Greatest Film Performances by Year (US/UK) 1980 - 1989

1989

  1. Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot
  2. Kenneth Branagh - Henry V
  3. Morgan Freeman - Driving Miss Daisy
  4. Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy
  5. Denzel Washington - Glory
  6. Pauline Collins - Shirley Valentine
  7. Michelle Pfeiffer - The Fabulous Baker Boys
  8. Tom Cruise - Born on the Fourth of July
  9. Andie MacDowell - Sex, Lies, and Videotape
10. Robin Williams - Dead Poets Society
11. Danny Aiello - Do the Right Thing
12. Morgan Freeman - Glory
13. Bruce Davison - Longtime Companion
14. Jessica Lange - Music Box
15. Brenda Fricker - My Left Foot
16. Marlon Brando - A Dry White Season
17. Meg Ryan - When Harry Met Sally...
18. Julia Roberts - Steel Magnolias
19. Martin Landau - Crimes and Misdemeanors
20. Sean Connery - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

1988

  1. Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man
  2. Jodie Foster - The Accused
  3. Glenn Close - Dangerous Liaisons
  4. Tom Hanks - Big
  5. Kevin Kline - A Fish Called Wanda
  6. Gene Hackman - Mississippi Burning
  7. Edward James Olmos - Stand and Deliver
  8. Jeremy Irons - Dead Ringers
  9. Michelle Pfeiffer - Dangerous Liaisons
10. Sigourney Weaver - Gorillas in the Mist
11. Melanie Griffith - Working Girl
12. Susan Sarandon - Bull Durham
13. Meryl Streep - A Cry in the Dark
14. Martin Landau - Tucker: The Man and His Dream
15. Shirley MacLaine - Madame Sousatzka
16. Alec Guinness - Little Dorrit
17. Robert De Niro - Midnight Run
18. John Cleese - A Fish Called Wanda
19. Tom Hulce - Dominick and Eugene
20. Geena Davis - The Accidental Tourist

1987

  1. Michael Douglas - Wall Street
  2. Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction
  3. Sean Connery - The Untouchables
  4. Morgan Freeman - Street Smart
  5. Robert Downey Jr. - Less Than Zero
  6. Meryl Streep - Ironweed
  7. Cher - Moonstruck
  8. Jack Nicholson - Ironweed
  9. Albert Brooks - Broadcast News
10. Robin Williams - Good Morning Vietnam
11. Holly Hunter - Broadcast News
12. Sally Kirkland - Anna
13. lympia Dukakis - Moonstruck
14. Peter O'Toole - The Last Emperor
15. Denzel Washington - Cry Freedom
16. Robert De Niro - The Untouchables
17. Vanessa Redgrave - Prick Up Your Ears
18. Gary Oldman - Prick Up Your Ears
19. Richard E. Grant - Withnail & I
20. R. Lee Ermey - Full Metal Jacket

1986

  1. Dennis Hopper - Blue Velvet
  2. Willem Dafoe - Platoon
  3. Paul Newman - The Color of Money
  4. Gary Oldman - Sid & Nancy
  5. James Woods - Salvador
  6. Marlee Matlin - Children of a Lesser God
  7. Dianne Wiest - Hannah and Her Sisters
  8. Bob Hoskins - Mona Lisa
  9. Sigourney Weaver - Aliens
10. Sissy Spacek - Crimes of the Heart
11. Kathleen Turner - Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Michael Caine - Hannah and Her Sisters
13. Dexter Gordon - Round Midnight
14. Jane Fonda - The Morning After
15. Tom Berenger - Platoon
16. Gene Hackman - Hoosiers
17. Roberto Benigni - Down by Law
18. Daniel Day-Lewis - A Room with a View
19. Chloe Webb - Sid & Nancy
20. Jeff Goldblum - The Fly

1985

  1. William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman
  2. Geraldine Page - The Trip to Bountiful
  3. Anjelica Huston - Prizzi's Honor
  4. Jon Voight - Runaway Train
  5. Raúl Juliá - Kiss of the Spider Woman
  6. Whoopi Goldberg - The Color Purple
  7. Harrison Ford - Witness
  8. Robert Redford - Out Of África
  9. Meryl Streep - Out of África
10. Jack Nicholson - Prizzi's Honor
11. Klaus Maria Brandauer - Out of África
12. Jessica Lange - Sweet Dreams
13. Christopher Lloyd - Back to the Future
14. Roddy McDowall - Fright Night
15. Mia Farrow - The Purple Rose of Cairo
16. John Gielgud - Plenty
17. Anne Bancroft - Agnes of God
18. Don Ameche - Cocoon
19. Eric Stoltz - Mask
20. Jeff Daniels - The Purple Rose of Cairo

1984

  1. F. Murray Abraham - Amadeus
  2. Albert Finney - Under the Volcano
  3. Sally Field - Places in the Heart
  4. Robert De Niro - Once Upon A Time In America
  5. Haing S. Ngor - The Killing Fields
  6. Peggy Ashcroft - A Passage to India
  7. John Malkovich - Places in the Heart
  8. James Woods - Once Upon A Time In America
  9. Jeff Bridges - Starman
10. Tom Hulce - Amadeus
11. Vanessa Redgrave - The Bostonians
12. Robert Redford - The Natural
13. Robin Williams - Moscow on the Hudson
14. Christine Lahti - Swing Shift
15. Kathleen Turner - Romancing the Stone
16. Frances McDormand - Blood Simple
17. Maggie Smith - A Private Function
18. Bill Murray - Ghostbusters
19. Denholm Elliott - A Private Function
20. Ralph Richardson - Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

1983

  1. Shirley MacLaine - Terms of Endearment
  2. Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies
  3. Meryl Streep - Silkwood
  4. Al Pacino - Scarface
  5. Jack Nicholson - Terms of Endearment
  6. Tom Courtenay - The Dresser
  7. Albert Finney - The Dresser
  8. Christopher Walken - The Dead Zone
  9. Jane Alexander - Testament
10. Cher - Silkwood
11. Debra Winger - Terms of Endearment
12. Michael Caine - Educating Rita
13. Tom Conti - Reuben, Reuben
14. Julie Walters - Educating Rita
15. Eric Roberts - Star 80
16. Charles Durning - To Be or Not to Be
17. John Lithgow - Terms of Endearment
18. Alfre Woodard - Cross Creek
19. Sam Shepard - The Right Stuff
20. Tom Cruise - Risky Business

1982

  1. Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice
  2. Ben Kingsley - Gandhi
  3. Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie
  4. Robert De Niro - The King of Comedy
  5. Paul Newman - The Verdict
  6. Jack Lemmon - Missing
  7. Jessica Lange - Frances
  8. Peter O'Toole - My Favourite Year
  9. Julie Andrews - Victor/Victoria
10. Diane Keaton - Shoot the Moon
11. Sissy Spacek - Missing
12. Rutger Hauer - Blade Runner
13. Glenn Close - The World According to Garp
14. Robert Preston - Victor/Victoria
15. Linda Hunt - The Year of Living Dangerously
16. Louis Gossett Jr. - An Officer and a Gentleman
17. Harrison Ford - Blade Runner
18. Jerry Lewis - The King of Comedy
19. John Lithgow - The World According to Garp
20. Debra Winger - An Officer and a Gentleman

1981

  1. Meryl Streep - The French Lieutenant's Woman
  2. Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond
  3. Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond
  4. Harrison Ford - Raiders of the Lost Ark
  5. John Gielgud - Arthur
  6. Diane Keaton - Reds
  7. Paul Newman - Absence of Malice
  8. Jack Nicholson - Reds
  9. Dudley Moore - Arthur
10. Jeremy Irons - The French Lieutenant's Woman
11. Bernadette Peters - Pennies from Heaven
12. Howard E. Rollins - Ragtime
13. Maureen Stapleton - Reds
14. Ian Holm - Chariots of Fire
15. Warren Beatty - Reds
16. Melinda Dillon - Absence of Malice
17. Ben Cross - Chariots of Fire
18. Ian Charleson - Chariots of Fire
19. Sissy Spacek - Raggedy Man
20. Christopher Walken - Pennies from Heaven

1980

  1. Robert De Niro - Raging Bull
  2. Sissy Spacek - The Coal Miner's Daughter
  3. John Hurt - The Elephant Man
  4. Burt Lancaster - Atlantic City
  5. Jack Nicholson - The Shining
  6. Timothy Hutton - Ordinary People
  7. Joe Pesci - Raging Bull
  8. Peter O'Toole - The Stunt Man
  9. Mary Tyler Moore - Ordinary People
10. Gena Rowland - Gloria
11. Donald Sutherland - Ordinary People
12. Mary Steenburger - Melvin and Howard
13. Cathy Moriarty - Raging Bull
14. Jack Lemmon - Tribute
15. Anthony Hopkins - The Elephant Man
16. Bob Hoskins - The Long Good Friday
17. Jason Robards - Melvin and Howard
18. Susan Sarandon - Atlantic City
19. Ellen Burstyn - Ressurection
20. Leslie Nielsen - Airplane!