OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR

Tom Cullen as Russell in "WEEKEND"

Michael Fassbender as Brandon in "SHAME"

Ewan McGregor as Oliver in "BEGINNERS"

Brad Pitt as Billy Beane in "MONEYBALL"

Michael Shannon as Curtis in "TAKE SHELTER"

AND THE WINNER IS…..

MICHAEL FASSBENDER AS BRANDON IN "SHAME"

Last Year’s Winner: Ryan Gosling as Dean in “BLUE VALENTINE”

Only three more awards to go and now is the time for actor in a leading role, this award has gone to such iconic performances as Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood and Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler but this year it is time to add a new name to that list. The winning actor this year is previous nominee in this category as well as winning another award this year. The performance in second place is previous best supporting actor nominee (1) Michael Shannon for his terrifying performance as Curtis in “Take Shelter“. Shannon handles this role with such greatness able to level both the craziness and sanity of the role. Shannon as an actor is such a towering presence and in this role he has never been better which is why he is the runner up.

So in the end I picked the magnificent work of Michael Fassbender in his second project with artist turned director Steve McQueen, the name of the film was “Shame“, in this film it was tricky role to pull of because of the fact that his character was a sex addict and he had to do what I will call his own “Stunts”, his performance was even better because it was quiet due to how the character was written. This is Fassbender’s second nomination for best actor for which he received for his work in Steve McQueen’s first film “Hunger”, he also won the performer of the year awards.