2010 at the Movies: Hardest Working Actors

Leonardo DiCaprio had a big year with "Inception", but he kicked off 2010 in Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island". Matt Damon starred in "Green Zone", narrated the financial crisis documentary, "Inside Job", then headlined a spiritual crisis in Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" and joined the "True Grit" ensemble.

Jeff Bridges had a stellar year with his Rooster Cogburn in "True Grit", but also a duel role in Disney's "TRON: Legacy". Bridges played his aging character Flynn, but also Flynn's digital alter-ego in a CGI make-over that took 30 years off his grizzly face. Barry Pepper saddled up in "True Grit" as the vile Ned Pepper, but gave a killer performance in George Hickenlooper's political farce "Casino Jack" as Jack Abramoff's crony Michael Scanlon.

Josh Brolin was another "True Grit" man, appearing in 4 films including the hard-edge comic book movie "Jonah Hex". It was Brolin's year with the masters, acting in Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger", Oliver Stone's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" and of course with the Coen Brothers.

Liam Neeson appeared in 6 films in 2010, including "Chloe", "Clash of the Titans", "The A-Team", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "The Next Three Days" and "The Wildest Dream". Unfortunately he dropped out of Steven Spielberg's anticipated Abraham Lincoln biopic, bowing to Daniel Day-Lewis.

Another actor of tremendous caliber and output in 2010 was Timothy Spall, who played Winston Churchill in both "The King's Speech" and "Jackboots on Whitehall", also appearing in "Alice in Wonderland", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and the Irish horror film "Wake Wood". Spall worked with Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech", who also lent his talents to "The Warrior's Way" and his voice to "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole."

Several actors appeared in both live action and animated films like Will Ferrell who had "The Other Guys" and "Megamind". Oddball Russell Brand lent his voice to "Despicable Me", performed in "Get Him to the Greek" and Julie Taymor's "The Tempest." "Get Him to the Greek" co-star Jonah Hill provided voice to "Megamind", but also "How to Train Your Dragon" and performed in the indie comedy "Cyrus."

Another "Megamind" voice came from Ben Stiller who released his indie dramedy "Greenberg" and also "Little Fockers." Owen Wilson reprised his role in "Little Fockers" and also appeared in "How Do You Know", as well as voicing "Marmaduke." Justin Timberlake almost had screen time returning to his voice as Artie Pendragon in "Shrek Forever After", but gave voice in "Yogi Bear" and performed brilliantly as Sean Parker in "The Social Network."

Steve Carrell put his voice in "Despicable Me", also starring in the comedies "Date Night" and "Dinner for Schmucks." Zach Galifianakis appeared in "Dinner for Schmucks", furthering performing in "Youth in Revolt", "It's Kind of a Funny Story" and "Due Date."

Mark Ruffalo keeps it steady with roles in "Shutter Island", "Date Night" and picking up several nominations for "The Kids Are All Right." As usual Chris Cooper was ubiquitous; co-starring with Brand in "The Tempest" and in "The Company Men", which also starred Ben Affleck. Cooper played Affleck's incarcerated dad in "The Town" and in the Allen Coulter film "Remember Me." Another brilliant actor in "The Town" was Pete Postlethwaite, who past away at the start of 2011. In 2010 Postlehwaite also appeared in "Inception" and "Clash of the Titans". 2010 wouldn't be complete without Robert De Niro, who appeared in "Machete", "Stone" and "Little Fockers".

My biggest nod goes to James Franco who will be co-hosting the Oscars in 2011. Franco captured two huge roles in 2010 based a real people: as Aron Ralston in "127 Hours" and as Allen Ginsberg in "Howl". Franco also appeared "Date Night" and "Eat Pray Love."

Check out The Dames: Hardest Working Actresses for 2010