Every year, I try to keep track of all the great performances, and midway through the year, I've basically lost count.  Even though studios try to hold back the goods until Oscar season, there's no stopping the sheer amount of phenomenal work that actors deliver throughout the year, and 2015 was no different.  Across languages, backgrounds, franchises, and genres, there was no place where these performances were just contained to one kind of role.  It wasn't just biopics or just dramas.  These actors were pivotal to why their movies succeeded, and whether you've never heard their name before or have known them for decades, their work will continue to resonate.

Read on for our choices for the best performances of 2015.

Best Actor: Géza Röhrig – 'Son of Saul'

best-actor-2015

In almost any other year, the Best Actor category is a deluge of riches, but this year you could look at it one of two ways: as a category that was seriously lacking in truly great performances or one that was overwhelmed by "very good" work.  But at some point, you're splitting hairs and ignoring the power of the performances, and no lead actor was more transfixing than Son of Saul's Geza Rohrig.  Not only is he on screen for just about every moment of the film, he conveys so much through his haunted countenance.  This isn't a big performance, but one that draws you into the unspeakable horrors he's witnessed and had to perform at the hands of the Nazis.  - Matt Goldberg

Runners Up:

  • Michael FassbenderSteve Jobs
  • Michael B. JordanCreed
  • Jason SegelThe End of the Tour
  • Jacob TremblayRoom

Best Actress: Rooney Mara - 'Carol'

Don't be fooled if Mara ends up in a supporting category for Oscar purposes, Carol features two powerhouse lead performances from both Blanchett and Mara. As Carol, Blanchett holds the power in their growing romantic relationship, and although we feel for her custody battle for her young daughter, the viewer's alliance is with Mara, who is kind, unsure of herself, lacks power and is self-defeating. Due to the time period of the 1950s, both women convey extra language of their attraction through body movement and both are marvelous, but it is a contrast in performances. Blanchett is firm and steadfast, while Mara's eyes are dually fixed, observant, but also darting; whether or not her Therese can become as firm and steadfast as Carol in her sexuality is the tense beating heart of Carol. In 2015, some of the best acting was between Carol's teacher and Therese's pupil, and it's Mara's use of her pupils that takes her to the front of the class. - Brian Formo

Runners Up:

  • Cate BlanchettCarol
  • Brie LarsonRoom 
  • Charlotte Rampling45 Years
  • Charlize TheronMad Max: Fury Road

Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone - 'Creed'

If Sylvester Stallone gets Oscar-nominated for Creed, he won't be the first actor to get nominated for playing the same actor twice, but that won't make him any less deserving.  It's been special to watch Stallone, an actor who doesn't have a ton of range, delve so deeply into one character who reflects his personal journey.  And yet the latest leg of that journey didn't come from Stallone, which ironically allowed him to give a performance completely free from ego, and really show us a new side of Rocky Balboa and a new kind of fight that was just as important as any that had come before.  It's also an incredibly generous performance since he basically gives the franchise he created over to the young, charismatic Michael B. Jordan, and they bounce off each other wonderfully.  It's a best "supporting" performance in every sense of the word. - Matt Goldberg

Runners Up:

  • Emory Cohen Brooklyn
  • Seth RogenSteve Jobs
  • Mark RylanceBridge of Spies
  • Michael Shannon99 Homes

Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander - 'Ex Machina'

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Vikander was unquestionably the breakout star of 2015, but it was her first performance in 2015 for which Collider has singled her out. In Ex Machina, Vikander plays the A.I. whose ability to pass for human is being tested. With her physical body replaced by feminine formed wires, Vikander has to do most of her acting with her face and head. What she excels at is acting with her brain. Ava must be attentive and receptive to her testing subject (Domhnall Gleeson), but she also has to receive and process new information. While Vikander is fantastic in her interview sessions, what stands out is her ability to slightly pause and reset her reactions to communicate Ava's quick unspooling of information. For example, when she asks Gleeson to decipher a drawing of hers and he is unable to, she receives an individual enlightenment opposite of being told the answer. In this scene, Vikander volleys between playful and unsettled, and she resets back to playful with such ease that it conveys a constant state of naivete. But internally, Ava is becoming acutely aware of how to manipulate human behavior to get what she wants. What's more human than that? - Brian Formo

Runners Up:

  • Elizabeth BanksLove & Mercy
  • Jennifer Jason LeighThe Hateful Eight
  • Jada Pinkett SmithMagic Mike XXL
  • Kristen StewartClouds of Sils Maria