Borat, Blanchett, DiCaprio, and Dench are among the two dozen actors that we’ve fearlessly singled out as having put in the best performances of the year. In photographs and in interview excerpts, many of them exclusive to Premiere.com, here are the 24 and what they have to say about their excellent 2006 roles. Oscar, are you listening?

Pick up the January/February 2007 issue of Premiere magazine to read even more from this year's most amazing thespians.

Interviews by Kelly Borgeson, Sara Brady, Rachel Clarke, Ryan Devlin, Ann Donahue, Brooke Hauser, Glenn Kenny, Cristy Lytal, Jason Matloff, Tom Roston, and Fred Schruers.