Best Performances and Filmmakers of 2020

Brandon Vick's list of the best performances and filmmakers of 2020 is out!

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Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.
– Meryl Streep, Actress

BEST ACTRESSES OF 2020

Runners Up

  • Eliza Scanlen- Babyteeth
  • Jessie Buckley- I’m Thinking of Ending Things
  • Tilda Swinton– The Personal History of David Copperfield
  • Olivia Colman- The Father
  • Nicole Beharie– Miss Juneteenth
  • Meryl Streep- Let Them All Talk, The Prom
  • Glenn Close– Hillbilly Elegy
  • Evan Rachel Wood- Kajillionaire
  • Allison Janney- Bad Education
  • Kelly O’Sullivan– Saint Frances
  • Millie Bobby Brown- Enola Holmes
  • Sidney Flanigan- Never Rarely Sometimes Always
  • Rosamund Pike- Radioactive
  • Radha Blank– The Forty-Year-Old Version
  • Ellen Burstyn- Pieces of a Woman
  • Lesley Manville– Let Him Go
  • Sophia Loren- The Life Ahead
  • Aubrey Plaza – Happiest Season, Black Bear
  • Youn Yuh-jung– Minari
  • Andrea Riseborough- Possessor

Top Five

5. Vanessa KirbyPieces of a Woman
4. Viola DavisMa Rainey’s Black Bottom
3. Frances McDormandNomadland
2. Elisabeth MossThe Invisible Man, Shirley
1. Carey MulliganPromising Young Woman


BEST ACTORS OF 2020

Runners Up

  • Dev Patel- The Personal History of David Copperfield
  • Tom Holland- The Devil All the Time
  • Mark Rylance – The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Andy Samberg– Palm Springs
  • Leslie Odom Jr.- One Night in Miami
  • Tom Hanks- Greyhound, News of the World
  • Ben Affleck- The Way Back
  • Steven Yeun- Minari
  • Paul Bettany- Uncle Frank
  • Bill Murray- On the Rocks
  • Dylan O’Brien- Love and Monsters
  • Paul Raci- Sound of Metal
  • Robert Pattinson- The Devil All the Time
  • Mads Mikkelsen- Another Round
  • Gary Oldman- Mank
  • Hugh Grant- The Gentlemen
  • Kingsley Ben-Adir- One Night in Miami
  • Delroy Lindo– Da 5 Bloods
  • Pete Davidson– Big Time Adolescence, The King of Staten Island

Top Five

5. Sacha Baron CohenThe Trial of the Chicago 7, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
4. Hugh Jackman – Bad Education
3. Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
2. Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
1. Anthony Hopkins – The Father


To make a film is easy; To make a good film is war. To make a very good film is a miracle.
– Alejandro González Iñárritu, Director

BEST DIRECTORS OF 2020

Runners Up

  • Judd Apatow – The King of Staten Island
  • Miranda July– Kajillionaire
  • Aaron Sorkin- The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Antonio Campos– The Devil All the Time
  • Cory Finley- Bad Education
  • Brandon Cronenberg– Possessor
  • David Fincher– Mank
  • Andrew Patterson- The Vast of Night
  • Michael Matthews- Love and Monsters
  • Pete Docter and Kemp Powers– Soul
  • Leigh Whannell– The Invisible Man
  • George C. Wolfe- Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Lee Isaac Chung- Minari
  • Radha Blank- The Forty-Year-Old Version
  • Spike Lee– Da 5 Bloods
  • Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart- Wolfwalkers
  • Kornél Mundruczó- Pieces of a Woman
  • Regina King- One Night in Miami
  • Armando Iannucci– The Personal History of David Copperfield
  • Max Barbakow- Palm Springs

 Top Five

5. Alex Thompson – Saint Frances
4. Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
3. Florian Zeller – The Father
2. Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
1. Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman

More Best of 2020

The Abhorrent And Let Downs Of 2020
Best Documentaries Of 2020

Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

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