The backbone of Breakthrough Performance is simple. Sometimes, virtual unknowns suddenly come crashing into the public spotlight, delivering acting performances so mesmerizing that we know they’re going to work constantly for years to come. Previous winners include Eddie Redmayne, Lupita Nyong’o, Hailee Steinfeld, Christoph Waltz, Dev Patel, Ellen Page, Michael Sheen, Rooney Mara, Zach Braff, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Terrence Howard. All of them now enjoy name recognition and solid careers on television and in movies.

This year’s competition wasn’t even close. From the moment she got the role, our staff has expected big things from Daisy Ridley. Receiving what is effectively the Mark Hamill role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the equivalent of a stranger handing her a winning lottery ticket. At least, that’s how it seems from a surface level evaluation. Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen would offer a contrarian opinion on the subject.

To her credit, Ridley avoided the potential fate of Star Wars infamy. Her portrayal of Rey is the concrete foundation that supports the rest of what our staff is calling Star Wars’ Greatest Hits. As the new Luke Skywalker, she’s a scavenger in a desolate desert society who ultimately discovers she possesses uncanny abilities. Ridley’s portrayal of Rey is arguably the best example of female empowerment in the history of Star Wars, a franchise that was always (light) years ahead of its time in this regard. Ridley is now the face of the most popular domestic movie of all-time, guaranteeing her a long and enviable Hollywood career. Note that we also have selected Ridley’s co-star, John Boyega, as our fifth place entrant in the category. As Rey's co-protagonist Finn, he displayed the humanity, regret and confusion of someone who breaks away from his programming to become something much more. It’s good to star in a Star Wars movie, well, as long as it’s not a prequel.

Second place this year might as well be called 1A. Voters in the Breakthrough Performance category chose Alicia Vikander as the unofficial champion. She actually forced a discussion about how we should handle the voting procedure. That’s because Vikander received votes for FOUR different performances last year. She finished in the top 20 in voting in each of them. If we added all her votes together, she would actually upset Daisy Ridley to win the title of Breakthrough Performance.

Alas, our staff eventually determined that it’s a bastardization of the process to honor someone for such a high volume of notable performances over a performer whose single role is so influential. So, if you’re scoring at home, BOP’s staff votes Alicia Vikander as delivering the second best Breakthrough Performance in Ex Machina, the eighth best one for The Danish Girl, the 16th best for The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the 18th best for Testament of Youth. Suffice to say that we came away very, very impressed by Alicia Vikander this year.

The other two members of our top five are Rebecca Ferguson and Jacob Tremblay. Ferguson earns fourth place for upstaging Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. She’s ferocious, flirtatious, and treacherous, making her the perfect counterpart to espionage icon Ethan Hunt. Tremblay is all of nine-years-old, which should make you wonder what you’ve done with your life. He finishes in fourth place as the innocent boy who doesn’t understand what’s so bad about his living quarters in Room. Rarely does BOP think a child under the age of 18 is robbed of an Academy Award nomination, but Tremblay was totally jobbed.

Kitana Kiki-Rodriguez and Mark Rylance come from entirely different worlds, but they finish in sixth and seventh place in Breakthrough Performance. Kiki-Rodriguez is a transsexual who once earned her living in the sex trade. In Tangerine, she draws on her personal history to portray a transsexual prostitute seeking an explanation from her cheater pimp boyfriend. She brings dignity and heart to a challenging role.

Rylance, on the other hand, is one of the most lauded thespians in British theater. For whatever reason, he’d largely eschewed Hollywood since 1991, when he turned heads the first time while working with John Gielgud in Prospero’s Books. Twenty-five years later, the 56-year-old actor is suddenly taking major projects with A-List Hollywood talent such as Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. And he is again stealing the show. While our staff felt it was a bit of a cheat to list him in Breakthrough Performance, given that this technically occurred in 1991, we eventually settled on listing him since out of sight is out of mind in this industry.

The final two nominees in Breakthrough Performance are Maika Monroe and Tessa Thompson. Monroe’s selection is for It Follows, wherein her character sleeps with the wrong guy. Sure, most women have done it, but they didn’t wind up with supernatural beings chasing them all across Michigan. Monroe takes what is potentially a generic scream queen role and elevates it into an instantly iconic horror character. Thompson, already a BOP fave from her time on Veronica Mars, brings emotional resonance and a female balance to Creed, which is otherwise a total sausage fest. Her performance hearkens back to the glory days of Lisa Bonet, and Ms. Thompson can sing for us any day.

Narrowly missing selection in Breakthrough Performance this year are Taron Egerton from Kingsman: The Secret Service, Abraham Attah from Beasts of No Nation, Bel Powley from The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Thomas Mann for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Géza Röhrig for Son of Saul, Shameik Moore for Dope, Jason Mitchell for Straight Outta Compton, Amy Schumer for Trainwreck, Mae Whitman for The Duff, and Lily James for Cinderella.

Calvins Intro
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture

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