2022had a great variety of films, and there was thus a wide range of performances ranging from horror, drama, and biopics that captivated audiences. Many of the best performances landed serious awards buzz, and even the ones that got overlooked stood out in a very impressive year. These performances inspire, captivate, and or terrify, depending on who you ask.
Updated May 17th, 2023: This article has been updated byGaurav Krishnanto ensure that we cover all the very best performances of the year 2022.
More international performances are breaking out, and even though 2022 is over and the awards season is over, there are still plenty of performances worth spotlighting. From long-time favorites to acting legends and newcomers, these are the 20 best performances of 2022.
Best Movie Performances of 2022, Ranked
20John Boyega - Breaking
John Boyegastars in the tense crime thriller and character study,Breaking,based on a tragic true story. The film follows a disgruntled and mentally unbalanced veteran whose disability checks are discontinued as he gets lost in the system.
He holds up a bank, less to earn money and more to prove a point, and the film follows his relationship with the hostages, the media, and the police (which includes the great Michael K. Williams as a hostage negotiator in one of his final performances). Boyega is an emotional bomb, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats, uncertain when he’ll go off; he simultaneously warrants fear and compassion.
19Bill Nighy - Living
Bill Nighygets the meaty performance he’s always deserved inLiving, a remake that culturally relocates the iconic original film from Akira Kurosawa to the UK. Kurosawa’sIkiruis such a masterpiece, and its central performance from Takashi Shimura is so great that it seems so foolhardy to remake it, but the script is from Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro, which is enough assurance. Nighy is subtle, heartbreaking, and inspiring as a dying old bureaucrat who wants to do something meaningful with his life before he’s gone.
18Taylor Russell -Bones and All
Taylor Russellis powerfully effectivein the bleak horror romanceBones and All.She stars as Maren, a cannibal whose father has deserted her and who is now trying to survive on her own. When she stumbles across other ‘eaters,’ she embarks on a road trip to find her mother alongside a newfound friend. Acting opposite great talent like Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, and Chloë Sevigny, Russell manages to not only hold her own but stand out with the most emotionally devastating, intensely vulnerable performance of the film.
17Rory Kinnear -Men
Rory Kinnearplays every male character (except for one) inMen, the surreal horror film from28 Days Laterwriter andEx Machinadirector Alex Garland. Jessie Buckley does an excellent job as a woman on holiday in the country, where she is haunted by a variety of men who look weirdly similar, but it’s Kinnear who really seals the deal here. Oscillating between clumsy and awkward characters and downright horrifying ones, Kinnear is the literal backdrop of this disturbing film.
16Rayan Sarlak -Hit the Road
Child actors rarely give the best performances of the year, butRayan Sarlakis so charismatic and iconoclastic in the odd dramedyHit the Roadthat he’s impossible to ignore. He’s obnoxious, just like any kid, but he has a sweetness, curiosity, empathy, and joy to him that’s downright contagious. Sarlak is having a blast here as the youngest son of a family on a road trip to help smuggle their older son across the Iranian border and is childhood personified.
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15Neil Maskell -Bull
The great but underratedNeil Maskellgives one of his greatest performances in the mysterious crime thrillerBull. Maskell, with his thick working-class accent and larger body type, often gets typecast as a hoodlum or tough guy, and he certainly does this here but in a much more minimalist, distilled way.
Related:22 Best Movies of 2022, Ranked
Bullis a classically structured if more efficient revenge film in which the titular mobster tracks down everyone who tried to kill him and take his son away, but the movie has an almost supernatural sense of evil to it and unremitting brutality which separates it from the averageTakenknockoff. Maskell is incredible here as practically a force of nature, the essence of revenge.
14Sosie Bacon -Smile
Smileis yet another horror film that features outstanding, awards-worthy performances.Sosie Baconis earth-shattering as a therapist who begins to fear that she herself is either going mad or that her delusions are actually real. A searing study of suicidal ideation, guilt, and trauma,Smileis an actually scary movie that’s completely dominated by Bacon’s performance. Bacon is able to simultaneously seem like a victim of demonic forces and a legitimately insane woman, giving a double edge to herscream queen-worthy performance.
13Anthony Hopkins -Armageddon Time
The lost and forgotten adolescent years of having the world at your feet and believing you can do anything when you’re a teenager are echoed rather purposefully inArmageddon Time. Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is one such kid who dreams of becoming an artist, although his parents strongly disapprove. Tinged with wisdom, well-written dialogue, and empathy and understanding for his grandchild,Anthony Hopkinsplays the role of a supportive grandfather rather eloquently, making an otherwise dragged showcase of the novel concept much more interesting and watchable.
Hopkins effortlessly carries the film’s plot and storyline with his inherently admirable on-screen presence and makes the film perhaps more fervid and heartwarming as its subplot explores the relationship between a child and his supportive grandfather.
12Olivia Colman -Empire of LightandJoyride
Olivia Colmanis simply one of the best actors working today, and the past five years of her career have seen multiple Oscars and other awards. Colman gave two excellent performances in unfortunately average movies in 2022 — the weakEmpire of Lightand the fun but simple and sentimentalJoyride. Colman is incredible as an unhealthy, damaged woman at odds with society in each film, though they aren’t exactly worthy of her work.
11Wei Tang -Decision to Leave
Wei Tangis absolutely captivating in Chan-wook Park’s messy, long, but entertainingDecision to Leave. Wei alternates between average and housewife and stunning bombshell, innocent victim and dangerous criminal, the subject of obsession and eventually the obsession. Wei Tang plays the widow of a recently deceased bureaucrat, whose death is being investigated by a police officer who begins to fall for her while also suspecting her as the murderess.
