Best Supporting Actor 1998: Results

5. Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love- Rush is not bad, but besides a few somewhat comedic moment there just is not much to his performance.

4. Ed Harris in The Truman Show- Harris gives a consistently stoic performance that actually is an interesting but not amazing depiction of a pretentious artist who has delusions of grandeur.

3.  James Coburn in Affliction- James Coburn gives an effective performance that brings to life the cruelty, as well as the weakness of his character extremely well.

2. Robert Duvall in A Civil Action- Robert Duvall is a strong performance as the legal adversary for this film. He creates an effective and unique opponent in just how calm he is throughout the film.

1. Billy Bob Thorton in A Simple Plan- Thorton easily wins this year for me in his heartbreaking portrait of a simple man who is always trying to do the right thing, but has a very hard to figuring out what the right thing ever is.

Deserving Performances:
John Goodman in The Big Lebowski
Giovanni Ribisi in Saving Private Ryan