the spiky radioactive reptile lives up to his title as the King of the Monsters. My man is terrifying. Every time he roared was the loudest moment I experienced in a theater all year — yes, even more than that other movie about the devastating effects of nuclear despair. — Josh Kurp
Ego Nwodim — SNL
Every few years, Saturday Night Live goes through a kind of rebirth. The more famous among the cast depart for bigger projects, inadvertently ushering in a new crop of comics eager to make their mark on the long-running sketch comedy series. The growing pains that come with that means that plenty of skits from SNL’s latest season didn’t hit and even more relied on the likability of celebrity hosts to carry them through. But a moment of brilliance came when Ego Nwodim – a cast member who’s put in more than enough work to earn her billing – picked up a steak knife and tore into the absurdity of a sketch about a woman from Temecula having dinner with her sister’s friends. An overdone slab of beef for a no-nonsense lawyer who likes her meat cooked, a rocking table, and a handful of co-stars who barely kept it together as Nwodim’s Lisa refused to give Pedro Pascal “the butt” made this skit an instant classic and proved why Nwodim is so valuable to the show. — Jessica Toomer
Robert De Niro — Killers Of The Flower Moon
It’s not that Robert De Niro has been in hibernation, there’s good work dotted across the last 25 years, but outside of The Irishman and The Wizard Of Lies, we have to go back to 1996’s Heat to find the legendary actor firing on all cylinders and adding to the long list of career-best performances. In Killers Of The Flower Moon, the ferocity is returned but it’s hidden under the surface of a smile while he works to claw every dollar from the wealthy Osage Nation with a twisty set of well-laid plans that would make Machiavelli blush. The puppetmaster who has convinced himself that he is the whole show, De Niro is as devious as he is deluded into thinking he’s an actual pillar of the community that he’s using and burning down. It’s the defining role of De Niro’s late-stage career and one that should earn him serious Oscar contention. — Jason Tabrys
Ryan Gosling — Barbie
It feels… wrong to highlight one performance from Barbie and have it be the dude who played Ken. That much, I get. Margot Robbie was incredible in Barbie. America Ferrara was incredible in Barbie. Pretty much everyone was incredible in Barbie. It was a great movie. I might watch it again this weekend. But when I do, I expect I’ll still have my eyes on Gosling as Barbie’s hopelessly confused boo, raging and pouting at a changing world where he’s “Just Ken.” It’s not an easy thing to do without spinning into caricature. Or at least, like, bad caricature. The whole thing was just very fun. — Brian Grubb
Paul Rudd — Only Murders in the Building
A few things:
- Paul Rudd showed up on this season of Only Murders as the murder victim
- No one plays a pompous idiot manchild better than Paul Rudd, which I mean as a compliment
- I would have put him on here just for the cookie GIF even if that’s all he did
We must protect him. — Brian Grubb
Alan Ruck — Succession
Alan Ruck’s Connor Roy is the Fredo of his very wealthy and powerful family. An afterthought, brought close only when useful or out of a sense of obligation. Connor is tireless in his pursuit of approval, legitimacy, and love, though, Ruck’s sad eyes sell the story, the hope, and the need. Maybe this time, maybe next time. But all of this leads to one of 2023’s best on-screen moments. Connor in the karaoke lounge, telling the sibs that, “The good thing about having a family that doesn’t love you is you learn to live without it.” before calling his ability to live without love a “superpower.” We know he’s trying to project strength and detachment, an astronaut outside the ship and without air, trying to seem strong while on a fraying tether. He’s lying to them and to himself to survive the potential loss of his fiance, Willa, and the story he’s been trying to write for himself. It’s crushing, because you just know he’s collapsing on the inside until he walks into that bedroom and Willa invites him to hold her – the life-sustaining fantasy of love back online, filling his lungs. — Jason Tabrys
Ruibo Qian — Our Flag Means Death
A few notes here:
- The second season of Our Flag Means Death was a blast, complete with gay pirates and gory violence and a legitimately sad death I’m still not ready to talk about
- Ruibo Quan showed up as a Pirate Queen from China who slung swords like a champion and was ruthless with a tender heart and spoke like an American millennial for some reason
- She stole every scene she was in, which is not an easy thing to do on a show where Taika Waititi plays a lovesick Blackbeard waging a war of vengeance across multiple seas
Spinoff, please. — Brian Grubb
Carla Gugino — The Fall of the House of Usher
Carla Gugino has been a steady, soft-spoken anchor in plenty of Mike Flanagan’s on-screen hellscapes over the years, often serving as a traumatized heroine plagued by horrors both real and imaginary. It’s only fair that in Netflix’s Edgar Allan Poe homage she gets to tap into her villainous side, playing a shapeshifting fate-dealer puppeteering the bloody, demented downfall of a rich and powerful family filled with degenerate nepo-babies. The Ushers might be the well-dressed cautionary tales here but it’s Gugino’s seductively purred poetic monologues on the failings of mankind and the inevitability of death that stick with viewers. It’s a quietly feral performance that carries the entire series, and it’s one only Gugino could deliver. — Jessica Toomer
Robert Downey, Jr. — Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer — which will probably go down as one of my favorite movies of the 21st century — featured a number of great performances, but the one that stood out to me most was Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Lewis Strauss, the wannabe Secretary of Commerce who was the architect of the hearing to railroad J. Robert Oppenheimer’s career by having his security clearance revoked. The reason for this is probably best summed up by Mike Ryan in his review of Oppenheimer this past summer. He wrote, “He’s made three movies since 2008 where he’s not playing Tony Stark (Oppenheimer is the fourth) and his baseline acting style is Tony Stark. He was Tony Stark before he was Tony Stark…it was actually pretty startling to watch Downey act as opposed to kind of just kind of be on cruise control with a persona he’s done a million times.” Yes, this, exactly. Here’s hoping RDJ embraces more roles that are unlike Tony Stark going forward. — Brett Dykes
Edi Patterson —The Righteous Gemstones
Reasonable arguments can be made that I’m putting Edi Patterson on this list more as a lifetime achievement award for playing Judy Gemstone than for anything specific she did this season. I won’t fight you too much if that’s your position. And even if I am, like… so what? She’s so good and has been since the very beginning. But also, before you settle into that position too far, please consider her part in the shoe-throwing melee that led to one of the best car chases on television this year. That’s not nothing either. As long as we agree that she’s on the list. That’s all I really care about. — Brian Grubb
James Marsden — Jury Duty
There’s a consistent gripe when it comes to James Marsden: How can a man with eyes that blue, a jawline that chiseled, and a charm that winning not be a George Clooney-level movie star? It’s preposterous, but that yet-unrealized potential also helps to sell Jury Duty’s completely ridiculous premise. It’s almost too insane to believe that Marsden would be serving on a jury in a fairly routine workplace negligence trial to not be believable, and the actor harnesses his undeniable charisma to get the prank over the finish line. He’s both likeable and obnoxious, down-to-earth and out-of-touch, a good-natured narcissist that jams up the machine of the justice system with massive bowel movements, birthday tantrums, and ill-timed casting calls. — Jessica Toomer
Jason Schwartzman — Asteroid City
Jason Schwartzman had an Ayo Edebiri-like year, and not just because they were both in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He was everywhere in 2023, from the aforementioned animated Spider-Man movie to reuniting with Wes Anderson in Asteroid City to voicing Gideon Graves (or is it Gordon Goose?) in the shockingly good Scott Pilgrim Takes Off anime to playing a dad who talks about his kids too much in I Think You Should Leave. He also looked like this in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. How can Schwartzman possibly top his 2023 in 2024? By starring in Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited Megalopolis, that’s how. — Josh Kurp
Sydney Sweeney — Reality Winner
I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Sydney Sweeney had been cast to play Reality Winner — the U.S. Air Force veteran and former NSA translator who was thrown under the bus by The Intercept and sent to prison for unauthorized release of government information. I just wasn’t sure if she had the gravitas for the role. Boy was I wrong! I was barely able to take my eyes off of her. And the movie itself –which you can stream on Max — is absolutely riveting. Of all the movies I saw in 2023, it was probably the one I thought about the most after viewing it. Specifically, I thought about how much it must suck to have your home raided by the FBI. Sydney Sweeney’s performance is a big reason for that. — Brett Dykes
