5. Shawn Roberts – Resident Evil: Afterlife
Sure Resident Evil won’t be considered the best film of the year by many, but it certainly had its moments. Some of those moments included a young man by the name Shawn Roberts. Here he plays Wexler, and he relishes the evil. Yet it wasn’t just this performance that worked, Shawn was absolutely terrific in Edge of Darkness as the paranoid boyfriend of Mel Gibson’s daughter. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of Mr. Roberts in the future.

4. Andrew Garfield – The Social Network
Andrew Garfield is Spider-Man. He beat out a long list of other actors for the coveted role and he sure as hell proved why with his wonderful performance in The Social Network. Add to that his work in Never Let Me go and you have yourself a fantastic actor. Let’s see what happens when the Academy Awards are announced, it seems he has a pretty good chance at a Best Supporting Actor nod.

3. Daniel Radcliffe – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
You have to hand it to Daniel Radcliffe. His work as Harry Potter continues to have gotten better and better. Deathly Hallows is certainly his strongest performance and it seems it’ll only get more captivating with the second part. Will “Harry Potter” be able to move on as an actor and step away from the boy wizard? With Daniel’s talent, there is little doubt he will be around for a very long while.

2. Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Jesse Eisenberg captured the essence of real life billionaire “Facebook King” Mark Zuckerberg. Jesse is simply brilliant, and it is no surprise considering his previous work in such cool flicks as Adventureland and Zombieland. So who will be this year’s Best Actor at the Academy Awards, Jesse Eisenberg or Colin Firth? How about a tie? Both actors are brilliant and are both deserving of the prize.

1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Inception
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is possibly the best actor of his generation. Many independent film fans have known this for quite awhile. He was fantastic in Brick, Mysterious Skin, Latter Days and of course, his star-making performance in (500) Days of Summer. And then there was Inception with his scene-stealing work alongside the equally impressive Tom Hardy. While this may be a supporting role, it is a continued reminder of why they don’t get any better than Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Who is your favorite young actor under 30?
Check out part 1 of this list here.
