Several years will go down in film history for various prolific reasons. For instance: 1982 will always be associated with science-fiction movies like The Thing, E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, and Blade Runner. Years like 1939, 1967, and 1994 will always be in consideration for the greatest 12-month period for films.

It’s about time, however, to shine some light on some actors within the films, and not the projects as a whole. Some of the most respected and entertaining performances in Hollywood history have been of the supporting variety. Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990), Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). You know the ones.

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Performances of this ilk are among the most revered in cinema. They’ve defined the careers of some of the most recognizable thespians around the world, and they’ve been causing distress to award associations since the Academy Awards’ inception.

Steep Competition at Award Ceremonies

     Universal Pictures

Never have the major film award associations been so divided in a particular category. At least, with regard to acting categories. The Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards were all in agreement regarding Best Supporting Actor for three years straight, from 2007 to 2009. Javier Bardem, Heath Ledger, and Christoph Waltz (respectively) all won the award across the board.

In 1995, however, Kevin Spacey took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The Golden Globes then had another name in mind for the category: Brad Pitt. He won for his work in Twelve Monkeys (1995) by Terry Gilliam, and it may remain the finest performance of the Hollywood superstar’s career.

As a mental patient, Brad Pitt’s Jeffrey Goines epitomized the on-screen portrayal of a given mental illness. His verbal ticks and facial expressions seemed to transcend the bounds of human physiology. Scientists should have investigated this role to truly get to the bottom of things, understand its depths, analyze Brad Pitt’s motor functions and determine how they differ from those of the average person. Surely, there’s something to be discovered.

This is one of several instances throughout film history where the Golden Globes got the award correct over the Oscars. Brad Pitt should have won over Kevin Spacey, but in the end, the two associations were split. Even the Screen Actors Guild Awards were unsure who to award it to. In the end, they gave it to Ed Harris for his work in Apollo 13 (1995), which means that all three of these associations were completely polarized in their picks.

What’s more is that Don Cheadle was only nominated at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995). Neither of the other associations gave him recognition. It may be the most impressive performance of his career, and refusing it a nomination is just as bad a robbery as Kevin Spacey actually winning the award over Brad Pitt.

But ultimately, all this debate — who should have won, who should have been nominated — it truly showcases the competition level of Best Supporting Actor in 1995. And the styles of acting were varied, too. Brad and Don were comedic, while Kevin and Ed were dramatic. And, another thing: the other nominations were scattered, too.

High-Profile Names

Among the aforementioned award-winning or nominated actors of high regard include Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, and Don Cheadle. However, several other popular names received nominations as well, and despite coming up short, their efforts are further noted here.

Both Kevin Bacon and Kenneth Branagh were nominated in the category at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Murder in the First (1995) and Othello (1995), respectively. Meanwhile, at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes, Tim Roth was in talks for his work in Rob Roy (1995). Some of those more names are more popular than others, of course. But it’s also worth noting the other years in which several A-list actors were nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1997, these were the actors nominated at the Academy Awards: Burt Reynolds, Robin Williams, Anthony Hopkins, Greg Kinnear, and Robert Forster. Some pretty impressive names. In 2014, the nominees were J.K. Simmons, Robert Duvall, Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo, and Ethan Hawke.

Then, there’s the most recent year with impressive supporting performances: 2019. Legends like Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hanks, and Joe Pesci all lost to Brad Pitt for his performance as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). That list of names is on a higher level than the nominees in 1995, but the performances weren’t as memorable or impressive.

Career-Defining Performances

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Aside from mainstream successes like Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and Troy (2004), roles that no one will be recollecting in a hundred years, one could argue Brad Pitt’s work in Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1999), or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) produced the defining role of his career. They’re not quite on the same level, though.

For Spacey, his biggest, most memorable role is either the one at hand, Roger “Verbal” Kent in The Usual Suspects, or Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999). His role in Se7en was undoubtedly memorable, but that was more due to the script and the twist his character incited opposed to an outstanding performance from Spacey.

Ed Harris clearly shined in The Truman Show (1998). That much is obvious. For a certain audience, though, the most memorable role of his career came with Apollo 13. He had tremendous efforts in Pollock (2000) and The Hours (2002), too, but they also fell just short.

And while he may be known around the world as War Machine from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nobody is rushing to claim Iron Man 2 as their favorite Don Cheadle film. They might say that for Hotel Rwanda (2004), or maybe Boogie Nights (1997), but really, his best performance came in 1995 with Devil in a Blue Dress.

Even perennial supporting actor Joe Pesci did his thing in 1995 with Martin Scorsese’s Casino. It was by no means the definitive role of his career, but Pesci has three Oscar nominations under his belt for Best Supporting Actor, and they were all collaborations with Scorsese — Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), and The Irishman (2019). The fact that Joe Pesci played a supporting character in a Scorsese movie and wasn’t nominated at the Oscars speaks to the caliber of competition in 1995.