MOVIES: Best of 2011 -- Actor

The runners-up:

• Tom Cullen, Weekend
• Paul Giamatti, Win/Win
• Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
• William Shimell, Certified Copy

The nominees:

• Demian Bichir, A Better Life -- one man, quietly struggling for an honorable way to survive; a performance that never pushes too hard for effect.
• Jean Dujardin, The Artist -- a superb physical performance that reaches the heights of joy and the depths of despair, and is never anything but utterly convincing.
• Peyman Maadi, A Separation -- from the first scene, Nader is terrified that his life is about to collapse in front of him; everything that follows is rooted in that panic and desperation
• Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris -- the best use that's ever been made of Wilson's inherent sadness

The winner:

• Michael Shannon, Take Shelter -- a performance largely of gestures; Shannon says more with a raised eyebrow or a shrug than other actors say in a three-minute speech. Which is more terrifying: the possibility that his apocalyptic visions are real, or the possibility that he's simply going mad?