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The 250 Best Performances of the Last 25 Years (2000-2024)

The year 2025 marks the beginning of a new quarter of the second millenium and I decided to make a little retrospective and analyse some of the best and most iconic performances of the last 25 years. Some earned their performer the recognition of a career, others aged like fine wine and there are some I feel that are yet to be discovered, little gems not every moviegoer knows.
From 2000 to 2024 I tried to pick ONLY 250 (I know it seems a lot, but in such a vast and rich medium, I felt it was an hard task). First, my 12 honorable mentions and then I will start the countdown as I will be updating this post with the performances I picked, with a little review of each one.

HONORABLE MENTIONS 
  • Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom (2001)
  • Audrey Tautou, Amélie (2001)
  • Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde (2001)
  • Nicole Kidman, The Hours (2002)
  • Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda (2004)
  • Carmen Maura, Volver (2006)
  • Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls (2006)
  • Benicio Del Toro, Che (2008)
  • Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (2008)
  • Toni Servillo, Il Divo (2008)
  • Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
  • Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha (2013)
  • Robert Redford, All Is Lost (2013)
  • Colin Farrell, The Lobster (2015)
  • Zhao Tao, Mountains May Depart (2015)
  • Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born (2018)
  • Kelvin Harrison Jr., Waves (2019)
  • Taylor Russell, Waves (2019)
  • Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021)
  • Naomi Scott, Smile 2 (2024)


And now the 250 BEST PERFORMANCES OF THE LAST 25 YEARS (from 2000 to 2024) [updating]:


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