Best Supporting Actor Performance

[jhiggy23]

I think that year after year, the supporting actor category at the Academy Awards is among the deepest category of the night. So, I am interested in hearing what people consider to be the best or their personal favorite supporting actor performance. I know that this will pretty much devolve into people listing their favorite, so I won't even try to enforce a listing of a best! There is only one rule here:

1) The performance HAS to be at least Academy Award nominated (to ensure objective quality)--the person does not have to have been a winner, but simply nominated


I expect a lot of people to list Heath Ledger's Joker performance. There is no doubt that this is a great performance and deserved to win the Oscar. However, I think it is one of the most overrated performances of all time, as good as it was, and that there have been many better performances over the course of movie history. Since people will undoubtedly list their favorite performance, his role is certainly fair game. The following are some of my favorites and some I consider to be among the best (all of which I think are better than Ledger's performance):

1) Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas"

2) Christopher Walken in "The Deer Hunter"

3) Djimon Hounsou in "Blood Diamond"

4) Tim Robbins in "Mystic River"

5) Dr. Haing Ngor in "The Killing Fields"