15 Actors Deserving of Oscars Attention (But Probably Won't Get It)

The speculative phase of the awards season is only now getting underway and already we're starting to see a few names emerge as definite Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor contenders. Michael Keaton for Birdman, David Oyelowo for Selma, and JK Simmons for Whiplash seem like obvious picks. But let's not forget there were a lot of other great performances throughout the year that shouldn't be overlooked. Just as with my list of great overlooked female performances, the actors here have either received minimal awards love or are just my favorites that I wanted to put some shine on. Some took chances, like hiding their faces behind giant masks; others are making the leap into dramatic territory for the first time. In every case, these guys were tremendous in 2014 so let's just get right into it.

Irrfan Khan- The Lunchbox




Michael Fassbender- Frank



Tom Hardy- Locke




Bill Hader- The Skeleton Twins




Antoine-Olivier Pilon- Mommy




Tom Hiddleston- Only Lovers Left Alive




Nicolas Cage- Joe




Jon Favreau- Chef



Ansel Elgort- The Fault in Our Stars



Brendan Gleeson- Calvary



Chadwick Boseman- Get On Up



Jack O'Connell- Starred Up



Edgar Ramirez- The Liberator



Chris Rock- Top Five



Michael Shannon- Young Ones