10 Greatest Acting Oscar Winners of the 2000s, Ranked

The 2000s were a decade defined by bold performances, transformations so total they seemed to bend the films around them. The best of them covered a wide variety of genres and tones, from manic and larger-than-life to restrained and authentic. Iconic actors, newcomers, and revered character actors all gave us some truly stellar work throughout the 2000s, making the decade a highlight in cinematic history.

The Oscars don't always recognize the right movies, but the winners from this decade do include some of the finest performances of the era. With this in mind, this list ranks the greatest acting Oscar winners of the 2000s, from Charlize Theron to Javier Bardem. The performances below have all more than earned their place in the cinematic pantheon thanks to their commitment, intensity, and sheer impact in cinema's language.

10 Hilary Swank – 'Million Dollar Baby' (2004)

"I got nobody but you, Frankie." Clint Eastwood's boxing drama avoids many of that subgenre's cliches, going for a sadder and more realistic tone, and Hilary Swank is a big part of its success. She's in top form as working-class waitress Maggie Fitzgerald, who convinces a gruff trainer (Eastwood) to take her under his wing. Swank plays Maggie with a mixture of fierce determination and vulnerability, making her rise through the boxing ranks feel both triumphant and precarious.

Her physical commitment (muscle, posture, the way she absorbs punches) is matched by a piercing emotional clarity. Even before the film’s final act delivers its shattering moral dilemma, Swank’s performance has already carved itself into the viewer’s memory. In the process, she turns Maggie into a symbol of all the people who fight for one chance, even if the world never meant to give them one. Yet she never loses sight of the character's humanity, either.

9 Javier Bardem – 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)

"What’s the most you ever lost on a coin toss?" The Coen Brothers’ thriller follows a Texas hunter (Josh Brolin) who stumbles upon drug money, initiating a relentless pursuit by hitman Anton Chigurh. A lesser actor would've simply played the character as a creepy baddie, but Javier Bardem goes way beyond that. In his hands, Chigurh is the embodiment of death itself. His stillness is hypnotic; his voice is quiet, deliberate, almost bored, as if he’s done all this countless times before. And yet every scene is electrified by the unpredictability of his violence.

The film’s gas-station coin toss has become iconic for a reason. It's a grim statement on the arbitrariness of fate. "You can’t stop what’s coming," says Tommy Lee Jones’ sheriff, and Bardem’s performance makes you believe it. It’s one of the greatest villain roles in film history, a creation so original and chilling it feels practically mythic. And that's without even getting started on that haircut.

8 Marion Cotillard – 'La Vie en Rose' (2007)

"I'm not the Parisian bombshell they expected." This biographical drama charts the chaotic, luminous, tragic life of French singer Édith Piaf, one of her country's greatest icons. We follow her from childhood poverty to global fame, then into addiction, grief, and physical decline. Marion Cotillard rises to the occasion with an extraordinary, transformative performance; she doesn't impersonate Piaf so much as channel her, her body aging, shrinking, and collapsing under an invisible burden, her eyes burning with pain and genius in equal measure.

Cotillard's turn is operatic yet precise, capturing both Piaf’s monstrous insecurities and her transcendent artistry. By the time the film reaches Piaf’s final performance, Cotillard has achieved the rarest thing: she almost makes the audience forget we're watching an actor at all. All in all, it is one of the greatest biographical performances of the last two decades, an emotional possession rather than a portrayal.

7 Sean Penn – 'Mystic River' (2003)

"Is that my daughter in there?!" Another gem from Clint Eastwood, this crime tragedy, one of the director's finest achievements, revolves around three childhood friends whose lives intersect again after a murder in their Boston neighborhood. Sean Penn plays Jimmy Markum, a former criminal turned grieving father. The plot follows the investigation of his daughter’s murder, but the film’s true momentum comes from Jimmy’s unraveling: he's a ticking time bomb of rage and despair.

Penn’s ability to shift between silence and explosion makes every scene feel dangerous. His breakdown in the street is one of the decade’s most gut-wrenching moments, but it’s the quieter scenes that reveal the depth of his work. It's in these moments that we see his thirst for vengeance harden into outright moral collapse. Yet, while clearly monstrous, Penn makes sure that Jimmy is still sympathetic in some ways. In a movie studded with stars, he turns in the most memorable performance.

6 Charlize Theron – 'Monster' (2003)

"I’m not a bad person. I’m a real good person." Patty Jenkins’ film tells the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a sex worker who became one of America’s most infamous serial killers. Charlize Theron’s transformation for the role is the stuff of legend, but focusing only on prosthetics and makeup misses the essence of her achievement. Her deep dive into the character's psychology is what's truly impressive. Theron plays Wuornos with bruised humanity, showing a woman shaped by trauma and clinging to love as her only light.

Theron gives every scene a painful authenticity, which comes through in the tremor in her smile, the desperation in her eyes, the volatility simmering beneath her attempts at tenderness. Even more importantly, her performance refuses easy moral judgment, insisting on the complexity of a life driven off the rails long before the murders began. Simply put, it's one of cinema's greatest character studies of a murderer.

5 Cate Blanchett – 'The Aviator' (2004)

"You’re the funniest man I’ve ever met." In Scorsese’s biopic about Howard Hughes, Cate Blanchett steps into the role of Katharine Hepburn, a person so iconic that she seemed impossible to properly capture. Yet Blanchett sidesteps imitation and instead plays Hepburn as a woman of fierce intelligence, wit, and emotional independence. The plot follows Hughes’ rise as a Hollywood producer and aviation pioneer, but whenever Blanchett is onscreen, the film bends toward her. She captures the actress' clipped voice, theatrical confidence, and emotional armor, while also revealing the sensitivity beneath.

Not to mention, her chemistry with Leonardo DiCaprio is crackling, both figures larger than life yet painfully human. The film is filled with grandeur, but Blanchett brings warmth and humor, grounding Hughes' increasingly chaotic world. It's no small feat to portray a star without being eclipsed by them. In the process, Blanchett became the first actor to win an Oscar for playing another Oscar-winning actor.

4 Helen Mirren – 'The Queen' (2006)

"I am aware that I am in the eye of the storm." Stephen Frears’ drama examines Queen Elizabeth II’s response to the death of Princess Diana, a national tragedy that thrust the monarchy into crisis. The plot follows the public backlash against the royal family and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s (Michael Sheen) efforts to guide them toward a more empathetic response. The always great Helen Mirren is restrained and complex here, taking on a challenging part and absolutely nailing it.

The Queen was in many ways mercurial and aloof, and Mirren captures her internal tensions. She was a woman defined by decorum, even as in a moment that demanded vulnerability and expressiveness. Mirren’s brilliance lies in what she withholds. Emotion flickers across her face like shadows. Her command of micro-gestures makes entire scenes hinge on the movement of an eyelid. As Elizabeth wanders the Balmoral estate, silently confronting a shifting world, Mirren turns a private crisis into Shakespearean drama.

3 Denzel Washington – 'Training Day' (2001)

"King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on me!" This kinetic crime thriller follows rookie cop Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) as he undergoes a chaotic evaluation under veteran narcotics officer Alonzo Harris. Denzel Washington plays Alonzo with terrifying charisma, a man who uses charm like a weapon and violence like punctuation. The plot unfolds over a single day, revealing the corruption, seduction, and brutality of Alonzo’s world.

Washington’s performance is a high-wire act of seduction: he’s magnetic, exhilarating, and utterly unpredictable. His energy dominates the screen, yet Washington never pushes the performance into caricature. Alonzo remains chillingly plausible throughout, the kind of man who thrives in systems already eroded by power. In this regard, Washington was cast effectively against type, playing cleverly on his own public image associated with upright heroes. He had already won an Oscar back in 1990 for Glory, but Training Day shows him in a very different mode.

2 Daniel Day-Lewis – 'There Will Be Blood' (2007)

"I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!" Paul Thomas Anderson's epic follows Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a silver miner turned oil baron whose ambition curdles into madness and isolation. In the part, Day-Lewis delivers one of cinema’s towering performances, shaping Plainview into a figure who feels less like a character and more like a biblical force. The plot traces his rise from digging in the dirt to dominating entire towns, as well as his rivalry with a charismatic preacher (Paul Dano).

Both men become symbols of different sides of the American story, but, themes aside, the film’s heartbeat is Day-Lewis' volcanic presence. His voice, posture, and gestures are weaponized; his fury is apocalyptic. Whether whispering intimidation or erupting in operatic rage, Day-Lewis crafts a portrait of greed so consuming it becomes cosmic. "I drink your milkshake!" has become a meme, but in context, it’s terrifying. Madness crystallized, an American grotesque.

1 Heath Ledger – 'The Dark Knight' (2008)

"Why so serious?" The greatest performance in a superhero movie, period. The Dark Knight sees Gotham City plunged into chaos by the Joker, and Heath Ledger’s performance is the film’s gravitational center. The story chronicles Batman’s (Christian Bale) attempt to stop the Joker’s escalating campaign of terror, and Ledger’s presence is so electrifying that he feels like a force of nature. He's unpredictable, gleeful, terrifyingly intelligent. His Joker isn’t a cartoon villain but an anarchic philosopher, dismantling moral order through macabre performance art.

Ledger crafts the character from tics, gestures, vocal shifts, and a sense of manic glee that feels both playful and sinister. Every scene seems rewritten by his energy. The interrogation room confrontation remains a modern classic, the moment where superhero fantasy becomes something much more intense and tragic. Ultimately, Ledger’s posthumous Oscar was recognition that he had created one of cinema’s immortal characters. Its shadow continues to loom over the whole genre and, indeed, all villain performances since.