A lot of TV and movie productions in 2022 gave people throughout the world thrills, laughter, and horrors. A lot of excellent, dedicated actors gave performances that will be cherished for years to come, making it a terrific year for performers as well.
Success for an actor can be measured in many ways, such as critical acclaim or box office draw, but the best way to judge a performance’s quality is by how it makes you, the audience, feel. And it’s safe to say that the actors on this list definitely caused us to experience a wide range of emotions this year.
Jenna Ortega
2022 was a breakout year for Jenna Ortega. Not only did she show herself to be one of the best examples of a modern-day scream queen with her exceptional performances in both X and Scream, but she also showed that she has the ability to carry an entire series of TV with her memorable performance as the titular character in the mini-series Wednesday.
Having mostly starred in ensemble casts, Wednesday gave the actor her first experience in a leading role. Although, based on the quality of her zany performance, you’d think she’s been carrying films and TV series single-handedly for a decade. With Scream IV and a second series of Wednesday likely on the way, too, Ortega will be dominating both the big and small screen for many years to come.
Mia Goth
Given that we’re on the subject of modern-day scream queens, we simply have to mention Mia Goth, who starred in two of the most interesting and unique horror films of the last decade in a single year, X and Pearl. After playing the final girl in X, Goth went on to play a younger version of X‘s antagonistic old lady Pearl in the unexpected prequel.
The latter really allowed the actor to showcase her range with a moving monologue that gives a true insight into Pearl’s character and her fractured mental state. Audiences are hopeful that the third installment in the series, MaXXXine, will match the quality of the first two films in the series.
Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell has always balanced his blockbuster movies with smaller, independent projects, and 2022 was no different for the talented Irish actor. He appeared in both The Batman and reunited with his In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson for The Banshees of Inisherin.
Though he may have been unrecognizable in Matt Reeves’ superhero film, the menacing quality of his performance was enough to reassure audiences that it really was Farrell under the makeup. As for his performance in Martin McDonagh’s newest film, well, let’s just say there’s a reason he’s considered a major front-runner for the upcoming awards season.
Letitia Wright
Letitia Wright had one of the most difficult jobs in acting this year; she had to take on the mantle of the Black Panther after the tragic passing of the beloved and iconic Chadwick Boseman. For most actors, this would have been an impossible task, but Letitia’s vulnerability and courage led to the most impressive superhero movie performance of 2022.
David Harbour
Given its record-breaking arrival on Netflix and the critical and commercial praise that accompanied it, almost any of the cast of Stranger Things season four could have made it onto this list. But nobody else in that cast could bring such a fresh take to a character as important as Santa Claus.
Violent Night showed audiences David Harbour at his gory best, wise-cracking and eyeball-stabbing his way through an instant Christmas classic. It may not be fun for all the family, but the new Christmas flick cemented Harbour’s status as a tremendous leading man.
Tom Cruise
He may have only starred in one film in 2022, but in typical Tom Cruise fashion, one movie was more than enough for him to remind the world why many consider him to be the last great movie star. Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel three decades in the making, became the first Cruise movie to gross over a billion dollars.
Beyond just his own personal achievement, Top Gun: Maverick also became the highest-grossing film of 2022, while most people consider it to be one of the ten best movies of the year.
Aubrey Plaza
As was the case with the first season, The White Lotus season two wowed audiences with its fraught relationships and well-developed character arcs. While many actors shone in their roles, none made quite as large an impression on the landscape of film and TV in 2022 as Aubrey Plaza.
In addition to The White Lotus, Plaza also starred in the under-appreciated animated comedy The Little Demon in addition to appearing in and producing Emily The Criminal, a film that truly highlighted her exceptional range.
Brendan Fraser
With awards season just around the corner, audiences should get used to seeing Brendan Fraser because he’s going to be a major contender for the Best Actor award at just about every awards ceremony in the industry,
His touching performance in The Whale has reminded audiences just how talented Fraser is, managing to somehow portray both vulnerability and hope simultaneously. Beyond The Whale, however, Fraser continued his role as Cliff Steele in the criminally underseen DC series Doom Patrol.
Zoe Saldaña
She may feel stuck working on major franchises, but audiences just can’t seem to get enough of Zoe Saldaña and her beloved returning characters. None of these characters made as big an impact on 2022’s pop culture as the return of Neytiri in Avatar: The Way of Water, in which she delivered one of the best mo-cap performances of all time.
Beyond just the mouthwatering success of the long-awaited Avatar sequel, Saldaña also made a huge impression with her performances in both The Adam Project and the much-loved yet underseen mini-series From Scratch.
Michelle Yeoh
Yeoh made a similarly impressive impression on the small screen too, starring in the lead role in the spin-off series The Witcher: Blood Origin. The series may not be loved by fans, but there’s no debate about the quality of Yeoh’s performance.
Soucre: collider.com
