AFT Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role

This is the first category of the 5th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them and drawn from a pool of approximately 138 Films. Click here to see previous years of this category.

Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order):
Matt Damon (The Adjustment Bureau), Ewan McGregor (Beginners), Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger), Ed Helms (Cedar Rapids), William Shimell (Certfiied Copy), Steve Carell (Crazy Stupid Love), George Clooney (The Descendants), Will Ferrell (Everything Must Go), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50), Ryan Kwanten (Griff the Invisible), Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses), Charlie Day (Horrible Basses), Jason Sudeikis (Horrible Bosses), Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March), Goran Kostic (In the Land of Blood and Honey), Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar), Colin Farell (London Boulevard), Jim Sturgess (One Day), Michael C. Hall (Peep World), Benoît Poelvoorde (Romantics Anonymous), Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In), Bouli Lanners (Special Treatment), Craig Roberts (Submarine), John C. Reilly (Terri), Tyler Labine (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil), Alan Tudyk (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil), Joel Edgerton (Warrior), Tom Hardy (Warrior), Paul Giamatti (Win Win)

Runners-up:
Peyman Moadi (A Separation)
Ryan Gosling (Drive)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
Michael Fassbender (Shame)

The winner:
Jean Dujardin (The Artist) was the ultimate showman as the charming, self-possessed silent film star George Valentin. His facial expressions are worth a thousand words.

Other nominees:
Mikael Persbrandt (In a Better World) captured heartbreak and melancholy in his searing blue eyes in one of the year’s most affecting performances. Michael Shannon (Take Shelter) embodied a frightening struggle with reality with an immensely focused and gripping turn. Brendan Gleeson (The Guard) was hilariously offensive and aloof as a sarcastic Irish cop. Thomas Horn (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) acted older than his age as a believably eccentric child trying to fill an immense void.