Vic's Best Actors of 2014

While there were not as many great performances as last year, 2014 was still a great year for actors, so here is my list of actors deserving an Oscar in 2014. The list is alphabetical but my nod for the best actor of 2014 goes to Tom Hardy for two magnificent performances (Locke and The Drop). Hardy was not even nominated. Neither was my second choice, Brendan Gleeson (Calvary). Of those male actors who were nominated, my choice is Michael Keaton (Birdman). My favourite female acting performance was Reese Witherspoon in Wild (note that I have not yet seen the nominated performances by Julianne Moore and Marion Cotillard). I am not including best supporting actors in the list below, but my Oscar nods go to J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) and Emma Stone (Birdman). 

Male:

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Colin Firth (The Railway Man)

Brendan Gleeson (Calvary)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) (second year in a row)

Bill Hader (The Skeleton Twins)

Tom Hardy (Locke and The Drop)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Most Wanted Man)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Irrfan Khan (The Lunchbox)

David Oyelowo (Selma)

Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice) (second year in a row)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Christoph Waltz (The Zero Theorem)

Female:

Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin)

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Nimrat Kaur (The Lunchbox)

Agata Kulesza (Ida)

Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive)

Kirsten Wiig (The Skeleton Twins)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)