Best Movies of 2025: Best Performances

In my continued analysis of the best movies of 2025, here are my picks for the best performances of 2025. Every year, this is the toughest list to make, and every year, I feel bad about leaving some performances off. While I loved performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Jessie Buckley, Wagner Moura, Sophie Thatcher, Eva Victor, Ryan Bader, Vincent Cassel, Jennifer Lawrence, Adam Sandler, and many others, I believe the performances I chose are all truly great and deserve their place as the best performances of 2025.

Like previous years, I broke down the performances by category, much like the Oscars, with Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. For each category, I will list the “nominees” and then pick a winner and go in-depth as to why that actor gave the best performance in their category. I love all these performances, and you’ll see a good mix of performances that might receive some recognition at the Oscars and some that will be completely ignored by the Academy, despite being worthy. Here are my picks for the best performances of 2025.

 

SPECIAL MENTION: Actors Who Gave Multiple Great Performances in 2025

Elle Fanning (Predator: Badlands, Sentimental Value)

Josh Brolin (The Running Man, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Weapons)

Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another, The Phoenician Scheme)

Josh O’Connor (The Mastermind, Rebuilding, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery)

Amanda Seyfried (The Housemaid, The Testament of Ann Lee)

• It’s one thing to be in multiple movies in one year, but it’s another to give great performances in multiple movies. These five actors each delivered excellent performances in a few films this year, varying in characters and genres. Whether it was Amanda Seyfried playing a housewife on the verge of a mental breakdown and the leader of a religious cult, or Josh O’Connor portraying a dopey art thief, a priest trying to solve a murder, and a man getting his life back together after a fire, we saw multiple fantastic performances from some of the best actors working in Hollywood today and they deserve a shoutout.

And now, the acting categories.

Best Supporting Actress

Pamela Anderson, The Naked Gun

Kirsten Dunst, Roofman

Jennifer Lopez, Kiss of the Spider Woman

Amy Madigan, Weapons

Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

WINNER

Kirsten Dunst, Roofman

The lack of love and support for Kirsten Dunst’s performance in Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman is one of the biggest crimes of 2025. Was it the poor advertising of the film? The lukewarm critical response to the film as a whole? Something else? All the above? We will never know, but it unfortunately buried one of the best performances of the year.

Dunst plays Leigh, a single mother who gets into a relationship with a criminal (Channing Tatum) who is secretly hiding out in a Toys ‘R’ Us, where she works. Sounds like a relatively simple role that could have been nothing, but Dunst elevates it to something remarkable. There’s a subtle complexity to the role. Dunst adds layers of emotion that lesser actresses might not have been able to add. There is sadness, annoyance, and parental fatigue we see from her while she’s at work that switches to sweet when she is with Tatum’s Jeffrey Manchester. But she also keeps the film grounded. While Jeffrey is playing fast and loose, living in a Toys ‘R’ Us and stealing toys and games, Dunst reminds us, and Jeffrey, that life isn’t a game and there are real stakes and emotions at play. It’s the best performance of Dunst’s career.

Best Supporting Actor

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein

David Jonsson, The Long Walk

John Caroll Lynch, Sorry, Baby

Jack O’Connell, Sinners

Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

WINNER

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein

The first half of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a beautiful slog. It’s gorgeously constructed, with outstanding costumes, sets, and camerawork, but its focus on Dr. Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) is relatively boring. When Dr. Frankenstein creates his monster, played by Jacob Elordi, the second half of the film focuses on the monster and his journey, and that is when the movie is elevated to something great, thanks to Elordi’s performance.

Elordi is extraordinary as Frankenstein’s monster, or The Creature. del Toro perfectly utilizes Elordi’s towering 6’6” frame, giving The Creature an intimidating physicality that is perfect for telling the story about a monstrous scientist and his creation. Elordi gives depth to The Creature that I did not expect from him. He makes us sympathize with The Creature. He makes us feel and understand his fear and confusion while showing his mental and emotional growth. Elordi’s performance blew me away. He is the heart and soul of Frankenstein and firmly establishes himself as one of the most exciting actors working today.

Best Actress

Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

Keke Palmer, One of Them Days

Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee 

Ia Sukhitashvili, April

WINNER

Ia Sukhitashvili, April

This was ultimately a battle between Sukhitashvili and Rose Byrne, as both actresses carry their respective films. I ultimately went with Sukhitashvili because it is simply the performance I have not stopped thinking about since I first saw April.

Sukhitashvili plays Nina, an OB-GYN in Georgia who faces accusations after the death of a newborn. During the investigation, Nina continues to perform her medical duties despite their illegality. April is a tough watch, thanks in large part to director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s bold direction. Reminiscent of the films of Chantal Akerman, Kulumbegashvili uses a lot of long shots with minimal to no camera movement. Sukhitashvili is at the center of these shots and is arresting. You can’t take your eyes off her as Nina navigates her scrutinized life, but she also knows the importance of her job. It’s a challenging, masterclass performance from Sukhitashvili in an important and powerful film.

Best Actor

Sope Dirisu, My Father’s Shadow

Dwayne Johnson, The Smashing Machine

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Liam Neeson, The Naked Gun

Benicio Del Toro, The Phoenician Scheme

WINNER

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Best Actor was the toughest category for me this year. 2025 was an exceptional year for leading men, so much so that I could name five more Best Actor nominees and it would be a totally justifiable five.

Each nominee I listed is worthy of the win. Liam Neeson gave the best comedic performance of the decade. Dwayne Johnson showed he’s more than just box office numbers. Sope Dirisu gave the breakout performance of the year. Benicio Del Toro’s hilarious and quietly sweet performance is the best in a Wes Anderson film since Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel. But Michael B. Jordan’s dual performance in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is perfect. It’s the kind of performance that perfectly encapsulates Jordan as an actor. He is a bona fide movie star. He commands the camera and fills the screen with charisma and expertise. His performance also showed his ability to disappear in a performance. Yes, he technically gave two performances in the film, but they are both unique and require different skills. Smoke requires intimidation, physicality, intensity, and haunted trauma. Stack brings swagger, magnetism, and personality. Jordan possesses all these traits and utilizes them perfectly as the centerpiece of one of the year’s finest films.

 

Follow Kevflix on Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd, @kevflix, and Facebook by searching Kevflix.