- Brat Pitt (The Counselor)
- Channing Tatum (Blink Twice)
- Clive Owen (Closer)
- Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
- David Straithairn (Good Night, and Good Luck)
- Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
- Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)
- Hugh Jackman (Prisoners)
- Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
- Jet Li (The Warlords)
- Joaquin Phoenix (Joker: Folie à Deux)
- Jonathan Pryce (The Wife)
- John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac)
- John Malkovich (Changeling)
- Jon Voigt (The Rainmaker)
- Kerry Washington (I Think I Love My Wife)
- Kirsten Dunst (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
- Laurence Fishburne (Mystic River)
- Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
- Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby)
- Natalie Portman (May December)
- Nicole Kidman (Birth); also favorite-of-career; honorable mention (Rabbit Hole)
- Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
- Rosario Dawson (Seven Pounds)
- Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction)
- Sandra Oh (Rabbit Hole)
- Tom Wilkinson (Good People)
- Will Smith (Ali); also favorite-of-career
- Woody Harrelson (Seven Pounds)
related: favorite-of-career performances