Every leading contender for a Best Actor nomination at the 2023 Oscars
Long-awaited comebacks. Star-is-born moments. Veterans who are finally in the running. Here are 14 actors to know as the Academy Awards race heats up
Film News the 2023 Oscars
The Oscar lead actor race has it all this awards season: Beloved screen veterans making long-awaited comebacks. Star-is-born moments. Adam Freakin’ Sandler. The only thing this category doesn’t have? As many contenders as leading actress (stay tuned for our breakdown of that category on Friday).
Regardless of which of the 14 leading men (and 15 performances—way to double dip, Colin Farrell!) on this list make the cut when the Oscar nominations are announced on January 24, 2023, it figures to be quite a race. Just like with this year’s supporting actor group, it’s likely that newbie nominees will be reaching the finish line; only one actor on this best actor list has a little gold man on his mantle, and just one other has been nominated. Read on to find out who, along with which screen legends, both in-the-making and a long-time-coming, might join the Academy’s ranks for the first time.
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If voters are going to nominate this year’s box office leader (to date) for all the top awards, there’s no way they can leave out its leading man and driving force.I don’t think they nominated any actors from Avatar when that was at the top of the box office. Perhaps none of them are the “driving force”… but certainly Spielberg was for Jaws, and he didn’t get a Best Director nomination. If Tom Cruise gets nominated, I’d say it’s because the Best Actor field is relatively weak this year.
I liked The Fabelmans and LaBelle is good in the lead, but he’s got negligible odds of a nomination.The Oscars aren’t exactly known for honoring stories from Black queer men, though
They did give Best Picture to Moonlight.
Wasn’t Don Shirley from Green Book gay as well? Quite the recent history for black queer Oscar wins if so.
That character/real person was, but since he didn’t write the film I didn’t count that as a “voice”.
But I thought ‘La La Land’ won that year!? I remember it vividly because I was so disappointed that I shut off the TV in disgust immediately after the announcement.
Maybe it’s a boomer thing but my Mom thought Tom Cruise got robbed by not being nominated for Mission: Impossible, it’s like Mom these are action movies where the character he’s playing is just a proxy to his real life persona, why would he win an acting award for that?
Judd Hirsch stands a better chance of a supporting nom for Fabelmans. Michelle Williams seems like a lock for Actress or Supporting, I could see them putting her in either category.
I didn’t get to watch most of my screeners because my brother gnawed through the power cable to my blu ray player. R.I.P., Nosey.
He died doing what he loved. Gnawing.
Nosey was a compulsive gnawer, and near the end he would attack the task full of fury, empty of joy. If you’ve never had to live with teeth that constantly grow and threaten you with a fatal malocclusion, then I envy you.
I’m sorry you weren’t able to get him the help he needed in time 🙁
Don’t get me wrong, you toss a paper towel tube in the cage, and I’ll be the first one to go to town. There’s a sense of power you get from knowing your teeth can turn virtually any substance on earth into bedding material.
God, I love/miss AV club commenter gimmick accounts. You’re doing the lord’s work, fine gerbil Sir.
Aw damn, Nosey died? Sorry to here that, my dude.
Tom Cruise? Now you’re just being silly.
Yah I myself was shocked to see the inclusion of Johnny Depp for Jack Sparrow on this list.
As a whole Elvis was a fever dream dumpster fire, however Austin Butler did what he could with what he was given and is a dead ringer for Elvis. Hope he gets some recognition for the role, Olivia DeJonge as well, as they were the lone bright spot in that 2 hour 40 minute music video.Pulling for Felix Kamerrer to get a nom, he was fantastic and the film was powerful, hopefully being a Netflix release doesn’t kill his chances.
Man, if this isn’t Colin Farrell’s year, I don’t know what to think. Though to be honest, I’m giving less of a damn about these awards with every year I get closer to death.
tbh I’d rather see Collin Farrell win than Brendan Fraser. Both would be fine but it feels like a long time coming now for Farrell.
“It’s his turn”?
I honestly wouldn’t have even thought of Daniel Craig for the nomination, but I do think he would be a good choice. I thought Glass Onion was nearly as good as Knives Out in pretty much every way, including Craig’s performance, and he didn’t get one before, so might as well give him the nod now. I didn’t see After Yang, but my money is all on Farrell winning with Banshees this year.Also, Breaking was just fine, but Boyega was excellent in it. It seems like the type of role the Academy would lap up too. I’d probably put him, Butler, and maybe Fraser on my list, though I haven’t seen The Whale yet, and am just going off vibes.
man, i dunno. glass onion was kind of over-worked, and benoit blanc kind of disappeared in it at times. and i found myself asking, “oh, who the fuck is this guy again?” the tension of the story felt threadbare and the themes felt all of a sudden far too heavy for the light characterizations at hand.
I thought After Yang wasn’t all that good, though Farrell was pretty good in it. Banshees, on the other hand, I thought was great, I’m definitely rooting for him there.
I have seen exactly zero of these movies, yet I insist Channing Tatum deserves to win the Oscar for Dog. I am dead serious.
Should be Colin Farrell , more likely to be Brendan Fraser , but there’s nothing Hollywood likes more than smelling its own farts and awarding movies about (or related to ) movie making, so Gabriel LaBelle from The Fabelmans will probably get it.
“There’s nothing Hollywood likes more than smelling its own farts…”It’s just like Fat Bastard said: Everyone likes the smell of their own brand.
We all know Brendan Fraser in a FAT suit already won the Golden Globe and Oscar. I’ll bet money on it. It’s precisely what award season loves in a performance. It’s seen as brave and daring. Fat is this years handicap. Also, everyone loves Brendan Fraser. He’s the sweetest person. Hollywood voters are like, aww, look at him…
I’ve seen Elvis fans complain that the Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS film takes liberties with the real story of Elvis. I don’t think they understand what this film is. It’s not your typical biopic. It’s a fantasy. It’s supposed to be a magical trip through Elvis’s life that’s told in exaggerations and metaphors. Similar to the Evita musical. How can anyone take the sweeping visuals seriously in Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS? They’re coming at you a mile a minute.
Everything here bores me except the idea that Adam Sandler might be a Best Actor Oscar nominee
I would nominate Daniel Radcliff for Weird
I haven’t seen Elvis, and by all accounts Butler is good in it, but if he has to suffer so we’ll freaking stop awarding performances/impressions of pop culture figures, then so be it.
This is Ke Huy Quan erasure and I will not stand for it.
He’s been winning every Best Supporting Actor Award he’s been up for so far (five specifically for supporting and six in total to date).
If Adam Sandler didn’t win for Uncut Gems, he’s not winning for this. And I loved Top Gun, but I’d hardly call it an Oscar winning performance.
I really hope it’s Farrell for Banshees, which I think might be his best performance ever (certainly his best since In Bruges). I can see Fraser having a good chance if they want to give him a nice comeback story, but The Whale is also getting fairly mixed reviews.
I really hope it’s Farrell for Banshees, which I think might be his best performance ever (certainly his best since In Bruges). I can see Fraser having a good chance if they want to give him a nice comeback story, but The Whale is also getting fairly mixed reviews.