# 21st Critics' Choice Awards

The 21st Critics' Choice Awards were presented on January 17, 2016 at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, honoring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2015. The ceremony was simulcast on A&E, Lifetime and LMN, and hosted by T.J. Miller. The nominees were announced on December 14, 2015.
This year marked the first time the awards were combined with the Critics' Choice Television Awards into one event onward.

## Winners and nominees
### Film

| Best Picture Spotlight The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Carol Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room Sicario Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Best Director George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road Todd Haynes – Carol Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant Tom McCarthy – Spotlight Ridley Scott – The Martian Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies |
| Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant as Hugh Glass Bryan Cranston – Trumbo as Dalton Trumbo Matt Damon – The Martian as Mark Watney Johnny Depp – Black Mass as James "Whitey" Bulger Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs as Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl as Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener | Best Actress Brie Larson – Room as Joy "Ma" Newsome Cate Blanchett – Carol as Carol Aird Jennifer Lawrence – Joy as Joy Mangano Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years as Kate Mercer Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn as Eilis Lacey Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road as Imperator Furiosa |
| Best Supporting Actor Sylvester Stallone – Creed as Rocky Balboa Paul Dano – Love & Mercy as Brian Wilson Tom Hardy – The Revenant as John Fitzgerald Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight as Michael Rezendes Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies as Rudolf Abel Michael Shannon – 99 Homes as Rick Carver | Best Supporting Actress Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl as Gerda Wegener Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight as Daisy Domergue Rooney Mara – Carol as Therese Belivet Rachel McAdams – Spotlight as Sacha Pfeiffer Helen Mirren – Trumbo as Hedda Hopper Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs as Joanna Hoffman |
| Best Young Actor/Actress Jacob Tremblay – Room as Jack Newsome Abraham Attah – Beasts of No Nation as Agu RJ Cyler – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl as Earl Jackson Shameik Moore – Dope as Malcolm Adekanbi Milo Parker – Mr. Holmes as Roger Munro | Best Acting Ensemble Spotlight The Big Short The Hateful Eight Straight Outta Compton Trumbo |
| Best Original Screenplay Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer – Spotlight Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen – Bridge of Spies Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley – Inside Out Alex Garland – Ex Machina Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight | Best Adapted Screenplay Adam McKay and Charles Randolph – The Big Short Emma Donoghue – Room Drew Goddard – The Martian Nick Hornby – Brooklyn Aaron Sorkin – Steve Jobs |
| Best Animated Feature Inside Out Anomalisa The Good Dinosaur The Peanuts Movie Shaun the Sheep Movie Minions ||
| Best Documentary Feature Amy Cartel Land Going Clear He Named Me Malala The Look of Silence Where to Invade Next | Best Foreign Language Film Son of Saul (Saul fia) • Hungary The Assassin (Cìkè Niè Yǐnniáng) • China / Hong Kong / Taiwan Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh, Ich seh) • Austria Mustang • France / Germany / Turkey The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?) • Brazil |
| Best Action Movie Mad Max: Fury Road Furious 7 Jurassic World Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Sicario ||
| Best Actor in an Action Movie Tom Hardy – Mad Max: Fury Road as Max Rockatansky Daniel Craig – Spectre as James Bond Tom Cruise – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation as Ethan Hunt Chris Pratt – Jurassic World as Owen Grady Paul Rudd – Ant-Man as Scott Lang / Ant-Man | Best Actress in an Action Movie Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road as Imperator Furiosa Emily Blunt – Sicario as Kate Macer Rebecca Ferguson – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation as Ilsa Faust Bryce Dallas Howard – Jurassic World as Claire Dearing Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 as Katniss Everdeen |
| Best Comedy Movie The Big Short Inside Out Joy Sisters Spy Trainwreck ||
| Best Actor in a Comedy Movie Christian Bale – The Big Short as Michael Burry Steve Carell – The Big Short as Mark Baum Robert De Niro – The Intern as Ben Whittaker Bill Hader – Trainwreck as Dr. Aaron Conners Jason Statham – Spy as Rick Ford | Best Actress in a Comedy Movie Amy Schumer – Trainwreck as Amy Townsend Tina Fey – Sisters as Kate Ellis Jennifer Lawrence – Joy as Joy Mangano Melissa McCarthy – Spy as Susan Cooper Lily Tomlin – Grandma as Elle Reid |
| Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie Ex Machina It Follows Jurassic World Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian ||
| Best Art Direction Colin Gibson (Production Designer), Lisa Thompson (Set Decorator) – Mad Max: Fury Road Judy Becker (Production Designer), Heather Loeffler (Set Decorator) – Carol Arthur Max (Production Designer), Celia Bobak (Set Decorator) – The Martian François Séguin (Production Designer), Jenny Oman and Louise Tremblay (Set Decorators) – Brooklyn Eve Stewart (Production Designer), Michael Standish (Set Decorator) – The Danish Girl Adam Stockhausen (Production Designer), Rena DeAngelo (Set Decorator) – Bridge of Spies | Best Cinematography Emmanuel Lubezki – The Revenant Roger Deakins – Sicario Edward Lachman – Carol Robert Richardson – The Hateful Eight John Seale – Mad Max: Fury Road Dariusz Wolski – The Martian |
| Best Costume Design Jenny Beavan – Mad Max: Fury Road Paco Delgado – The Danish Girl Odile Dicks-Mireaux – Brooklyn Sandy Powell – Carol Sandy Powell – Cinderella | Best Editing Margaret Sixel – Mad Max: Fury Road Hank Corwin – The Big Short Tom McArdle – Spotlight Stephen Mirrione – The Revenant Pietro Scalia – The Martian |
| Best Score Ennio Morricone – The Hateful Eight Carter Burwell – Carol Jóhann Jóhannsson – Sicario Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto – The Revenant Howard Shore – Spotlight | Best Song "See You Again" – Furious 7 "Love Me like You Do" – Fifty Shades of Grey "One Kind of Love" – Love & Mercy "Simple Song #3" – Youth "Til It Happens to You" – The Hunting Ground "Writing's on the Wall" – Spectre |
| Best Hair and Makeup Mad Max: Fury Road Black Mass Carol The Danish Girl The Hateful Eight The Revenant | Best Visual Effects Mad Max: Fury Road Ex Machina Jurassic World The Martian The Revenant The Walk |

### Television

Best Series :
| Best Comedy Series | Best Drama Series |
| Master of None (Netflix) Black-ish (ABC) Catastrophe (Amazon) Jane the Virgin (The CW) The Last Man on Earth (Fox) Transparent (Amazon) You're the Worst (FXX) | Mr. Robot (USA) Empire (Fox) The Knick (Cinemax) The Leftovers (HBO) Penny Dreadful (Showtime) Rectify (Sundance) UnREAL (Lifetime) |
| Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series | Best Animation Series |
| Fargo (FX) Childhood's End (Syfy) Luther (BBC America) Saints & Strangers (Nat Geo) Show Me a Hero (HBO) The Wiz Live! (NBC) | BoJack Horseman (Netflix) Bob's Burgers (Fox) The Simpsons (Fox) South Park (Comedy Central) Star Wars Rebels (Disney XD) |
| Most Bingeworthy Show | Most Exciting New Series (All Honored) |
| Outlander (Starz) Empire (Fox) Friends (NBC) Game of Thrones (HBO) Orange Is the New Black (Netflix) The Walking Dead (AMC) | Atlanta (FX) Better Things (FX) Designated Survivor (ABC) The Good Place (NBC) One Mississippi (Amazon) Pitch (Fox) This Is Us (NBC) Westworld (HBO) |
| Best Acting in a Comedy Series ||
| Best Actor | Best Actress |
| Jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman – Transparent Anthony Anderson as Andre "Dre" Johnson, Sr. – Black-ish Aziz Ansari as Dev Shah – Master of None Will Forte as Phil Miller – The Last Man on Earth Randall Park as Louis Huang – Fresh Off the Boat Fred Savage as Stewart Sanderson – The Grinder | Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Bunch – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Aya Cash as Gretchen Cutler – You're the Worst Wendi McLendon-Covey as Beverly Goldberg – The Goldbergs Gina Rodriguez as Jane Villanueva – Jane the Virgin Tracee Ellis Ross as Dr. Rainbow "Bow" Johnson – Black-ish Constance Wu as Jessica Huang – Fresh Off the Boat |
| Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress |
| Andre Braugher as Captain Raymond Holt – Brooklyn Nine-Nine Jaime Camil as Rogelio de la Vega – Jane the Virgin Jay Duplass as Joshua Pfefferman – Transparent Neil Flynn as Mike Heck – The Middle Keegan-Michael Key as Mark Rodriguez – Playing House Mel Rodriguez as Patsy De La Serda – Getting On | Mayim Bialik as Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler – The Big Bang Theory Kether Donohue as Linsay Jillian – You're the Worst Allison Janney as Bonnie Plunkett – Mom Judith Light as Shelly Pfefferman – Transparent Niecy Nash as Denise Ortley – Getting On Eden Sher as Sue Heck – The Middle |
| Best Acting in a Drama Series ||
| Best Actor | Best Actress |
| Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson – Mr. Robot Hugh Dancy as Will Graham – Hannibal Clive Owen as Dr. John W. Thackery – The Knick Liev Schreiber as Ray Donovan – Ray Donovan Justin Theroux as Kevin Garvey Jr. – The Leftovers Aden Young as Daniel Holden – Rectify | Carrie Coon as Nora Durst – The Leftovers Shiri Appleby as Rachel Goldberg – UnREAL Viola Davis as Professor Annalise Keating, Esq. – How to Get Away with Murder Eva Green as Vanessa Ives – Penny Dreadful Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon – Empire Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones – Jessica Jones |
| Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress |
| Christian Slater as Mr. Robot – Mr. Robot Clayne Crawford as Ted Talbot Jr. – Rectify Christopher Eccleston as Matt Jamison – The Leftovers André Holland as Dr. Algernon Edwards – The Knick Jonathan Jackson as Avery Barkley – Nashville Rufus Sewell as John Smith – The Man in the High Castle | Constance Zimmer as Quinn King – UnREAL Ann Dowd as Patti Levin – The Leftovers Regina King as Erika Murphy – The Leftovers Helen McCrory as Evelyn Poole – Penny Dreadful Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes – Nashville Maura Tierney as Helen Solloway – The Affair |
| Best Acting in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series ||
| Best Actor | Best Actress |
| Idris Elba as DCI John Luther – Luther Wes Bentley as Det. John Lowe – American Horror Story: Hotel Martin Clunes as Arthur Conan Doyle – Arthur & George Oscar Isaac as Nick Wasicsko – Show Me a Hero Vincent Kartheiser as William Bradford – Saints & Strangers Patrick Wilson as State Trooper Lou Solverson – Fargo | Kirsten Dunst as Peggy Blumquist – Fargo Kathy Bates as Iris – American Horror Story: Hotel Sarah Hay as Claire Robbins – Flesh and Bone Alyvia Alyn Lind as Dolly Parton – Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors Rachel McAdams as Detective Sergeant Antigone "Ani" Bezzerides – True Detective Shanice Williams as Dorothy Gale – The Wiz Live! |
| Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress |
| Jesse Plemons as Ed Blumquist – Fargo David Alan Grier as The Cowardly Lion / Farmhand #2 – The Wiz Live! Ne-Yo as Tin-Man / Farmhand #1 – The Wiz Live! Nick Offerman as Karl Weathers – Fargo Raoul Trujillo as Massasoit – Saints & Strangers Bokeem Woodbine as Mike Milligan – Fargo | Jean Smart as Floyd Gerhardt – Fargo Mary J. Blige as Wicked Witch of the West – The Wiz Live! Laura Haddock as Megan Cantor – Luther Cristin Milioti as Betsy Solverson – Fargo Sarah Paulson as Sally McKenna and Billie Dean Howard – American Horror Story: Hotel Winona Ryder as Vinni Restiano – Show Me a Hero |
| Best Guest Performing ||
| Best Guest Actor/Actress in a Comedy Series | Best Guest Actor/Actress in a Drama Series |
| Timothy Olyphant as Himself – The Grinder Ellen Burstyn as Shirley Stabler – Mom Anjelica Huston as Vicki – Transparent Cherry Jones as Leslie Mackinaw – Transparent Jenifer Lewis as Ruby Johnson – Black-ish John Slattery as Claude Dumet – Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp | Margo Martindale as Ruth Eastman – The Good Wife Richard Armitage as Francis Dolarhyde – Hannibal Justin Kirk as Joseph Bucher – MANH(A)TTAN Patti LuPone as Joan Clayton – Penny Dreadful Marisa Tomei as Mimi Whiteman – Empire BD Wong as Whiterose – Mr. Robot |
| Reality & Variety ||
| Best Structured Reality Show | Best Unstructured Reality Show |
| Shark Tank (ABC) Antiques Roadshow (PBS) Inside the Actors Studio (Bravo) MythBusters (Discovery) Project Greenlight (HBO) Undercover Boss (CBS) | Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN) Cops (Spike) Deadliest Catch (Discovery) Intervention (A&E) Naked and Afraid (Discovery) Pawn Stars (History) |
| Best Reality Show – Competition | Best Reality Show Host |
| The Voice (NBC) The Amazing Race (CBS) Chopped (Food Network) Face Off (Syfy) MasterChef Junior (Fox) Survivor (CBS) | James Lipton – Inside the Actors Studio Ted Allen – Chopped Phil Keoghan – The Amazing Race Jane Lynch – Hollywood Game Night Jeff Probst – Survivor Gordon Ramsay – Hell's Kitchen |
| Best Talk Show ||
| Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) The Graham Norton Show (BBC America) Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS) The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) ||

### Louis XIII Genius Award

Industrial Light & Magic

### Critics' Choice MVP Award

Amy Schumer

## Star Wars: The Force Awakens addition

The film Star Wars: The Force Awakens screened too late for the vast majority of the Broadcast Film Critics Association to see it in time for consideration for the awards. But after what an email to members called "an unprecedented cry out" from its membership, the BFCA's board of directors called a "special referendum" on adding the movie to the ten candidates for Best Picture, which it won. (A similar situation happened for the 6th Critics' Choice Awards in 2001, in which the film Cast Away was voted by referendum to be included among the nominees for Best Picture.) The BFCA faced immediate criticism, including from its own members, over what many saw as an attempt to increase ratings for the awards ceremony's broadcast on A&E (which, is 50% owned by Disney, the company behind Star Wars) on January 17, 2016. Two members—Eric Melin (editor-in-chief of Scene-Stealers.com, a film critic of Lawrence Journal-World, and the president of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle) and Scott Renshaw (editor of Salt Lake City Weekly)—resigned in protest.
Melin, in an open letter, wrote:
   "In order for a professional critics body to have integrity, nomination and voting guidelines must be consistent with the way they were laid out at the beginning of the process. Nominating Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Best Picture does not follow those guidelines, and re-ignites a loophole for this kind of thing to happen every year... Unlike the other nominations, this was not decided upon using a weighted ballot of all possibilities, and it smells like a desperate ploy to get better TV ratings. Additionally, your insistence on billing the Critic's Choice Awards as the 'most accurate predictor of the Academy Awards' is antithetical to the purpose of having a 'critic's choice' award at all. The awards should not serve as another TV marketing arm to the studios. Rather, it should represent the views and opinions of film critics, which is a very different group from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As film criticism continues to be devalued and the lines between journalist, critic, and studio shill continue to be blurred, the only thing we have is our integrity, and this smacks of a marketing ploy. Believe me, I know because my day job is a social media marketer. What I am not is an employee of A&E Networks, and the only thing I have as a lowly paid film critic is the courage of my convictions."
Similarly, in another open letter, Renshaw wrote:
   "This decision has been a long time coming, but was made inevitable by the decision to change the voting process to allow Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens to be included as a nominee after the official nominating deadline. Irrespective of any precedent that may be invoked... it is obvious to me that this decision is based more on its marketing value than making sure that the best films are included. If that were the case, the entire nomination process would have been opened up again to allow The Force Awakens to be considered in all categories. Any suggestion that this decision was made primarily for any reason other than to improve ratings for the awards broadcast feels disingenuous at best. An awards voting body has nothing to stand on but its integrity. I no longer feel my own personal integrity is consistent with ongoing membership in this organization."

## Films with multiple nominations and wins

The following twenty-six films received multiple nominations:
| Film | Nominations |
| Mad Max: Fury Road | 13 |
| Carol | 9 |
| The Martian | 9 |
| The Revenant | 9 |
| Spotlight | 8 |
| The Big Short | 7 |
| The Hateful Eight | 6 |
| Bridge of Spies | 5 |
| Brooklyn | 5 |
| The Danish Girl | 5 |
| Jurassic World | 5 |
| Sicario | 5 |
| Room | 4 |
| Ex Machina | 3 |
| Inside Out | 3 |
| Joy | 3 |
| Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | 3 |
| Spy | 3 |
| Steve Jobs | 3 |
| Trainwreck | 3 |
| Trumbo | 3 |
| Black Mass | 2 |
| Furious 7 | 2 |
| Love & Mercy | 2 |
| Sisters | 2 |
| Spectre | 2 |
The following five films received multiple awards:
| Film | Awards |
| Mad Max: Fury Road | 9 |
| The Big Short | 3 |
| Spotlight | 3 |
| The Revenant | 2 |
| Room | 2 |

## Television programs with multiple nominations and wins

The following programs received multiple nominations:
| Program | Network | Category | Nominations |
| Fargo | FX | Limited | 8 |
| The Leftovers | HBO | Drama | 6 |
| Transparent | Amazon | Comedy | 6 |
| The Wiz Live! | NBC | Movie | 5 |
| Black-ish | ABC | Comedy | 4 |
| Empire | Fox | Drama | 4 |
| Mr. Robot | USA | Drama | 4 |
| Penny Dreadful | Showtime | Drama | 4 |
| American Horror Story: Hotel | FX | Limited | 3 |
| Jane the Virgin | The CW | Comedy | 3 |
| The Knick | Cinemax | Drama | 3 |
| Luther | BBC America | Limited | 3 |
| Rectify | Sundance | Drama | 3 |
| Saints & Strangers | Nat Geo | Limited | 3 |
| Show Me a Hero | HBO | Limited | 3 |
| UnREAL | Lifetime | Drama | 3 |
| You're the Worst | FXX | Comedy | 3 |
| The Amazing Race | CBS | Reality – Competition | 2 |
| Chopped | Food Network | Reality – Competition | 2 |
| Fresh Off the Boat | ABC | Comedy | 2 |
| Getting On | HBO | Comedy | 2 |
| The Grinder | Fox | Comedy | 2 |
| Hannibal | NBC | Drama | 2 |
| Inside the Actors Studio | Bravo | Reality – Structured | 2 |
| The Last Man on Earth | Fox | Comedy | 2 |
| Master of None | Netflix | Comedy | 2 |
| The Middle | ABC | Comedy | 2 |
| Mom | CBS | Comedy | 2 |
| Nashville | ABC | Drama | 2 |
| Survivor | CBS | Reality – Competition | 2 |
The following programs received multiple awards:
| Program | Network | Category | Awards |
| Fargo | FX | Limited | 4 |
| Mr. Robot | USA | Drama | 3 |