My Top Five List: Supporting Performances?

I love lists. I love movies. So of the course the first list on this blog is going to be about movies and more specifically, awards. Many performances in the past were considered as supporting roles but really should've been placed in the lead. Some of those demoted their rank translated into award recognition, some have not. Since there are way too many of these performances to choose from, I'm going to break it down to those that stood out from this century (2001-current).

5. Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), is it because of Brad Pitt's star status that bumped the equally dominant character to supporting ranks?

4. Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), this one was a no-brainer. It was an instant Oscar as soon as she categorized herself in the supporting actress since she had stiffer competition in 2001 with Sissy Spacek, Nicole Kidman and the eventually winner, Halle Berry.

3. Scarlett Johansson (Lost In Translation), this one was iffy. The film itself was billed more as a Bill Murray vehicle, but Johansson's Charlotte had an equally nuance self-discovery in Japan. 

2. James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland). Not that it would have resulted in anything, but the entire film was Nicholas's story from the get-go.

1. Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls). Unlike Catherine Zeta-Jones in 'Chicago', where her performance dominated to the point where some people were convinced CZJ was the lead, I blame Hudson's misplacement on the script and editing. It should've been the eventual Oscar winner in the lead and Beyonce in supporting, not that it would've helped Beyonce at all with awards. 

So did I miss any? The only other one I considered from this century was Ethan Hawke in 'Training Day'.