Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role

The nominees are:

- Leonardo DiCaprio in “Blood Diamond” (Warner Bros.)
- Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson” (THINKFilm)
- Peter O’Toole in “Venus” (Miramax, Filmfour and UK Film Council)
- Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
- Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland” (Fox Searchlight)

And the winner is ... Forest Whitaker. Yes, Ryan Gosling was awe-inspiring as the crack-addicted history teacher in "Half Nelson," and I would love to give him the nod, but Forest Whitaker was positively electric as Idi Amin; I couldn't take my eyes off of him whenever he was on the screen. It was an incredible performance.