{"id":4175,"date":"2025-12-30T17:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/?p=4175"},"modified":"2026-01-01T14:56:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T14:56:30","slug":"the-best-performances-of-the-year-were-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/30\/the-best-performances-of-the-year-were-black\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Performances Of The Year Were Black"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to \u201c<\/em>What\u2019s Good<\/em><\/a>,\u201d a column where we break down what\u2019s soothing, distracting, or just plain good in Hollywood with a \u201crooting for everybody Black\u201d energy. These are the best onscreen performances of 2025 by Black performers.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The headline of my end-of-year column hasn\u2019t changed since I started compiling the best of the best in film a few years ago. The Best Performances of 2025<\/a> are Black, just like they were in 2024<\/a> and 2023<\/a>, and so on. Black performers consistently raise the bar. They are great because they have<\/em> to be, and especially in a year when we saw Hollywood roll back DEI commitments<\/a> and descend into a hellscape where Black actors had to defend themselves from being called \u201cDEI hires\u201d for simply working while Black, these performances cut through the noise and let the work speak for itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2025, there were so many Black performers who met the challenge of being excellent in the face of an industry that is actively trying to erase them. They took the gravity (or levity) of their material and elevated what was on the page to make it even better. In a year that tested us all \u2014 seriously, we barely survived \u2014 through their work these artists gave us so much, a reprieve from the hellscape of our social feeds and portrayals of the human experience that revealed a little more about ourselves. Every awards season<\/a>, I remind you that while we\u2019ve long since divested<\/a> from the gatekeeping archaic institutions<\/a> that consistently exclude Black folks from legacy awards, giving recognition where it\u2019s due still matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Sinners<\/em> was undoubtedly (when it came to box office performance and<\/em> cultural impact) the movie of the year, and yet still is left off of multiple (white) critics\u2019 year-end lists and awards predictions, it\u2019s more and more evident that we need to uplift our own (let\u2019s not forget that winning an NAACP Image Award<\/a> should be just as big of an honor as getting an Oscar). We must acknowledge the best Black performances beyond the one or two actors that legacy awards deem worthy of being their annual token, albeit deserved, inclusions. We refuse to settle for crumbs. We get to exist in a timeline where a multitude of Black artistic expressions are celebrated. \u2018Tis the season to look back on the best of the best of the year and the best, as always, is Black as hell \u2014 whether they get accolades from certain governing bodies or not.<\/p>\n

These are the performances I\u2019ve been yelling at you about all year. So, here is my exhaustive, definitive, and still not long enough list of 2025\u2019s best Black film performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners<\/em>\u00a0<\/h2>\n