Here's continuing the trend started by the Worst BP nominee of the last ten years, only now it's about the worst Best Actor nominees, or, considering almost all of them are at least somewhat good, least deserving of the bunch. The thread about Best Actress is soon to follow.

Here are the Best Actor nominees of the last ten years:


2006:

Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)


2005:

Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow)
Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line)
Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)
David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)


2004:

Clint Eastwood (Millon Dollar Baby)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator)
Jamie Foxx (Ray)
Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland)
Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda)


2003:

Sean Penn (Mystic River)
Bill Murray (Lost in Translation)
Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl)
Jude Law (Cold Mountain)
Ben Kingsley (House of Sand and Fog)


2002:

Adrian Brody (The Pianist)
Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt)
Daniel Day Lewis (Gangs of New York)
Nicholas Cage (Adaptation)
Michael Caine (The Quiet American)


2001:

Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind)
Denzel Washington (Training Day)
Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom)
Sean Penn (I Am Sam)
Will Smith (Ali)


2000:

Tom Hanks (Cast Away)
Russell Crowe (Gladiator)
Geoffrey Rush (Quills)
Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls)
Ed Harris (Pollock)


1999:

Richard Farnsworth (The Straight Story)
Kevin Spacey (American Beauty)
Denzel Washington (The Hurricane)
Russell Crowe (The Insider)
Sean Penn (Sweet and Lowdown)


1998:

Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan)
Edward Norton (American History X)
Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful)
Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters)
Nick Nolte (Affliction)


1997:

Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting)
Jack Nicholson (As Good As It Gets)
Robert Duvall (The Apostle)
Peter Fonda (Ulee's Gold)
Dustin Hoffman (Wag the Dog)

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My least favorite would be:

1. David Strahairn (Good Night, and Good Luck)
2. Nick Nolte (Affliction)
3. Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting)
4. Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland)

That's about it...

Out of the one's I've seen I'd probably go with Peter Fonda in Ulee's Gold. The man walks around with a hangdog expression for the entire movie and not much else.

Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful)

2005

Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow)
Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)

2004

Clint Eastwood (Millon Dollar Baby)

2003

Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl)


I would also have gone with Gosling over Owen or Craig this year, but since I haven't seen his performance I didn't list him.

The biggest problems I have with the one's listed above is that they are just overrated performances. They're all good performances, but nothing extraordinary. Especially with Howard's performance, but that might be just because I thought the entire film was overrated.

Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness for me, though Phoenix in Walk the Line comes close just because Crowe and Hopkins gave amazing performances that year that were snubbed IMO for Cash's namesake and not much else.

Will Smith in Pursuit definitely

Worst: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby

Peace,
Mike.

I agree. He has some really good scenes at the end, but a lot of what comes before it is a wooden, kind of witless reading of lines.

I think he rode the picture, directing, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman wave to that nomination.

Eastwood was good, but not great, in Million Dollar Baby.

I'm surprised no one has brought up Sean Penn in I Am Sam, which I think is arguably one of the worst performances ever to get nominated for an Oscar. The movie was alright, but I thought Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer sleepwalked through it, generally.

My least favorites would have to be Roberto Benigni and Clint Eastwood.

Well I wouldn't say Penn sleepwalked through it, most overdramatic, over the top, overly Oscar-baiting performance is an argument, but he was trying. I can understand the arguments against him, buttt... I thought he did a good job at the mentally challenged thing, if pushing it a bit much.

2006:

Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)


2005:

David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck)


2004:


Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland)



2003:


Jude Law (Cold Mountain)



2002:

Michael Caine (The Quiet American)


2001:

Will Smith (Ali)


2000:

Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls)



1999:

Sean Penn (Sweet and Lowdown)


1998:


Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful)



1997:

Dustin Hoffman (Wag the Dog)




The worst is Benigni, i dont know how he won that award, he just acted the same way he does in every other film he has done.

yay, someone agrees with me about Benigni. I quite dislike that actor.

Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain. He basically just mumbled his way through that movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland)
Sean Penn (Mystic River)
Sean Penn (I Am Sam)
Will Smith (Ali)
Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful)

I thought Benigni was excellent and Ledger the best of the bunch in his year.

Sean Penn for all his nominations

Jude Law for Cold Mountain

Penn was decent in MR, but really overacting at times. He deserved a nom for 21 Grams, though.

Indeed

Penn overacted even more in I Am Sam. Mentally disabled seemed to mean an automatic nom then (a tad better now).

Sean Penn in I Am Sam. The movie was mediocre, and the performance wasn't a bit better.

1 Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind)
2 Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
3 Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line)
4 Nicholas Cage (Adaptation)
5 Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
6 Sean Penn (Mystic River)

never mind

smith in ali was incredible. nicholson in as good as it gets was nothing special.

Jude Law (Cold Mountain)

Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)

Philipp Seymour Hoffmann (Capote)