Next up on my list of personal 2024 Oscar nominees is the Best Actor category. This one was also very light on candidates, and my list overlaps with the Academy’s by four (though I have one of the actors included for a different movie than they do).

The one Oscar-nominated performer I left out might seem like a crazy one. Adrien Brody was excellent in The Brutalist, no question about it, and he’s in my sixth slot. But I felt better about omitting him than any of the others.

And the nominees are…

Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
I guess it’s the ultimate hypocrisy for me to nominate a biopic impersonation when I so often rail against the preponderance of those roles among Oscar winners. But the fact that Chalamet had to overcome that bias just says more about how masterfully he tackled this assignment. He found a new way to capture the essence of an enigmatic figure, particularly when expressing himself through voice and guitar.

Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Domingo has great range, but this soulful character embodies the warmth and thoughtfulness I associate with the actor himself. One of the most moving scenes this year comes in a parole hearing where he extols the virtues of the prison acting program, only to be asked by the cold panelist if he’s acting for them right then. His response is full of pride, resignation and suppressed anger, and doesn’t feel like acting at all.

Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Fiennes is one of the very best living actors, and yet it’s been nearly 30 years since his last Oscar nomination. He anchors Conclave even through its silliest moments, exuding gravitas and dignity. His Cardinal Lawrence, tasked with overseeing the selection of a new Pope, is steadfast about not wanting the job himself. Fiennes lets us see the cracks in that facade even before the character himself does.

Glen Powell – Hit Man
Powell had big hits over the past year with Twisters and Anyone But You, but Richard Linklater’s Hit Man proved he has real acting chops to match his overwhelming charisma. His nebbishy Gary tries on a half dozen different identities while impersonating hit men, then settles into the confident, sexy Ron when he finds himself drawn to Adria Arjona’s Madison, a woman afraid of her overbearing husband. Powell pulls off all of those personas with ease, then combines with Arjona for one of the year’s most electric scenes toward the end of the movie.

Sebastian Stan – A Different Man
Stan was so good this year he could have been nominated for two different roles. I haven’t seen The Apprentice, so I can’t speak to that one, but I loved his work in this darkly comic indie. First, under heavy prosthetics, he invites empathy as a man who uses his appearance as an excuse to withdraw. Then he is cured, and cycles through a laundry list of emotions (elation, entitlement, insecurity, jealousy) as he realizes it wasn’t his looks holding him back after all.

And the winner is … Timothée Chalamet. If this was an actual Oscar, I’d give it to Fiennes, who has proved his excellence over decades. But my little personal award goes to Chalamet for tackling a seemingly impossible challenge and turning it into a triumph. He’s our greatest young movie star.