The time has come to crown the best of television’s best. Before the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be held virtually on Sept. 20, Backstage is rounding up every nominee in the major acting categories with a refresher on their stellar performances, how they earned the Television Academy’s recognition, and why we couch potatoes at Backstage can’t stop thinking about them. Read on for your 2020 Emmy acting voting guide—and pick your favorites along with us!
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jason Bateman, “Ozark”
It may have taken Bateman most of his acting career to prove he can play (and direct) drama as well as he can comedy, but his performance as Marty Byrde, a financial adviser whose idyllic family life becomes a money-laundering nightmare, was worth the wait. That classic Bateman dryness provides the perfect foil for the unsettling world of “Ozark,” where middle-class banality becomes menacing.
Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”
Playing the multifaceted Randall Pearson means Emmy winner Brown gets to preach the truth, have mental breakdowns, and occasionally throw out solid one-liners that reveal his superb comedic timing. He’s created one of the most enthralling characters in TV drama. Throw in his comedy chops on “Maisel,” and the double nomination was inevitable.
Steve Carell, “The Morning Show”
An example of both brilliant casting and fearless acting, Carell’s turn as Mitch Kessler—a fictional stand-in for any number of real-life male celebrities accused of sexual assault—makes for quite the return to TV after “The Office.” Carell is once again astonishingly good at humiliating himself; but this time, given the drama’s real-life inspiration, the stakes are much higher. When Mitch gives in to his worst impulses, Carell doesn’t shy away.
Brian Cox, “Succession”
Veering from paranoid fury to schoolboy infatuation on Jesse Armstrong’s tale of the one percent, the Golden Globe–winning Cox is clearly having the time of his life in the role of his career. He plays around with the loathsome manipulations (and utterances of “Fuck off!”) of Logan Roy, old-media mogul and sadistic family patriarch, painting a detailed portrait of a man accustomed to bending the world to his will from inside the prison of his own god complex.
Billy Porter, “Pose”
Everyone on this sequined and stunning series deserves accolades aplenty, but the performance that may most lodge itself in your heart is Porter’s Emmy-winning turn as Pray Tell. With countless friends and lovers dying of AIDS, he’s entrenched in sadness and death and unimaginable fear, yet he projects infectious joy without ever coming off as saccharine. We’re finally mining the depths of this veteran theater actor’s abilities on a bigger stage.
Jeremy Strong, “Succession”
“Succession” is a story of extremes, of people flying too close to the sun and plummeting to unimaginable depths—often multiple times over the course of a single episode. Its most psychologically broken player, the driven, hardheaded Kendall Roy, may also be the most relatable character. That’s because Strong imbues this drug addict and man-child with a raw impotence underneath all his braggadocio.
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jennifer Aniston, “The Morning Show”
Aniston’s performance on Jay Carson and Kerry Ehrin’s “The Morning Show” is a fantastic return to form—and to TV. The executive producer and star of the freshman Apple TV+ series humanizes the otherwise heartless and power-hungry TV host Alex Levy without sacrificing her infectious charm and comedic timing. Even the way she almost breaks a phone by hanging it up is awardworthy.
Olivia Colman, “The Crown”
Colman completely captures Queen Elizabeth II’s stillness and composure from her very first appearance on Peter Morgan’s royal drama, now taking place in the Buckingham Palace of the 1960s and ’70s. From the accent to the posture, she smoothly executes a first-of-its-kind casting transition and quietly commands authority in each scene. She fills scripted silences with facial acting that expresses as much as a monologue.
Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”
Villanelle kills people. She’s good at it. She’s gorgeous. She’s completely heartless. (Or is she?) This jet-setting assassin challenges our every preconception of psychopaths, assembling a character who both inflicts her deeply buried suffering on others and yearns for the unexpected. As portrayed by Comer in one of today’s gutsiest small-screen performances, Villanelle subverts our expectations at every twist and turn.
Laura Linney, “Ozark”
Linney’s Wendy Byrde has gone from dissatisfied suburban housewife to money-laundering mastermind, and that sinister smile of hers proves she’s now in her element. On Season 3 of this increasingly dark Netflix drama, Linney excels at guiding us through everything on Wendy’s map: messiness, vulnerability, shrewdness, and, ultimately, devastating guilt.
Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”
Oh’s award-winning, critically hailed turn as the titular Eve Polastri reminds us why she’s so compelling to watch. We follow Eve’s ascent from disillusioned government employee to insatiable MI6 agent on the hunt, but her complicated relationship with Comer’s Villanelle proves that this cat-and-mouse story is anything but predictable. Oh’s Season 3 performance made us want to savor each and every suspenseful moment.
Zendaya, “Euphoria”
To go from Disney Channel darling to drug-addicted recluse in one fell swoop isn’t the typical trajectory for our anointed teen stars, but Zendaya’s full-bodied performance as the hoodie-clad Rue Bennett on HBO’s Gen Z series “Euphoria” has planted her firmly in the big leagues of cable prestige drama—and we should all shed a single glittering tear of joy for that.
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Nicholas Braun, “Succession”
Braun’s profoundly awkward cousin Greg has been the stuff of comedic legend from the moment he was introduced: stoned and spewing vomit from within a giant mascot costume. Since then, Braun has only upped his game, serving up a masterclass in how to make an audience cringe with vicarious awkwardness on this dark satire–meets–family drama.
Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”
Rising network executive Cory Ellison has access to everything a man could possibly want—money, drugs, women—yet none of it interests him. He is the embodiment of privileged, powerful men: always consuming, always wanting more. “Chaos! It’s the new cocaine!” he exclaims with wild-eyed glee. Crudup’s performance is so weirdly riveting, alternating between exhilarated hedonism and shark-like remorselessness, that it demands a rewatch.
Kieran Culkin, “Succession”
Roman, the so-called “fuck-knuckle” of the Roy siblings, is a limitless fountain of colorful insults. Culkin delights in slinging cutdowns so profane and seemingly off the cuff that they never feel scripted. (In many cases, he is indeed improvising.) While Culkin still feasts on the scenery on Season 2, he also peels back the wisecracking veneer to reveal the neediness and doubt that come with being the runt of the litter.
Mark Duplass, “The Morning Show”
There’s an art to playing harried: It involves a wide-eyed, tense-yet-mobile physicality, and Duplass has it down pat. Watching his daytime TV producer, Chip Black, undergoing stress so arduous that it often verges on absurd, you may end up tense with anxiety yourself. Duplass also harnesses his natural decency to subtle effect; amid all the antics Chip must deal with, you always sense his loyalty.
Giancarlo Esposito, “Better Call Saul”
Esposito brings such delicious menace to the camera frame that it sometimes feels like it can’t contain his power. Part of what makes drug lord Gus Fring on this “Breaking Bad” prequel so complex—and so terrifying—is that he’s apparently unafraid to get his hands dirty and commit violent acts effortlessly. In fact, it seems like he’s not afraid at all.
Matthew Macfadyen, “Succession”
Tom Wambsgans is a vain coward who punches down in order to soothe his imposter syndrome. That’s the character on paper, but Macfadyen manages to imbue him with such inner turmoil in the funniest blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that he’s constantly unpeeling new emotional layers. On the Season 2 finale, his walls fall completely, and you can see the true, devastating ache underneath.
Bradley Whitford, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
It seems Whitford is leaning right into the unnervingly eccentric portion of his career, and, quite frankly, who can resist? Case in point: his Emmy-winning turn as the duplicitous Commander Lawrence on “The Handmaid’s Tale.” He elicits audience sympathy, loathing, and downright shivers, all turning on the same frigid dime.
Jeffrey Wright, “Westworld”
For tips on how to make glancing over one’s glasses or brooding over a computer screen riveting, watch every moment of Wright’s performance as Bernard Lowe. Or maybe that kind of charisma can’t be taught. He exhibits his character’s intelligence and curiosity in unassuming yet wholly captivating ways, and manages to share electric chemistry with each and every one of his co-stars.
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Helena Bonham Carter, “The Crown”
Taking over the role of Princess Margaret on this returning Netflix hit, Bonham Carter makes herself the center of any room. Yet we still acutely feel the struggle of a neglected wife and sister in middle age. It’s a range of emotions that can veer into soap opera territory, but Bonham Carter maintains her humanity (and her humor) throughout.
Laura Dern, “Big Little Lies”
Part of what makes “Big Little Lies” so enthralling is its dark sense of humor, straddling the line between drama and camp. Nobody understands that better than Emmy, Golden Globe, and recently crowned Oscar winner Dern as the indomitable Renata Klein. Her tendency to drop her sweetly confident facade to spit scathing profanities at her husband or other Monterey alpha moms is downright alarming—and so much fun to watch.
Julia Garner, “Ozark”
Season 3 of Netflix’s “Ozark” finds ample opportunity to explore its morally bankrupt core cast of characters, giving an actor of Garner’s increasingly apparent skill level the juicy material she deserves. Her Emmy-winning Ruth Langmore is a survivor who’s prone to making dangerously criminal decisions, but there are always rational reasons behind them—even if Garner makes us guess what they are.
Thandie Newton, “Westworld”
Newton has long showcased killer acting chops across film and TV, but she brilliantly bests herself again and again as fabulous super-host Maeve Millay on “Westworld.” Her progression from controlled to controller in the course of the drama’s three seasons, armed with a scornful smirk and a katana, makes for one of the series’ greatest arcs.
Fiona Shaw, “Killing Eve”
Watching the terrific Shaw think and react—and, best of all, scheme—on three twisty seasons of “Killing Eve” reminds us why we love watching actors. In fact, the less she physically does, the better. Every moment that Shaw’s tense MI6 chief, Carolyn Martens, is onscreen, it’s clear that both her eager audience and her co-stars are in good hands.
Sarah Snook, “Succession
A modern-day “King Lear” with a deliciously dark sense of humor, this satire about a family running a global media empire needs characters that feel like real people. Amid all the greedy scheming, actors like Snook are responsible for reminding us, at just the right moments, that even billionaires can be vulnerable. As Shiv Roy, she walks the line between soulless and secretly thin-skinned with aplomb.
Meryl Streep, “Big Little Lies”
Even before the grief-scream heard round the world, Streep established Mary Louise Wright as one of TV’s most unmissable characters. Is she a caring mother and grandmother, rightfully curious about her son’s death? Yes. Is she a heartless, manipulative master of passive aggression whose smiles are poisonous? Also yes.
Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
This Emmy-winning star has managed to move the needle dramatically from her introduction on “The Handmaid’s Tale” to when we see her on Season 3, becoming a central figure through which we view the horrific dystopia of Gilead. Wiley is perfectly cast as Moira Strand, the rebellious friend who bends but never breaks, and has us pumping our fists in the name of feminism.
This story originally appeared in the Aug. 20 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe here.
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