While the biggest box office dominator of the year was unquestionably Disney, 2019 saw indie performances and legacy characters stand out on the big screen. From long-running superheroes to divorcees, chaotic gamblers and grieving granddaughters, there’s still a wide variety of actors that deserve recognition. Here are mxdwn’s thoughts on our favorite performances from 2019.

Adam Driver, Marriage Story

If a man can reflect another man I know to the point where I don’t see the line between actor or character- just my friend- then the movie had me sold. Adam Driver was just one part of what made Marriage Story so engaging but that apartment sequence, my gosh!! Give Driver his Oscar just for that scene alone.

– Noah Pfister

Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

Normally, I hate Adam Sandler. I’ve never cared for him as an actor and dread anytime I have to watch any of his films, yet his performance in Uncut Gems made me really appreciate Sandler and for that reason alone, even I was surprised. Sandler’s character is perhaps the most hateful of this year and yet his performance is powerful and truly memorable. Not everyone will like this movie or be entertained by it, but take it for someone who hated the actor prior, Sandler owns the shows and we have his full attention.

– Rick Rice

Ansel Elgort, The Goldfinch

Though the movie got torn apart by critics and audiences unfamiliar with the book, Ansel Elgort impressed with his performance in The Goldfinch, based on the book by Donna Tartt. It was a story of great loss and mourning, and I felt that Ansel portrayed the complicated array of emotions very well. I love the book and the character and it’s clear that he felt the same and put his all into the role.

– Leilani Reyes

Awkwafina, The Farewell

Lulu Wang would never have been able to capture bittersweetness so perfectly in The Farewell if not for Awkwafina as the proganonist, Billi. Big family gatherings often happen for unfortunate reasons, but even then, there’s an underlying sense of happiness mixed with all the melancholy. In this role of a young woman visiting her dying grandmother in China, Awkwafina understands the extreme push-and-pull of emotion when reuniting with family under tragic circumstances. She also beautifully incorporates her own experiences as an Asian American immigrant as Billi grapples with questions of cultural difference and identity.

– Alicia Devereaux

Bill Hader, It: Chapter Two

Normally Hader tends to plays comedic roles, which the character of Richie Tozier was meant to be as both a child and a standup comedian in adulthood. But he does a fantastic job with the serious aspects of Richie’s character, as well as provide some legitimate moments of humor to the film’s scares.

– Avalon Allen

Hader won my heart as Richie with his quick wit and underlying struggle. He continued the character right where Finn Wolfhard left off and prevented the dark horror film from feeling suffocating, providing a breath of fresh air with his humor and very realistic portrayal of a person who had lost people and wasted years of his life living a lie.

– Leilani Reyes

Florence Pugh, Midsommar

In a year full of highlights for Florence Pugh, Midsommar saw her stand out when it comes to depicting extreme grief. While her character really doesn’t have that many lines describing her depression or post-mortem feelings, Pugh does an amazing job of showing it through her acting alone.

– Avalon Allen

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

For a lot of performances I’ve seen in the past, there are a lot of them where I simply say, “Yeah, that actor is pulling off the part very convincingly. With Joker it was different. There was no Joaquin Phoenix her, just Arthur Fleck and the Joker.

– Noah Pfister

Phoenix’s performance in Joker is undoubtedly captivating and convincing. Between the well written dialogue and the actor choice, the Joker is determined the villain you hate to love and, even more so, hate to have empathy for. The audience can’t help but feel bad for the guy as he is outcast from society and, even as he murders various people, his delinquent behavior seems justified.

– Natalie Holderbaum

I always appreciated this actor and even when I think about it, I don’t recall seeing him do a bad performance. Heath Ledger changed our view of the Joker, but here Phoenix gives a whole new take on the character that blew us away. From the iconic laugh, to the mental decline that he’s facing, Joker left audiences aghast and hungry for more. His performance was talked about greatly this year and it will a damn shame if he doesn’t get an Oscar nomination in what is easily the most standout performance of the year!

– Rick Rice

Joe Pesci, The Irishman

Essentially pulled out of retirement, Joe Pesci’s performance in The Irishman might be one of the strongest in his entire storied career. And that’s really, really saying something.

– Raymond Flotat

Jonathan Majors, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Joe Talbot’s surreal drama The Last Black Man in San Francisco has a softness that cannot be ignored, even at its most subdued. With its dreamy color palette and unhurried contemplation on themes like gentrification, memory, identity, and displacement, the film feels like a poem come to life. All this can also be said of Montgomery Allen, the reserved best friend character played by Jonathan Majors opposite Jimmie Fails. With his thoughtful gaze, Majors shows how Montgomery sees the world in a different way, constantly observing the art and truth in it. In perhaps his most memorable scene, soft-spoken Mont faces a mirror and tries to mimic a group of men in his neighborhood, employing an aggressive tone and slang that doesn’t come naturally to him, literally performing his idea of black masculinity. Majors’ nuanced performance allows the complexity of Mont’s thoughts and emotions to gradually reveal themselves like a great work of art.

– Alicia Devereaux 

Lupita Nyong’o, Us

Lupita Nyong’o’s roles in Us were complex and I felt she nailed what both characters entailed. She was vocally trained to mimic a voice pattern sometimes taken on by trauma victims and the method acting payed off in her disturbing and unique performance. I find Nyong’o’s characters by far the most memorable due to her dedication to the art and her immense talent.

– Natalie Holderbaum

Every actor brings their A-game to Jordan Peele’s Us as both the film’s protagonists and their Tethered counterparts, but Lupita Nyong’o stands out above them all. As protagonist Adelaide, she’s compelling as a mother with shocking secrets but a firm desire to protect her family. As her doppelgänger Red, Nyong’o’s croaking voice and distinct mannerisms have created a new iconic horror villain for the ages. Making you believe the same face is two separate characters is no easy feat, but Nyong’o pulls it off effortlessly. Performances in horror films are rarely recognized (see Toni Collette, Hereditary), but this one deserves so much attention.

– Ben Wasserman

Lupita N’yongo pulls double duty in Us as the protagonist Adelaide and the antagonist Red. Playing two characters is already tiring enough, but Red and Adelaide require so much from the performer that it’s exhausting to even think of keeping track on what these two characters know of one another before announcing it to the audience. Not to mention the physicality required to make Red feel like her own person.

– Ryan Sterritt

Robert De Niro, The Irishman

Robert De Niro brings out what is probably the saddest role of his lifetime in The Irishman. Frank Sheeran saw success, loyalty, friendship, and love, but his arc from a truck driver to a mafia hit-man lead to betrayal, death, and isolation from his loved ones, all moments expertly performed by DeNiro. Anyone else would have played Frank as a brute, but De Niro’s Frank is equal parts brain and muscle.

– Ryan Sterritt

Robert Downey Jr., Avengers: Endgame

As someone who was into the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Iron Man released in 2008, Robert Downey Jr. was Tony Stark from day 1. He transformed this B-list character into an A-list hero while revitalizing his own career from the brink of collapse, and Avengers Endgame offers the final bow for this iconic performance. Downey puts his all into Stark as someone who, having finally put his ego and worries aside, must don the armor once more to restore everyone taken by Thanos. This obsession to protect his family and the world drove Stark’s characterization for eleven years, but here it shines brighter than ever. One of the few performances I’ve proudly cried at in the movie theater.

– Ben Wasserman

After eleven years of films, Robert Downey Jr.’s performance in Avengers: Endgame showed why everything we’ve come to regard as the Marvel Cinematic Universe could not have been possible without him. We love you 3000 RDJ.

– Raymond Flotat

Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit

Most of the marketing for Jojo Rabbit focused on Roman Griffin Davis’ Jojo as a Hitler youth and Taika Waititi playing a wacky imaginary friend version of Hitler. And while both Waititi and Davis were great in their roles, I was really impressed with Scarlet Johansson, who turns Jojo’s mom Rosie from what could have been a generic mother cliche into a very memorable character. Johansson manages to create an interesting quirky and loving mother, but all her actions are genuine and never forced. She really gets you to care about her problems and worldview.

– Arden Terry

Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse

A career best performance from Willem Dafoe by far. The actor known for playing very eccentric characters tends to give movie roles his all and Dafoe’s performance in The Lighthouse is no exception. In fact, he goes above and beyond portraying Thomas Wake as creepy, funny and just all around mesmerizing to watch. The sequence where he goes on a monologue about the Sea Curse and Triton is a moment that should guarantee Dafoe an Oscar win!

– Ryan Pineda