Actor Giancarlo Esposito posted his reflections about the year 2020 on Instagram last week, and many fans are trying to match his optimism. Esposito had some big roles premiere in the last year, but he acknowledged the overwhelming losses the year brought. His post got over 72,000 likes.
“We’ve certainly had our ups and downs this year, but we always found hope and joy where we could,” Esposito wrote. “Hang onto that spirit as we embark on 2021. Much love to you all.” The actor accompanied this message with a grid of nine pictures of himself, taking part in the “Top Nine 2020” trend on Instagram. In it, users tried to pick out and highlight their top nine moments or accomplishments from the year — something that Esposito was uniquely qualified to do.
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Esposito’s grid began with a photo of actor Chadwick Boseman, whom he and many others are still mourning. It also included fan-art of Esposito, selfies, portraits, still images from his TV performances, and one picture of a smiling Esposito holding up a Funko Pop! figure of himself.
“What an inspiration,” one fan commented with a hands-raised emoji. Another added: “Best actor, in my opinion.” A third wrote: “Great roles. Happy holidays!”
Like most people working in the entertainment industry, Esposito did not do much work in 2020 itself, with coronavirus restrictions keeping film and TV sets closed or severely limited. However, he just so happened to have a slew of highly-anticipated work premiering this year, making it look like he was the busiest man in Hollywood. It didn’t hurt that many people watched more TV and movies than ever, with little else to do in social isolation.
This year, among Esposito’s work was The Mandalorian Season 2 on Disney+, where he played the villainous Moff Gideon, and The Boys Season 2 on Amazon Prime Video, where he played the villainous Stan Edgar. Keeping with this trend, he provided his voice to Harley Quinn on DC Universe, where he played Lex Luthor and DuckTales on Disney XD, where he played Phantom Blot.
Esposito was not the only one to take a look back at 2020 on social media, for better or for worse. The hashtag “Top Nine 2020” has over 241,000 posts at this writing, including many grids of selfies, scenic views, art, and other triumphs or tribulations. With the COVID-19 vaccine now in circulation, many expressed their hopes for a better year ahead.
