Lorraine Bracco
The Sopranos
The central relationship of The Sopranos has always been doctor/patient. But the patient's life, that of mob boss Tony Soprano, has dominated the plot, while the writers have struggled to open up Dr. Jennifer Melfi's storyline over the past three seasons. Initial attempts at showing Melfi at family gatherings became opportunities for dealing with the issue of Italian stereotypes in the media. Subsequently writers explored more of Melfi's emotional life through her own sessions with her therapist-- a clever if somewhat limited set-up.
But this year Bracco was given the opportunity to really have her character take centerstage, in an episode that harshly depicted the doctor's rape and recovery. Melfi has been the shaky moral center of the show from the first, and when she considered turning to Tony Soprano to "take care of" the man who attacked her, it added a new dimension to her character without betraying what makes Melfi vital to the framework of the series in the first place. That's great writing. But it was Bracco's fearless work in this disturbingly graphic and emotionally demanding plotline that made this shift in her character's psyche work-- allowing Melfi to be seen through new eyes.
-- Scott Proudfit
For this role, Bracco was nominated for a SAG Actor Award in 2000, and won that year as a member of the Ensemble Cast. She was also nominated individually for Golden Globes in 2000, 2001, and 2002, and for Emmys in 1999, 2000, and 2001.
Stockard Channing
The West Wing
Only a seasoned pro like Stockard Channing could hope to balance the scene-stealing work of Martin Sheen. Channing appears in complete command as First Lady Abby Bartlet, relying on her trademark brassy strength only when it serves the character and not for one moment more. She projects the weariness of a woman who has already endured the long and winding road to the White House and the heart of a woman who deserves to be there.
This season thrust her into unfamiliar territory, though, as difficult realities about her husband's recurring, remitting course of multiple sclerosis-- for which she privately prescribed treatment-- became public. You get the feeling she is tough enough to weather any situation she might find herself in-- except possibly the very circumstance that has arisen. Channing's recent work provides a window into the life of a woman we have never seen before: the First Lady not merely as wife to the world's most powerful man but also as a fallible human being all but overwhelmed by the events swirling around her.
-- Jason Agard
For this role, Channing was nominated for an Emmy in 2000 and 2001.
Tyne Daly
Judging Amy
When Tyne Daly starts acting, stand back and give her room. A 30-year television vet, Daly has built a career out of playing larger-than-life women who tackle life's hardships with a brazenly indelicate approach. That's the perfect description of Maxine Gray, the widowed mother of Juvenile Court judge Amy Gray (Amy Brenneman) and a down-to-earth, no-nonsense social worker in her own right. Maxine is stalwartly devoted to her own children as well as to those she helps in her professional capacity.
Although Daly continually delivers performances of massive proportions-- her character steamrolling over anyone trying to thwart her work-- she's a skilled actress who knows when to rein it in at times. That kind of delicate balance is what we've come to expect from this five-time Emmy winner best known for her work on the '80s TV drama Cagney & Lacey. Whether tracking down criminals or standing up for troubled children, Daly's always a strikingly real person-- and usually the kind of loyal woman that many would like to be, or at least have looking out for them.
-- Diane Snyder
For this role, Daly was nominated for Emmys in 2000 and 2001.
Edie Falco
The Sopranos
As the put-upon Carmela Soprano, wife of TV's most widely respected mobster, Edie Falco has complete control of her career, if not her household. Indeed, Falco's award-winning portrayal has hit viewers in the solar plexus. We have recently witnessed Falco coming to grips with the leakage into her consciousness of being wife to a mob boss, in a powerful session with a no-nonsense therapist. Falco's unglamorous look, kitschy clothes, and ability to play a gracious hostess or the vitriolic center of an imploding family never fail to impress. When Falco gets "that look" in her eyes on the series, you know nobody, in or out of the Mafia, is going to push her around. She thus serves as an important barometer of mediated morality for the series, sometimes even more so than the role of psychiatrist Dr. Melfi, played by Lorraine Bracco (also nominated in this category). Her power on-screen still makes us wonder who's really in charge of America's most popular dysfunctional family.
-- Brad Schreiber
For this role, Falco won the SAG Actor Award in 2000 (nominated in 2001); won the Emmy in 2001 and 1999 (nominated in 2000); won the Golden Globe in 2000 (nominated in 2001 and 2002).
Lauren Graham
Gilmore Girls
Young actresses don't segue to the "mom" roles lightly, as it's a sure signal to the industry that the ingenue days, and with them probably the leading lady days, are over. But Lauren Graham's role as Lorelai, a hip single mom who is her teen daughter's problematic best friend, on WB's Gilmore Girls, is something altogether fresh and different.
In Amy Sherman-Palladino's quick-witted fantasy of mother/daughter palhood, Graham and her young co-star (Alexis Bledel) are like the leads of a screwball romantic comedy, with Graham as the free-spirited livewire and Bledel as her rock-solid foil. Indeed, with her quicksilver intelligence, occasionally bratty charm, and a sunny deadpan that evokes Carole Lombard, Graham nails the allusive, lightning-paced rhythms of the show's dialogue. But she goes further than that, delivering a moving portrait of a woman thrust into the mother role who hasn't quite graduated from the daughter role yet. That inter-generational wrinkle makes Lorelai more than your typical TV mom role. But it's Graham who makes her a true original.
-- Rob Kendt
For this role, Graham was nominated for a SAG Actor Award in 2001 and a Golden Globe in 2002.
Allison Janney
The West Wing
As White House spokesperson C.J. Cregg, Allison Janney gives us harrowing and often hilarious insight into living with one of the world's more stressful professions. She brings to the show the same kind of tension that has sustained NBC's other flagship drama, ER. Indeed, Cregg handles her pressroom with all the skill and seriousness of a surgeon.
Only rarely are any details about her personal life provided, her role leaving no room for her own life-- her function as mouthpiece for the men around her being almost all-consuming. But Janney brings a humanity to the role, hinting at a vast-- -and conflicted-- interior life. Better yet, when things go well or the pressure is off, she can cut loose with the best of them, as most memorably exemplified in her victory recitation of the rap song "The Jackal" in the show's first season. That was just a hint at the depths of character yet to be explored by Janney.
-- Jason Agard
For this role, Janney won a SAG Actor Award in 2001 and Emmys in 2000 and 2001, and was nominated for Golden Globes in 2001 and 2002.