Hello everyone! Well, April has been quite an eclectic movie watching month for me, as you’ll see in my monthly roundup is coming tomorrow. Since I’ve been working on a bunch of indie reviews lately, I feel like taking a bit of break today. Instead, I’d like to pick your brains a bit my fellow cinephiles and awesome movie bloggers. You’ve likely been watching a bunch of movies and/or TV shows the past four months, and for me, one of the highlights as a movie blogger is discovering ‘new’ talents or at least talents you haven’t seen before. In fact, it could also be actors you might have seen previously, but didn’t realize what they’re capable of until you see them in certain films.

For me, the two performances that stood out to me recently happen to be from films I saw at MSP Film Fest. Both performances are from non-Hollywood actors: Danish Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt (review coming later this week), and London-born (from Pakistani heritage) Riz Ahmed in The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

Now, granted Mads has been in blockbuster films like Casino Royale (hello Le Chiffre!) and even the abominable Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, but his indie cred is still very much intact, as he continues to mix things up with smaller projects like the taut Danish thriller The Hunt which was produced in his home country.

In any case, I was muy impressed by these two actors, not only in their leading man charisma, but also in their ability to convey a layered emotional performance with their quiet, introspective sensibilities. It’s interesting that they’re both playing ‘regular guys’ who are unfairly judged in the court of public opinion.

I was also impressed by Lake Bell in her directorial debut of In A World (review also coming later this week), a comedy about the voice over industry. She turns out to be quite a triple threat as she wrote, directed and acted in her film (which was well-received at Sundance). Roadside Attraction has since acquired the film (per Deadline) so I’m hoping more of you would be able to see it. I sure hope she continues to act and direct, as we definitely need more good female filmmakers in Hollywood.

Now it’s your turn folks, in the spirit of sharing your recommendations, please share YOUR pick of excellent performances you’ve seen so far in 2013.

Feel free to leave links/clips, etc. in the comments. Thanks in advance and do spread the word 😀