'The Ringer's' 101 Best Movie Performances of the 21st Century

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What you have before you is The Ringer’s ranking of the 101 best movie performances of the 21st century. When we came up with the idea, we didn’t realize how hard it would be to limit the list to that number. That means that a few of our favorites are missing—and assuredly some of yours, too. (Rest assured, PSH makes an appearance here—and very high up.)

After a few weeks of balloting, back-and-forth debates, and just overall list-shaping mechanics, we feel great about where this ranking landed. However, a few notes up top.

We had only one hard-and-fast rule: only one performance per actor on the final list.
That means that while we could’ve chosen a half dozen or so Hoffman performances—alas, there is no Along Came Polly—he has only one. We made this decision for two reasons:

We wanted to put a stamp on the performances we felt were truly worthy.

It allowed us to get some more interesting entries onto the list. Rather than loading it up with Cate Blanchett or Denzel Washington roles, we were able to get some smaller performances on here.

But while the final list had only one role per actor, the balloting process offered us many to choose from. Here’s the total list of actors who received votes for three or more performances from our committee:

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1. Naomi Watts as Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn, Mulholland Drive (2001)

2. Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood (2007)

3. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd, The Master (2012)

4. Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár, Tár (2022)

5. Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men (2007)

6. Heath Ledger as the Joker, The Dark Knight (2008)

7. Denzel Washington as Detective Alonzo Harris, Training Day (2001)

8. Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, The Social Network (2010)

9. Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell, The Master (2012)

10. Kirsten Dunst as Justine, Melancholia (2011)

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