Best of 2012: Best Actresses and Actors

Best Actress
10. Kirsten Dunst in Bachelorette - For giving a snarky, sassy, fun mean girl performance.
09. Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games - For becoming the most famous girl in the world by playing a tough, take no prisoners, bad ass role model.
08. Noomi Rapace in Prometheus - For that abortion scene alone.
07. RoseMarie DeWitt in Your Sister's Sister - For playing a complicated character with charm and ease.
06. Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea - For turning an unlikable character into someone we actually care for deeply.
05. Naomi Watts in The Impossible - For showing the strength of a mother taking care of her son even though she needs to be taken care of.
04. Brit Marling in Sound of My Voice - For being beautiful, ethereal, wicked and so stunning you can't take your eyes off of her.
03. Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild - For commanding the screen in a way that no one else did this year, and for being a tiny little force to be reckoned with.
02. Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook - For proving she's at a point in her career where she can do any damn thing she pleases, for that scene in which she yells in Robert DeNiro's face, for the dancing!
01. Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty - For being utterly fearless, for playing an unlikable character and commanding we take notice of her poise, grace and feral determination.

Best Actor
10. Tom Holland in The Impossible - For showing raw emotion in his first film role.
09. Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained - For managing to be the bounty hunting slave hero of a Quentin Tarantino movie quietly and subtly, something I didn't know was possible.
08. Dane DeHaan in Chronicle - For coming out of nowhere to become the most exciting new actor thanks to his Magneto meets high school coming of age monster of a performance.
07. Joaquin Phoenix in The Master - For being completely unhinged, out of control and wild.
06. Richard Gere in Arbitrage - For playing such a snake with so much charm and charisma.
05. Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook - For making me forget about all his douchebag, frat guy characters with that Hemingway scene alone.
04. Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master - For being terrifying and compelling all at once.
03. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained - For being born to speak Quentin Tarantino dialogue.
02. Denzel Washington in Flight - For reminding us why he's one of the biggest, most likable stars on the planet, and for being a joy to watch as a boozy, egotistical asshole.
01. Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln - For becoming Abraham Lincoln, absolutely and undoubtedly, for continuing to prove why he's a living legend worthy of every award and then some.

Tomorrow - Best Films of 2012!