ScreenAnarchy's Best Of 2013 - Best Actor

Editor, Asia; Hong Kong, China (@Marshy00)
The year that was 2013 has run its course, so the time has come for Team ScreenAnarchy to pool its ever-growing troupe of contributors from the four corners of the planet, gather its collective thoughts and pay special tribute to those films that have made a particularly strong impact over the past twelve months. 

2013 was a great year for films, but also a fantastic year for lead performances. Some of the best screen actors currently working stepped up to the plate and delivered some of their best work in years, while a number of emerging and jobbing performers stepped out of the shadows and onto the world stage where their abilities were on full display. Here are ScreenAnarchy's favourite male performances of the year:


Todd Brown, Peter Martin, Ryland Aldrich, Brian Clark, Benjamin Umstead, Jaime Grijalba Gomez, Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Ard Vijn, Patryk Czekaj, Joshua Chaplinsky, Eric Ortiz Garcia, Niels Matthijs, Patrick Holzapfel, Kurt Halfyard, Christopher O'Keeffe, Dustin Chang, Jim Tudor, Ben Croll, Pierce Conran, , Ernesto Zelaya MiƱano and Kwenton Bellette contributed to this story.

Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years A Slave

James Marsh - Asian Editor
It is long overdue that the world comes to know and recognise Chiwetel Ejiofor as one of the great actors currently working. He is the heart and soul of Steve McQueen's emotional rollercoaster 12 Years A Slave and no other male performance this year came close to delivering the range of emotions, the humanity or determination as Ejiofor does here.

Brian Clark - European Editor

Dustin Chang - Contributing writer

Jim Tudor - Contributing writer

Jason Gorber - Featured Critic
We've all seen him before, but if there's one performance that's literally a star-making turn, it's this one. This is the role of a lifetime, and Ejiofor lives up to the hype.

Kwenton Bellette - Contributing writer
There is one scene in 12 Years A Slave where Solomon Northup (Ejiofor) just stares, and not at anything in particular. This scene is a simple medium shot, with no particular regard for the mise en scene. The music is non-obtrusive, there are no distinct sounds off-screen, we are just drawn to his traumatized face, as he reflects on what was, and what might possibly be.

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