The Best Supporting Actors of 2010

Christian Bale has become accustomed to losing drastic amounts of weight for roles (The Machinist, Rescue Dawn), physically transforming himself into whatever character he's playing. But at no time in the past has his physical transformation been more startling than it is in The Fighter. However, it's not just the dramatic weight loss that makes his transformation into ex-boxer Dicky Eklund so astonishing. Bale becomes this crack-using, jittery, messed up man in a performance that's absolutely brilliant. The real Dicky's personality is the polar opposite of Bale's, and Bale's total commitment to the role is all up there on the screen.

Bale's past work has been ignored/overlooked by members of the Academy, but there is no legitimate reason why this powerful performance shouldn't earn him his first Oscar.

Andrew Garfield - the new Spider-Man - demonstrates why he was chosen to take over that blockbuster franchise with his breakthrough performance in Never Let Me Go. Garfield actually had a great 2010 between wowing art house crowds with Never Let Me Go and winning over fans as one of the people Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) kicked to the curb on his journey to becoming a billionaire in The Social Network. Garfield's fast becoming one of the most sought-after actors of his generation, and his heartbreakingly vulnerable performance in this tragic story of three friends raised in a sheltered boarding school is likely just one of many great performances to come from the talented 27 year old.

Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush (Shine) and Oscar nominee Colin Firth (A Single Man) need to find another project to do together in a hurry. Rush and Firth are an unbeatable team, bringing to life the fascinating tale of the repressed, stuttering King George VI and the Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who taught the King much more than just how to deliver a speech without stuttering. Logue, though not academically trained for the job, gently but firmly instructed the King on how to face the prospect of speaking to his people, and their friendship lasted long after the lessons were finished.

While the plot of The King's Speech sounds...not trivial, but rather dry...watching these two fine actors go toe-to-toe is well-worth the price of a ticket. Rush and Firth, two classy, talented men, are made that much better for being paired up and pushing each other to excel.

Colin Farrell digs deep to play one of a handful of men who escaped a Soviet gulag in The Way Back directed by Peter Weir and co-starring Jim Sturgess and Ed Harris. Inspired by true events, The Way Back is an epic tale of survival, recounting the journey a group of men (joined briefly by a young girl, played by Saoirse Ronan) embarked on that took them from Siberia to India. Farrell plays a criminal with Lenin and Stalin tattooed on his chest, a knife never far from his fingers, and an attitude which allowed him to survive among men equally as desperate. Farrell's never lost in the ensemble cast and instead makes this brutal thug a man the audience can actually connect with, no small feat considering the man's violent tendencies and anti-social personality.

John Hawkes is one of the most dependable character actors working in films today - and one of the least recognized for his work by critics. Hawkes has been appearing in feature films since the mid-1980s, quietly going about building up an impressive resume. With Winter's Bone, Hawkes once again demonstrates his ability to take a minor character and make him into something larger and more substantial than what's on the page.

The majority of Hawkes' career in films has been playing mild-mannered characters, but not so with 'Teardrop' in Winter's Bone. Hawkes is a terrifying, imposing figure who in a scene which cemented his place on this Best Supporting Actor list, is able to get a sheriff to turn tail and abandon his attempt at interrogation just by eyeballing him. Winter's Bone is full of solid performances, but Hawkes' contribution can not be ignored.

Hot off his Oscar-nominated turn in The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner is back stealing scenes, this time from his director/co-star Ben Affleck in the gritty crime drama The Town based on the book by Chuck Hogan. Renner plays Jem, a real hothead unafraid of letting his fists - or his gun - do the talking. It's a vicious character, and Renner's menacing presence onscreen was one of the major factors in making The Town a critical and box office success. It's a role that could have easily crossed the line into becoming a caricature of an ex-con who has no desire to walk the straight and narrow, but Renner never lets the part get away from him.

The Kids Are All Right finds Mark Ruffalo playing the biological father of Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska), the children of lesbian parents (played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore). Most critics loved the film; I found it to be just all right. But on one aspect of the indie drama I agree with almost everyone: Ruffalo's performance is rock solid.

The Kids Are All Right is just the latest in a string of stand-out performances in independent films (You Can Count On Me, We Don't Live Here Anymore, My Life Without Me, and my personal favorite - Safe Men) for Ruffalo, though the 43 year old actor is just as comfortable in major studio productions (13 Going on 30, Zodiac, Shutter Island). In fact, one of his next jobs will be taking on the part of the Incredible Hulk in The Avengers. But it's in independent films that Ruffalo excels, and in The Kids Are All Right Ruffalo is hitting on all cylinders.

Armie Hammer was given the opportunity to play not one role but two in The Social Network directed by David Fincher from a script by Aaron Sorkin. Hammer, with the assistance of Josh Pence, plays twins in the critically-acclaimed examination of the controversy surrounding the creation of Facebook. As the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, Hammer had to make subtle changes in the way he brought the two characters to life on the screen - a fact that oftentimes left him confused as to who he was playing after the 70th or 80th take. "There were nights that went late where we'd been jumping back and forth where I not only forgot which character I was but what my real name was, where I lived, and what planet I was currently on. And you're going to think I'm kidding, but those were actually the takes that David Fincher kept."

Hammer's portrayal made the twins sympathetic figures, no small task given the fact the handsome Olympic rowers could have easily alienated audiences due to their lives of wealth and privilege.

Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead lead the cast, but it's Kieran Culkin's hilarious and understated performance as Scott Pilgrim's quick-witted roommate who's always ready with a caustic reply that's the most memorable. Culkin's got incredible comic timing and Scott Pilgrim offers him the perfect opportunity to put his talents to use.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World was the darling of the 2010 San Diego Comic Con, but the geek love didn't translate into box office success. That's a real shame as the film deserved to be seen by more than just comic book lovers.

2009's 500 Days of Summer showcased Joseph Gordon-Levitt's talent and thrust the 29 year old actor - who's been working in film and TV since the early 1980s - into the spotlight in a way no other film of his career had done up to that point. After 500 Days, Gordon-Levitt was a hot commodity and Christopher Nolan grabbed him up to play one of the team members who can enter others dreams in his trippy Inception. Gordon-Levitt took full advantage of the opportunity presented him by Nolan and delivered another outstanding, multi-dimensional performance.