10. Lupita Nyong’o: 12 Years A Slave

In the months since I posted my 12 Years piece on tumblr, the world has rightfully fallen in love with Ms. Nyong’o and it is safe to say she is an unknown no longer. The utter despair and pain captured in her performance continues to resonate.  This is the sort of performance you can feel in your bones and makes you squirm in your seat.  The whole film is like that, really, but her performance stands out in this respect because her situation is so uniquely desperate and hopeless.  She’s literally hard to watch at times, not because of the brutality she endures, but because the despair and sense of being trapped is so complete and dire in her face, in her actions, her voice.  Great work in what ought to be a star-making performance.  Now, if only the American film industry created roles for black women…