Rhea Seehorn – “Better Call Saul”
The “Breaking Bad” spin-off “Better Call Saul” has been utterly surprising on a number of levels, but one of the more unexpected elements of it is that it’s been a stealth love story, something that you could never accuse its predecessor of being. Having stood out in every scene in the first season, Rhea Seehorn’s Kim moved to the forefront in season 2, a moral center for the show who, for so long, has kept Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) on something like the straight and narrow. She wrestles with her own conscience, and Seehorn’s gotten better and better at showing the inner turmoil inside the character, but you also utterly buy that she could be Jimmy’s redemption, if he’ll let her. That we know that she won’t makes it not just one of the most deceptively sweet relationships on TV, but also one of the most tragic.
Lena Waithe – “Master Of None”
We’re delighted that Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang’s “Master Of None” has been renewed, given that it’s one of our faves of the last year. But we hope that season 2 brings even more of Lena Waithe as Denise, one of Ansari’s character’s friends, because almost every moment she’s on screen is a highlight of the show. Waithe’s a hugely impressive polymath whose credits include writing the viral hit “Shit Black Girls Say” and producing “Dear White People,” but gets her most public role to date with “Master Of None,” her funny, frank character (based on herself, reportedly) getting all the best lines. In a show that’s done so much for visibility of minorities, Denise is one of the best elements, a rare queer women of color on screen not used for tokenism. Waithe has her own show coming, a Showtime drama, which is great news, but we hope that she’s back more than ever for a second run as Denise too.
Alison Wright – “The Americans”
We’re hoping against hope that, with an ever-greater swell of critical buzz and with some competitors out of action, that this can finally be the year when “The Americans” makes some headway with the Television Academy, because it’s the best drama on TV. And top of our list to be recognized would be Alison Wright. The British actress has been with the show since near the beginning, but moved into greater and great prominence over time as her character Martha, an FBI secretary informing on her bosses to her husband, who is really KGB officer Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys). This season saw seemingly the final act of her storyline, as she learns the truth about Philip, only to be in turn exposed and having to be flown to Moscow. What was already one of television’s most heartbreaking performances became too wrenching to bear in its final episodes: Whether or not Martha returns to the show in some form, we hope someone’s writing Wright a part of equal greatness this year.
Bokeem Woodbine – “Fargo”
It’s going to be interesting to see who gets nominated for season 2 of “Fargo.” The show was even better second time around, and had a cast that was just as good, but outside of Jean Smart, it’s slightly unclear which of its actors will end up being favored by the Academy, in part because they’re so spoiled for choice. Our vote would probably go to Bokeem Woodbine, with a career-reinventing turn that’s already landed him a big gig in the next “Spider-Man” film. The character actor veteran played Mike Milligan, a loquacious, snappy-dressed mobster from Kansas City sent to Fargo for a hostile takeover of the Gerhardt crime syndicate. Always polite and chatty, but with threat simmering quietly below the surface, he’s a man of almost naked ambition and strange likability, and Milligan makes him consistently the most watchable thing on screen. It’s a mark of the empathy he extends to the role that when he ends up with his ambitions frustrated, you feel for the guy.
Constance Zimmer – “UnREAL”
There’s something deeply pleasurable in the moments when a long-serving character actor gets the role into which they can truly sink their teeth and tear into — it’s what gave us Walter White and half of the “Game Of Thrones” performances, and it’s what finally gave us Constance Zimmer’s Quinn King on “UnREAL.” Zimmer’s worked regularly for a couple of decades, and with increasing prominence of late thanks to “House Of Cards” and “The Newsroom,” but Quinn is her masterpiece, the Machiavellian executive producer of “Bachelor”-style reality show “Everlasting.” In Zimmer’s hands, the character becomes the reality TV version of an Al Swearengen, Tywin Lannister or Frank Underwood, a corrupting villain who is nevertheless utterly compelling to watch, and strangely likable with it. Co-star Shiri Appleby is just as good, but the show’s Lifetime origins means that getting even one actor nominated will be a push, and we’d love Zimmer to be the one if it happens.
There’s lots more we could have talked about here — Kerry Bishé, who shone in the second season of “Halt & Catch Fire;” Eddie Marsan and Enzo Cilenti, both superb in the underrated “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell;” Julian Barratt and Olivia Colman in “Flowers;” John Benjamin Hickey and Michael Chernus in “Manhattan;” Andy Daly in “Review;” Kenneth Choi in “People Vs. O.J. Simpson;” Sarah Lancashire in “Happy Valley;” Juno Temple as the best thing in “Vinyl;” Claudia O’Doherty, the stand-out in “Love;” Will Forte, the best thing in “Last Man On Earth;” Billie Piper threatening to steal “Penny Dreadful” from under Eva Green; and all the “Veep” supporting cast members that won’t get nominated.
There’s also other worthy actors from some of the shows above, like Michael Angarano in “The Knick” and Elizabeth Debicki in “The Night Manager.” And those that we wrote about in this equivalent piece last year, like Melanie Lynskey in “Togetherness” and Aya Cash in “You’re The Worst,” who were both even better in the second runs of their shows, and even more deserving of awards. And of course, that’s excluding all the people whose shows aren’t yet eligible (Ruth Negga in “Preacher” will surely be on this list next year), and all the people we think will be nominated — keep an eye out for our predictions early next week. Anyone else you think should be mentioned? Let us know in the comments.
