Awardswatch’s 50 Favorite Performances of 2014: The Shortlist

Erik Anderson February 16, 2015

Awardswatch’s 50 Favorite Performances of 2014 – The Shortlist

F. Murray Abraham, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ben Affleck, Gone Girl
Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler
Go Ah-Sung, Snowpiercer
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Marion Bailey, Mr. Turner
Mira Barkhammer, We Are the Best!
Haluk Bilginer, Winter Sleep
Evan Bird, Maps to the Stars
Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow
Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Jessica Chastain, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
Suzanne Clément, Mommy
Carrie Coon, Gone Girl
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Marion Cotillard, Two Days One Night
Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant
Patrick D’Assumcao, Stranger by the Lake
Essie Davis – The Babadook
Rosario Dawson, Top Five
Kim Dickens, Gone Girl
Anne Dorval, Mommy
Jesse Eisenberg, Night Moves
Carmen Ejogo, Selma
Michael Fassbender, Frank
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nymphomaniac
Luminita Gheorghiu, Child’s Pose
Brendan Gleeson, Calvary
Mira Grosin in We Are the Best!
Jake Gyllenhaal, Enemy
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Frank
Bill Hader, the Skeleton Twins
Tom Hardy, Locke
Philip Seymour Hoffman, A Most Wanted Man
Isabelle Huppert, Abuse of Weakness
Isabelle Huppert, Dormant Beauty
Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent Year
Stephen James, Selma
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Scarlett Johansson, Lucy
Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Keira Knightley, Begin Again
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Keira Knightley, Laggies
Agata Kulesza, Ida
Johannes Kuhnke, Force Majeure
Timur Magomedgadzhiev, Two Days, One Night
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Beyond the Lights
Matthew McConnaughey, Interstellar
Ben Mendelsohn, Starred Up
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Elisabeth Moss, Listen Up Philip
Bill Nighy, Pride
Edward Norton, Birdman
Jack O’Connell, Starred Up
David Oyelowo, Selma
Nate Parker, Beyond the Lights
Robert Pattinson, The Rover
Guy Pearce, The Rover
Joaquin Phoenix, The Immigrant
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Mommy
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Allison Pill, Snowpiercer
Chris Pine, Into the Woods
Gary Poulter, Joe
Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy
Jonathan Pryce, Listen Up Philip
Charlotte Rampling, Young & Beautiful
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Erica Rivas, Wild Tales
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Rene Russo, Nightcrawler
Adam Sandler, Men, Women & Children
Ben Schnetzer, Pride
Andrew Scott, Pride
Emmanuelle Seigner, Venus In Fur
Martin Short, Inherent Vice
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Jenny Slate, Obvious Child
Melisa Sozen, Winter Sleep
Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner
Imelda Staunton, Pride
Kristen Stewart, Camp X-Ray
Kristen Stewart, Still Alice
Dan Stevens, The Guest
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Hilary Swank, The Homesman
Tilda Swinton, Only Lovers Left Alive
Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer
Channing Tatum, Foxcatcher
Milles Teller, Whiplash
Tessa Thompson, Dear White People
Uma Thurman, Nymph()maniac
Sheila Vand, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice
Naomi Watts, Birdman
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Shailene Woodley, The Fault In Our Stars
Robin Wright, The Congress

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.