After our leading trio, it's a bit of a drop to fourth with Joaquin Phoenix for The Master. The thinly disguised Scientology drama has Phoenix as a WWII vet struggling for meaning in life after witnessing the horrors of the Pacific theater. Yet another tortured soul, Phoenix is all anxiety and tics and raw emotion. Perhaps Phoenix's fake breakdown in I'm Still Here was just practice for this one.

In fifth place, we have Ben Affleck, directing himself in Argo. Voters were impressed by Affleck's stern, determined performance of a man searching for redemption in his personal life through his actions outside it. There's a great sadness in his performance, of a man doing the only thing he knows how to do, because it's the only thing he can do. It's been said many times before, but this is a remarkable career resurgence for someone who was a punchline just a few short years ago.

Sixth spot goes to John Hawkes for The Sessions. Playing a man crippled by polio and confined to an iron lung, he's sparked into seeking out a sex therapist after a chance encounter. Far more than the tawdry story this could be, it's actually a touching story about rediscovering life and love and connecting with other people. It's also a surprisingly humorous performance and all the more impressive for the fact that Hawkes was completely restricted from using his body to tell his story.

Sadness permeates our seventh place finisher's performance, Steve Carell in Seeking a Friend For the End of the World. And how could it not, of course, but Carell finds the great heart in a man who is simply looking for a connection before it's too late for everyone. It's one of the finest examples of Carell blending his comedic and dramatic personas I can imagine.

Ever since his first entry into movies, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been our radar. In fact, for several years in a row, he made our Best Breakthrough Performance list, which really makes me wonder if our voters are familiar with the definition of Breakthrough.  He lands on our Best Actor list in eighth spot for his showing in Looper, where he played a young Bruce Willis, which is not a thing that should have worked. And yet he moved beyond just impersonation, portraying a desperate man trying to survive for reasons he's not entirely sure of.

The idea of "great Jack Black performance" doesn't sound like a plausible phrase within the last few years, considering how facile some of his role choices have been. In Richard Linklater's Bernie, he showed what he can really do when tested and he actually cares about the role. Playing an agressively avuncular man with a dark secret, Black threaded the line between comedy and drama expertly. More of this, please.

Lastly, we have Hugh Jackman for Les Miserables. By now, you've heard all the stories about how difficult the proces of singing on set was, and how tortured Jackman (among others) was for the shooting. But as a pure performance, Jackman brought one of the more intense roles in theater to life in an amazing fashion.

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Best Supporting Actress
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Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
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