Great performances come in waves. Or at least, that is howit feels looking at the prospects for best actor this year. They are thin onthe ground compared to last year when monumental performances by Javier Bardem,Paul Giamatti, Liam Neeson, Christian Bale and Kevin Bacon were excluded fromthe awards shortlist in the face of other great work.

Ironically, for all the great performances last year, it wasultimately a one-horse race, with Jamie Foxx dominating the best actor categoryfrom the start and then picking up the Oscar. This year, the obvious candidatesare fewer.

A handful of masterful performances stand out - PhilipSeymour Hoffman, Heath Ledger, David Strathairn and Joaquin Phoenix - and,while voters will not be spoilt for choice, there is no Foxx-style front runnerat this stage.

The only unknown at time of going to press is Munich, whichfeatures some accomplished actors - Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush,Matthieu Kassovitz and Ciaran Hinds. Since so little is known as yet, theycould not qualify for Screen International's tip sheet in lead and supportingcategories.

1 Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote

Despite a handful of celebrated turns in The Talented MrRipley, Happiness, Flawless, Magnolia, Boogie Nights and Almost Famous,Hoffman has to date failed to cop a single Oscar, Globe or BAFTA nomination.But ever since Capote first appeared at the Toronto film festival, theexcitement over his performance has grown with each passing week. Hoffmanmanaged to take the iconic Truman Capote and inhabit him without resorting tocamp or overt mannerisms. The performance is at once riveting and sinister,implicating Capote as a man for whom morality came second to an almostMachiavellian ambition.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: none

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: none

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: none

2 Heath Ledger, BrokebackMountain

One of the year's most surprising performances came from26-year-old Australian Ledger, whose carefully modulated, engrossing work asEnnis Del Mar puts him immediately at the forefront of the awards race. Ledger,ubiquitous in 2005 with other lead performances in Lords Of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm and Casanova, powerfully captures the sexual and emotional repression whichdictates Ennis' character both in his physical demeanour and his tightly woundbehaviour. He is the figure who personifies the film's gut-wrenchingmelancholy.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: none

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: none

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: none

3 David Strathairn, GoodNight, And Good Luck

A veteran of more than 70 films, Strathairn is one of thosewell-liked actors who has never scored nominations despite giving a series ofunderstated performances in films from the likes of John Sayles and CurtisHanson. The breakthrough to another level of recognition has come this yearwith his role as 1950s TV newsman Edward R Murrow in George Clooney's GoodNight, And Good Luck. His turn was strongenough to beat Heath Ledger to the best actor prize at the Venice film festivalthis year.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN DIRECTOR CATEGORY: none

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: none

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: none

4 Joaquin Phoenix, WalkThe Line

Phoenix attacked the role of Johnny Cash, a tough challengegiven the world's familiarity with the real Cash, who died in 2003, butalthough the actor sang the songs himself, he did not attempt to mimic thegreat singing star nor imitate him in his off-stage life. The resultingperformance is authentic and involved, while Phoenix's teaming with ReeseWitherspoon, playing June Carter, is one of those rare on-screen partnershipsthat generates authentic chemistry.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: one - bestsupporting actor in Gladiator (2000).

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: one - best supportingactor in Gladiator (2000).

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: one - best supporting actor in Gladiator(2000).

5 Tommy Lee Jones, TheThree Burials Of Melquiades Estrada

Jones won the best-actor award at the Cannes film festivalthis year for his moving performance as Pete Perkins, a tough but good-heartedlocal ranch foreman in Texas, whose deep sorrow at the death of his illegalimmigrant Mexican friend Estrada leads him to kidnap the suspected killer.Jones has rarely been this tender on screen and he is bound to attract plauditswhen the film opens in December, even more so because the respected 59-year-oldhas never been nominated in the best actor Oscar category.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: two -supporting actor in JFK (1991);supporting actor in The Fugitive(1993). He won for the latter.

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: three - best actor(comedy/musical) in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980);best supporting actor in a series, mini-series or movie made for TV for LonesomeDove (1989); best supporting actor for TheFugitive (1993). Won for TheFugitive.

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: two - supporting actor in JFK(1991); supporting actor in The Fugitive(1993).

6 Johnny Depp, TheLibertine

Reviews have not been kind to Laurence Dunmore's directorialdebut The Libertine, but all applaudedanother delicious performance from Depp as John Wilmot, the Earl Of Rochester.He effortlessly and convincingly takes the world-weary Rochester from thedepths of debauchery to a redemption of sorts, while also transformingphysically as the ravages of syphilis set in. Depp has won Oscar, Globe andBAFTA nominations in best actor categories for the last two years in a row and,with The Weinstein Company behind him, he could make it three for three thisyear.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: two - bestactor in Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003) and Finding Neverland (2004).

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: five - best actor(comedy/musical) in Edward Scissorhands(1990); best actor (comedy/musical) in Benny And Joon (1993); best actor (comedy/musical) in EdWood (1994); best actor (comedy/musical) inPirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003); and best actor (drama) in FindingNeverland (2004).

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: two - best actor in PiratesOf The Caribbean (2003) and FindingNeverland (2004).

7 Russell Crowe, CinderellaMan

Whether his off-screen bad-boy exploits will affect hisawards chances or not, Crowe gave another virtuoso performance this year asamateur boxer James J Braddock in Cinderella Man. As a working-class man who made an extraordinary return to the ringto support his family in Depression-ravaged New Jersey, Crowe displayed hiscustomary dedication, training to become an expert boxer himself and immersinghimself in the role of family man and manual labourer.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: three -best actor in The Insider (1999); Gladiator (2000); A Beautiful Mind (2001). Won for Gladiator.

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: four - best actor (drama)in The Insider (1999); Gladiator (2000); A Beautiful Mind (2001); and Master And Commander: The FarSide Of The World (2003). Won for ABeautiful Mind.

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: three - best actor in TheInsider (1999); Gladiator (2000); and A Beautiful Mind (2001). Won for A Beautiful Mind.

8 Jeff Daniels, TheSquid And The Whale

As Bernard Berkman, a pompous New York writer who belittleshis wife and manipulates his children, Daniels gives one of the most memorableperformances of the year in Noah Baumbach's semi-autobiographical divorce drama.Daniels makes Berkman so believable that his arrogance and self-absorption arealternately comic and disturbing.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: none

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: two - best actor(comedy/musical) in The Purple Rose Of Cairo (1985); best actor (comedy/musical) in Something Wild (1986).

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: none

9 Ralph Fiennes, TheConstant Gardener

Fiennes returned to prominence in 2005 with two classyfilms: The Constant Gardener, in whichhe plays a mild-mannered civil servant galvanised into action after his wife iskilled, and The White Countess inwhich he plays a jaded - and blind - American diplomat in 1936 Shanghai. Hewill probably most likely be recognised for the former, in which he delivers aself-effacing and subtle turn as the passive Justin Quayle, quietly holding thescreen in the face of scene-stealing attempts from co-stars Rachel Weisz, DannyHuston and Bill Nighy.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: two -supporting actor in Schindler's List(1993); lead actor in The English Patient (1996).

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: two - supporting actor inSchindler's List (1993); lead actor inThe English Patient (1996).

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: three - supporting actor in Schindler'sList (1993); lead actor in TheEnglish Patient (1996); and lead actor in TheEnd Of The Affair (1999).

10 Terrence Howard, HustleAnd Flow

Howard has had some year (Ray, Four Brothers, Crash) but itwas as the world-weary pimp DJay in Hustle And Flow for which he could meritawards recognition. Howard makes DJay alternately tender and violent, angry andvulnerable, as the pimp attempts to break out of his sordid circumstances andmake it as a rap star. He turns this ostensibly unpleasant character intosomeone complex and perhaps redeemable.

PREVIOUS OSCAR NOMINATIONS IN ACTING CATEGORIES: none

PREVIOUS GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: none

PREVIOUS BAFTA NOMINATIONS: none

The next five

11 Anthony Hopkins, TheWorld's Fastest Indian

12 Cillian Murphy, BreakfastOn Pluto

13 Bill Murray, BrokenFlowers

14 Pierce Brosnan, TheMatador

15 Nathan Lane, TheProducers

The ones that (may) get away

The real best actor'

Perhaps the best acting performances of the year will notfigure in the Oscar, Globe or BAFTA races, simply because the films in whichthey are featured are too difficult or challenging. Take Damian Lewis in LodgeKerrigan's Keane. In a complicated role as a man - who may be mentally unstable- unable to overcome the anguish caused by the abduction of his daughter, Lewisgives perhaps the best performance by an actor this year. Then again, Frenchactor Romain Duris was electrifying in Jacques Audiard's The Beat That My HeartSkipped, reinventing the Harvey Keitel part from James Toback's Fingers andcreating an indelible portrait in schizophrenic behaviour. Other actors standout - Lou Pucci in Thumbsucker, Michael Pitt in Last Days, Peter Sarsgaard inThe Dying Gaul, but their chances might be hampered by the limited exposuretheir films received.