Best Performance by a Coloradan in a Film

A native Denverite and devoted alumnus of East High School, actor Don Cheadle has impressed movie audiences in everything from Devil in a Blue Dress to Ocean’s Twelve. But when he starred as the quiet manager of a four-star hotel in Hotel Rwanda, last year’s troubling drama about genocide and conscience, he earned a Best Actor nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and new respect for all of his work. In the film, Cheadle’s Paul Rusesabagina sets up a haven within the hotel’s walls for Hutu and Tutsi fugitives, which keeps them safe — at least temporarily — from massacre. His compelling performance is the centerpiece of a heart-wrenching film.