Best of 2009: Top 10 Performances by a Supporting Actor

2009 really was full of great performances throughout most of the films, especially in the supporting categories. In my opinion, to be legitimate supporting actors, you have to have that one scene that often steals the show from the other cast members.

For example, in "The Hurt Locker," two actors (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) not only took their roles in brave directions from the screenplay, but also stole a few scenes from lead actor Jeremy Renner. Mackie's final scene in the film is both heart-breaking and inspiring. It could have fallen flat but he added multiple dimensions to the scene. Geraghty - while having a smaller role - really embodied the soldier who just can't take anymore. His final scene is also his greatest moment in the film. Another scene-stealer is Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger." For most of the film, he allows hardly any emotion to emit, but near the end, we see a different, pained side - a human quality.

Some of the actors completely channel the roles from either page or real life. In "The Last Station," Christopher Plummer is a joy to watch as the famous Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy. There is a moment in the film when Plummer speaks to James McAvoy about his life as a young man and how he longs for that now as an old one. This scene, amoung the high grass and sun, takes the audience into the world of the film's and character's past, something we do not see on the screen. From page to screen, youngster Kodi Smit-McPhee is the exact replica of the son I imagined when I read "The Road." Quiet, clingy, and sort of whiny, but loyal to his father and often sad.

Then there are two actors from the same film: "A Single Man." Matthew Goode is riveting, astounding and completely likeable as the dead boyfriend to Colin Firth's character. All Goode has to work with are flashbacks (and there are only a handful of them), but he brings such life, happiness and eminent doom to these scenes, certainly stealing them away from Firth who is a powerhouse in the film. The other actor in the film, Nicholas Hoult, is in the present plot as Firth's college student and possible love interest. Hoult exudes art, cinematic chemistry, California, and the '60s. If that's not enough, I don't know what is.

The final batch of supporting, scene-stealing actors are all the villians (or at least the antagonists). First off, there's Alfred Molina (who was incredible on Broadway in "Red," by the way) as Jenny's father in "An Education." He is the force always in the back of Jenny's mind as she experiences life outside her home, and also in the back of the audiences mind. His role resonates with us even when he's not on screen. Stanley Tucci plays the psychotic killer in "The Lovely Bones"; while the film is self-indulgent and over-the-top, Tucci's performance is a knock-out that would have deserved the Oscar and every other award if it were not for our final actor. Christoph Waltz, an unknown German actor, completely steals - I mean the biggest bank robbery in history - the show from every incredible actor in "Inglourious Basterds." He was funny, insane, despicable and loveable - and he was a Jew-hunting Nazi! Brilliant.

The Top 10 Performances by a Supporting Actor for 2009 are:

10. Brian Geraghty as Specialist Owen Eldrige in THE HURT LOCKER

9. Nicholas Hoult as Kenny in A SINGLE MAN

8. Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Boy in THE ROAD

7. Alfred Molina as Jack in AN EDUCATION

6. Christopher Plummer as Leo Tolstoy in THE LAST STATION

5. Anthony Mackie as Sergeant JT Sanborn in THE HURT LOCKER

4. Matthew Goode as Jim in A SINGLE MAN

3. Woody Harrelson as Captain Tony Stone in THE MESSENGER

2. Stanley Tucci as George Harvey in THE LOVELY BONES

1. Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS