2004 SAG Actor Awards: Voter Guide

2004 SAG Actor Awards: Voter Guide

Dear Readers:

Back Stage and Back Stage West heard the news of this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees with great pride, as we have had the immense pleasure of speaking with so many of these honored actors, either for print or in person at our "Evening With ... " screening series during the past few months. Indeed seven out of eight of the events we presented yielded SAG Awards nominations.

We'd like to thank the following performers for sharing their experiences and opinions with our us: Kevin Bacon, Maria Bello, Emma Bolger, Sarah Bolger, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Bridges, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Paddy Considine, Peter Dinklage, Robert David Hall, Marcia Gay Harden, Sean Hayes, Patricia Heaton, Holly Hunter, Djimon Hounsou, Diane Keaton, Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Samantha Morton, Megan Mullally, Sean Penn, Diane Keaton, Tim Robbins, Doris Roberts, Tony Shalhoub, Charlize Theron, Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts, and RenZe Zellweger. More than ever, we feel connected to these awards, and we congratulate all of this year's SAG Awards nominees for their deserved recognition.

Presented in this issue is our annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Voters Guide, which includes profiles on each of the nominees in the film and television categories. For those of you who help decide the awards, we hope you find our editorial coverage insightful, and we encourage you to become as familiar with as many of these nominated performances as possible. The SAG Nominating Committee has come up with an excellent representation of the best in film and TV acting for 2003, and now it is up to you, the SAG voters, to choose the winners.

Warm regards,

Jamie Painter Young

BSW, Film and Television Editor

2004 Nominees

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

In America

In America comes as close as a film can to being perfectly cast-each actor not only seems built for his or her role but is clearly responsible for bringing to the film that quiet spark of enchantment that makes what is essentially a very dark tale feel delightful to watch. The film tells the story of a struggling Irish actor, John (Paddy Considine), and his wife, Sarah (Samantha Morton), who move to New York City with their two daughters (Sarah and Emma Bolger). Complicating their period of adjustment is the spiritual presence of a recently lost child.

In the hands of this cast-and of the director, Jim Sheridan, of course-what could easily have been a syrupy serving becomes a meticulous, sincere, and intelligent search for faith and the simple magic in life. Central to the film's charm are the two young actors and real-life sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger. Sarah shapes her character, the 11-year-old Christy, into a pensive but hopeful observer of the family goings on who captures everything on her video camera. She beautifully conveys not only her character's wide-eyed excitement at being suddenly transported to New York City, but also her subtle and growing distance from her parents' Irishness. As Christy's younger sister, Ariel, Emma Bolger brings a startling freshness and lack of self-consciousness. We are continually surprised by the truth in her performance-she is never cloying, never too cute for the film's own good.

Morton and Considine explore the challenging territory of a marriage going through a tough time yet as solid as a rock. Considine captures the quiet frustration of a man buckling under the pressure to support his family, while Morton shows us a mother's grief for her dead son in a way that feels entirely new and disarmingly honest.

As their painter neighbor, Mateo, Djimon Hounsou couples an intimidating exterior with an inner warmth that perhaps only someone facing his own mortality can exude. Yet none of these performances exist in a vacuum, and indeed one of the finer pleasures in watching this film is seeing these actors delicately react to one another. The film is made of small moments with such verisimilitude, such frankness, that we leave feeling that we have come to know this family intimately-and to love them.

-Laura Weinert

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

In The Return of the King, the stage is set for grand tragedy, giving the players from the first two films their most dramatic scenes yet and richly paying off the emotional buildup of the series. Christopher Lee's deliciously malevolent Saruman may have been relegated to the cutting-room floor, but the new addition, John Noble, commands respect as the King Lear-like Denethor, whose despair threatens to consume everyone around him. Among the sterling returning cast are Bernard Hill's gloriously stoic King Theoden, Ian McKellen's lovingly wise and no-nonsense wizard, Gandalf, and Miranda Otto's warrior maiden, Eowyn, whose death-defying showdown with the Witch King of Angmar is one of the film's highlights.

Each performer has extraordinary moments, but it's Sean Astin's Sam and Billy Boyd's Pippin who fully come into their own with unexpected bursts of heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. The moment in which Astin declares, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you," and hoists Frodo (Elijah Wood), his fading companion, onto his shoulders has audiences cheering, and Boyd's sorrowful song when Faramir (the touchingly melancholy David Wenham) rides to certain death reduces them to tears. Watching Frodo's gradual disintegration under the spell of the evil ring is wrenching, and it's a shock to see how far Wood has brought the character since the first film.

Andy Serkis' phenomenally subtle, computer-generated performance as Gollum has entered our pop culture consciousness and has prompted talk of creating new acting categories to give him his due. The titular king, played by Viggo Mortensen, displays his humanity in scenes such as that in which he pledges his final battle to Frodo. Indeed it's impossible to find a single false note among the entire ensemble. That they succeed in delivering character-driven moments amid such an epic canvas is a testament to fine acting above and beyond special effects.

-Sharon Knolle

This is "The Lord of the Rings"' third consecutive cast nomination, a first for any film trilogy.

Mystic River

Clint Eastwood's Mystic River is an ambitious and challenging film that elevates the murder mystery genre to the ranks of classic American tragedies. It will undoubtedly provide significant career boosts for its first-rate acting ensemble. The gut-wrenching material requires fully committed actors who are willing to plunge headlong into the dark recesses of its themes. As Jimmy, the character who brings the script's moral dilemmas into sharpest focus, Sean Penn is working at the top of his form. With a shady criminal past and a harrowing incident of violence that affected his group of boyhood pals, Jimmy is fighting a difficult battle to regain his peace of mind and self-respect. A new tragedy occurs, sending him into a tailspin as he struggles to do what he believes is right.

As the deeply troubled and slow-witted Dave, one of the childhood pals, Tim Robbins likewise tackles one of his most formidable acting assignments, resulting in a multifaceted performance brimming with poignancy. He was recently quoted as saying, "Dave is one of these guys who finds a way to survive and exist despite a past filled with horrific events. He's internalized his painful experience and not talked about it or dealt with it, so it has festered for years."

As Sean, another of the childhood friends, who became a homicide cop, Kevin Bacon has the most subtle role, playing it with impeccable attention to detail. Bacon so often plays thugs or unsympathetic characters that his take on this good-guy role seems a feather in his cap. As Dave's wife, Marcia Gay Harden superbly captures her character's journey from devotion to suspicion to fear. Laura Linney, as Jimmy's wife, is powerful as a strong-willed woman whose mettle is challenged when the terrifying events begin to unfold. Lawrence Fishburne offers splendid support as a hard-driving detective butting heads with Sean. This illustrious group achieves a harmonious balance that brings the heartbreaking truths behind this searing story of lost innocence and misguided revenge into painful but cathartic focus.

-Les Spindle

The Station Agent

Thomas McCarthy's funny yet touching tale about an amiable hot dog vendor, a scatty artist, and a train-obsessed little person united in solitude showcases stellar turns from actors Bobby Cannavale, Patricia Clarkson, and Peter Dinklage, respectively, and. McCarthy, who amassed an extensive list of acting credits before venturing into directing, spent three years working on the script. He manages to explore the dark facets of friendship without being dark. Perhaps part of the reason McCarthy's characters translate so favorably on-screen-aside from an ensemble of extremely talented actors-is that the players are all friends of the director.

In a recent BSW interview, McCarthy said that for those involved, working on the film was the proverbial labor of love. "Patty and the other two actors, Peter and Bobby, were involved [from] the very beginning. So we've all had this project in our lives for three years now, and it's really exciting with the success of the film thus far to share not only with great actors but also great friends. It makes the experience and the work aspect of it a hell of a lot more enjoyable." McCarthy has made a slice-of-life movie with a cast that interacts convincingly and comfortably, yet each performer has a presence that sets him or her apart. The film allows the trio's paths to cross in ways that reveal more to the audience than they do to the characters about their personal relationships and private concerns.

At the forefront is The Station Agent's desolate male protagonist, Fin, played with surprisingly subtlety and sexuality by Dinklage. Fin is a loner who moves into an old train depot and wants no contact with his neighbors. Years spent as the brunt of cruel jokes have taught him to insulate himself. Dinklage proves that he can carry a film. As the amiable vendor, Cannavale reveals a gift for funny and tender nuances. Clarkson delivers yet another attention-grabbing portrayal with a spectrum of understandable yet conflicting emotions. To McCarthy's credit, The Station Agent is a wonderfully understated film with a serene and sensible take on human behavior.

-Lori Talley

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Patricia Clarkson

The Station Agent

Thomas McCarthy created a lead role in The Station Agent, his directorial debut, specifically for Patricia Clarkson after seeing her in a play in New York. Clarkson confessed in a recent BSW interview that she was cynical, having no idea what to expect. "I was like, oh, am I going to be the mom who comes in for a couple of scenes and says, 'Hi, honey, are you OK? Oh, you're all right. OK, I'm upstairs if you need me,'" the actor recalled. "So imagine when I got the script. I was like, 'Wow.' Here is this 40-year-old woman, who is sexy but not, like, that scary predator. It's very hard to find characters for women ages 35 and on who are well-rounded. We tend to be pocketed. As women get older, we should be playing the most complex characters of our lives. And so here was that kind of complex character who also was sexy in a real way, which was quite nice."

Clarkson's performance as a loopy artist united in solitude with a gregarious snack vendor and a train-obsessed little person is most impressive for its range and restraint. Silly slapstick is followed by subtle, intimate, and utterly endearing emotional moments. Working with a relatively low profile, Clarkson has created a body of work that exemplifies clever choices and daring characterizations. No matter the role, Clarkson always commandeers the screen. At last, Hollywood is giving her the attention she's worthy of.

-Lori Talley

For this role, Clarkson won a National Society of Film Critics Award and the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize. She was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Diane Keaton

Something's Gotta Give

Diane Keaton is still the template for the modern female comedienne. Once again, she puts her wit and comedic prowess on display, catching Hollywood's undivided attention in Nancy Meyers' Something's Gotta Give just as she did nearly 25 years ago with her Oscar-winning turn in Woody Allen's Annie Hall.

Keaton is one of the most warmly idiosyncratic actors working-a distinction that has fueled her richest performances. Not surprisingly, this quality led to her being one of the first actors Meyers invited to her latest effort. Keaton has built a remarkable body of work, and, like a fine wine, she improves with age. In an ever-changing and ever-evolving industry, she still pursues acting with the idealism and vigor of someone fresh off the bus, perhaps because of her unyielding commitment to good stories.

Keaton has found another great story to tell with this romantic comedy. She is at her best playing a playwright/mother who unexpectedly falls for an aging power player at a hip-hop record label.

Over the course of the film we are constantly reminded how good she is at capturing human moments. One of the keys to Keaton's success is her love of the story's universality. "I've never gotten a role like that," said the actor in a recent BSW interview. "It's a fantastic script dealing with love when you're in your 50s. It's so sweet. It couldn't be sweeter." Meyers' collaborations with Keaton continue to produce entertaining-and inspiring-films.

-Lori Talley

For this role, Keaton won a Golden Globe and a National Board of Review Award. She was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Charlize Theron

Monster

When the first photo stills from Monster were published, no one could believe that Charlize Theron, who has been more famous for her beauty than for her acting, would gain 25 pounds and wear false teeth, brown contacts, and prosthetic makeup to become a homeless lesbian prostitute serial killer. But the physical transformation she endured for the role was not as significant as was her triumphant performance. Theron absorbs Aileen Wuornos' physicality, gestures, laid-back ease, confusion, rage, and tragic need for love.

When writer/director Patty Jenkins was looking for an actor convincing enough to portray America's most notorious female serial killer, she recognized a certain strength deep within Theron. "I find it very interesting that she, a woman, saw me that way, because I've never worked with a female director," Theron told BSW in a recent interview.

Theron's research included interviewing Wuornos' friends, reading hundreds of Wuornos' letters, and watching documentaries, 60 Minutes, A&E Biography, and Court TV tapes. "I just watched them nonstop to kind of have her be second nature to me, and I think that, with the makeup, was just a really good combination," said Theron, who also produced the film. "I'm so glad that I've entered this independent world, and [I] have been re-excited and inspired-really, truly-by somebody else's passion. My machine starts when I'm around people like that."

-Cassie Carpenter

For this role, Theron was nominated for an Academy Award and an Independent Spirit Award. She won a Golden Globe, a National Board of Review Award, and a National Society of Film Critics Award.

Naomi Watts

21 Grams

Reaching the depths of despair in almost every scene of the cathartic 21 Grams, Naomi Watts ensured her status as a powerhouse by playing Cristina, a former drug addict who copes with tremendous loss after a car accident entangles her life with those of an ex-con (Benicio Del Toro) and a dying man (Sean Penn).

To prepare for this complex, exhausting, and heart-wrenching role, Watts visited a rehab center and a grief support group. "I cried every day on the set for, like, a month or so," Watts told BSW in a recent interview. "I've experienced loss in my life, and it has definitely informed me. Losing a child is the worst pain of any kind that you can experience, physically as well as emotionally. I think that the only way Cristina knew how to live was to just be stoic and cold and cut-off, and drink, drugs, whatever-just anything to not feel."

"This was very, very tough material to deal with," the film's writer and director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, told BSW. "Any false note can be very dangerous for the whole story, so I knew I needed the best actors in the world. [Naomi's] range, her skills, and her talent were so shining and obvious-shouting, literally, in Mulhol-land Drive and Ellie Parker-that I thought that she could do whatever. She's Miss Range. She can give you [a performance] several times as honest as the first one without fear, and that is hard to find these days."

-Cassie Carpenter

For this role, Watts won a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award and a Venice Film Festival Audience Award. She was nominated for an Academy Award.

Evan Rachel Wood

thirteen

Fans of the ABC series Once and Again knew that Evan Rachel Wood was a great child actor, but who could have predicted how disturbingly powerful her performance would be in thirteen, in which she plays Tracy, a good girl who goes off the deep end when befriended by the coolest girl in her class? Wood's work is brutally honest and painful to watch: We feel Tracy's pain as she sinks deeper into the seductions of drugs, sex, an eating disorder, and self-mutilation.

Wood, now 16, has said she could relate to her troubled character even though she's had a relatively smooth transition from child to teenager. "I had a great childhood," she said. "When I was 12, it changed really quickly, and I got a bit lost for a while. Everyone has to go through it, I guess. You have to know what's really bad so you know what's really good... and I've seen at very close hand how someone can go on drugs and hit rock bottom, so I was scared out of that at a really young age."

Wood's director, Catherine Hardwicke, was awestruck by Wood's abilities. Said Hardwicke, "She's very quiet, she keeps to herself on set, but when she starts to act, it just beams out of her. It's incredible. And when you realize that she's in every scene of the movie, so she's on for every minute for 24 days consecutively, and that one day she had to do 13 different scenes, ... it was 115 degrees; everything was against her... and Evan never complained. She always delivered."

-Jamie Painter Young

For this role, Wood was nominated for a Golden Globe.

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Johnny Depp

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Johnny Depp has spent most of his career trying to get people to ignore his chiseled jaw and smoky brown eyes, but it wasn't until he took the part of Captain Jack Sparrow that critics and audiences finally took notice of his incredible talent.

Depp could have easily played this one straight-the role was simple, the budget huge. All he had to do was say, "Yo, ho, ho," a few times, bring home a hefty paycheck, and return to the art house. Instead he created a pirate unlike any actor had before: a monosyllabic, slightly fey amalgam of Keith Richards and RuPaul. His creation proves that if an actor puts the time, effort, and research into a role-no matter what the part-the results can be amazing. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is cross-promotion at its most blatant. After all, what could be more marketable than one of Disney's most popular theme park attractions? But there has never been a pirate-or a character, for that matter-like this in any movie before. Because the performance is consistent and because Depp never makes light of the character, his pirate is sincere. It has been a long time since the role of a good-natured scoundrel has been embraced so decadently, so bewilderingly, and so enjoyably.

-Pamela Bock

For this role, Depp was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.

Peter Dinklage

The Station Agent

It's no secret that a little person who pursues acting may find himself or herself short of roles. But every 20 years or so, an actor in a film changes perceptions of what such a performer is capable of. First it was Michael Dunn in Ship of Fools, and then it was Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously. Now it's Peter Dinklage in The Station Agent. This story of three lonely people (Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, and Bobby Cannavale) who form an unlikely friendship gave Dinklage a rare chance as a dramatic leading man.

"Initially I don't think [writer/director Tom McCarthy] wrote it for me as a dwarf," Dinklage told BSW. "But he was curious about how [Dinklage's character] Fin deals with society, and he got thinking that this character's sort of a loner. So he incorporated dwarfism with that. It's not a personal story of mine. I'm very ... not that character. But he would take things I've dealt with on a day-to-day basis, and he would incorporate that into the story."

Dinklage's portrayal of Fin, a reclusive train enthusiast, won over audiences by bringing unspoken situations involving little people front and center without stooping to movie-of-the-week sappiness. In the film, Fin slowly lets down his guard and rediscovers what life is really about: true friendship. "There were a lot of questions about whether this guy can pull it off," McCarthy told MSNBC. "He was, like, a secret weapon, because I knew how good he was. His performance is so understated." Dinklage's performance may have been understated, but Hollywood's response has resonated loud and clear: This guy has immense talent.

-Cassie Carpenter

For this role, Dinklage was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and nominated in SAG's ensemble category.

Ben Kingsley

House of Sand and Fog

Ben Kingsley has given a lifetime of the big screen's most gifted performances. He has played the beatified, from his Oscar-winning portrayal of Gandhi to his hard-working clerk in Schindler's List. He has played the mercilessness, including his turns in Sexy Beast and Death and the Maiden. He has played the brilliant and the beleaguered, in Searching for Bobby Fischer and Dave, respectively.

But his work in House of Sand and Fog tops each of these performances. Here he chisels each of these facets, sculpting one glorious imperfect soul. He plays Massoud Amir Behrani, a former officer in the Iranian military and a man of wealth who moved to America, where no one can pronounce his name and where he spends his days doing roadside cleanup and his nights manning a service station, trying to protect his Iranian wealth without letting anyone know-particularly his family. Because Kingsley's every word and gesture is specific, real, and powerful, we accept the actor as a leader, a laborer, an abusive spouse, and a kind-hearted rescuer.

When he is finally able to purchase a home, Behrani uses near-military tactics to protect his ownership. Kingsley's steely spine tightens when the nest is threatened. He plays pride with moist eyes; he plays anger with a soft inhalation. Two or three simultaneous emotions are never enough for Kingsley; he stirs many layers together and then calibrates the whole to suit the moment.

And should he accept his award he'll undoubtedly thank his co-star, Shohreh Aghdashloo, who plays Behrani's wife, Nadi. When Nadi pours her tenderness over him, the melting crackle of her warmth on his glassiness shatters the audience.

-Dany Margolies

For this role, Kingsley was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and an Independent Spirit Award.

Bill Murray

Lost in Translation

It is hard to think of a screen performance that captures the weight, the disappointment, and the jaded weariness of late middle age more subtly than Bill Murray's turn in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation. For Murray, this is the performance of a career, proving not only how wide a range he has developed but also how fine a touch. Unlike most award-baiting performances, this one does not tend toward emotional extremes, but it keeps Murray flexing his acting chops in the middle regions of human experience. It is a performance that consequently demands highly refined modulations of tone and expression rather than mere emotional volume or obvious anguish. Murray is more than up to the task, neither tilting toward caricature for laughs nor merely offering the blank screen of his weather-beaten face for us to project upon it what we will.

He plays Bob Harris, an aging American movie star who takes a gig in Tokyo making commercials for Suntory whisky to pick up some cash. Watching him at "work," we get flickering reminders of Murray as a brilliant comic actor-we see how carefully he reacts to his director's demands to repeat the same ad-speak again and again. He offers tragicomic glimpses of frustration both with the idiocy of the task at hand and with his life in general. Murray's gentleness with this performance also allows a rich and unclassifiable relationship to develop with his friend, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). Seldom has the experience of watching two strangers come to know each other felt as emotionally precise or as rich.

-Laura Weinert

For this role, Murray won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award and an Independent Spirit Award. He has already won the best actor award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Circle.

Sean Penn

Mystic River

While Mystic River fits the gloom-and-doom mode that seems to prevail in this year's awards season fare, there could be sunny things in store for Sean Penn. Major awards recognition, including that ever-elusive Oscar, seems long overdue for him, and there are indications this might be his year. Clint Eastwood's searing American tragedy has given Penn one of the strongest roles of his career, and this consummate actor rises to the occasion with a mesmerizing performance that seems the heart and soul of the film, notwithstanding the masterful work of the entire cast. Penn plays Jimmy, an ex-con in Boston struggling to find redemption for past mistakes and make amends to himself and his family. Contributing to his emotional fog is an appalling act of violence that robbed Jimmy and his two boyhood friends of their youthful innocence. A new act of heinous violence occurs involving Jimmy's daughter, setting in motion a tangled web of misplaced revenge. Penn's portrait of a man drowning in his thirst for moral and emotional salvation is exquisitely layered, allowing us to pity him at times and revile him at others. The character's intense pain is palpable in Penn's devastating portrayal, which drives home Eastwood's themes of lost innocence and the lingering effects of evil deeds. Though Penn is only in his mid-40s, there's a sense that he has already amassed a formidable legacy of work. The awards he's likely to win for this performance could send notice that his remarkable career has more high places to go.

-Les Spindle

For this role, Penn won a Golden Globe and awards from the National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics. He was also nominated for an Academy Award and in SAG's ensemble category.

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Maria Bello

The Cooler

Let's face it; most movies made in the vein of The Cooler don't tend to offer great parts for women. In a noirish drama set in Las Vegas and populated by violent and cruel individuals, a female character would normally be little more than arm candy. While credit must be paid to writer/director Wayne Kramer for crafting leading character Natalie Belisario, the jaded cocktail waitress who takes a gamble on love, it's thrilling to see the SAG Awards recognize the actor who brought her to life.

Maria Bello is undoubtedly stunning, and her cool looks have been played to great effect in films such as Coyote Ugly and Payback. But her portrayal of Natalie is like nothing she's done before-or, rather, been allowed to do. "As soon as I read it, I knew I had to do it," Bello told BSW. "It's so rare to get a script where all the main characters are so well written and have such intricate and important journeys-especially the woman's role."

Surprisingly, Bello was not initially a prime contender for the role and had to fight to win it. She rewarded the filmmakers with a sensitive, nuanced performance that makes the heart of the movie. It's a rewarding experience for audience and actor alike. As Bello said, "There was something about her sheer hopelessness, and by loving someone else and showing someone all of the broken pieces, she learns to fall in love with herself, and I loved that journey."

-Jenelle Riley

For this role, Bello was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Keisha Castle-Hughes

Whale Rider

Some actors spend years amassing a resumZ of minor roles before breaking into the big leagues. Keisha Castle-Hughes, however, took a different route. At 11, she made her acting debut with a plum leading part in Whale Rider, an invigorating crowd-pleaser and festival favorite. She plays Pai, a young Maori girl who longs to prove to her grandfather that she is meant to lead her tribe. Though there is an excellent supporting cast of adult characters, the emotional heft of the film rests on Castle-Hughes' slight shoulders-a story such as this demands a young actor without pretension or preciousness.

Luckily, Castle-Hughes is exactly that. Her Pai is beguiling and plucky, free of the precocious ticks that occasionally infect young actors. Her emotional moments are subtle, never forced, and Castle-Hughes is remarkable in her restraint. When Pai finally breaks down, tearfully delivering a speech that conveys all of her longing and frustration, it's a moment of quiet heartbreak-and it works thanks to the emotional honesty of the film's young star.

This may be the first we've heard of Castle-Hughes, but with this role under her belt, we can be assured that it most certainly won't be the last.

-Sarah Kuhn

For this role, Castle-Hughes won a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a Chicago Film Critics Association Award. She was also nominated for an Academy Award in the leading actress category.

Patricia Clarkson

Pieces of April

"Patricia Clarkson is one of my favorite actors in the world, bar none," said Peter Hedges in a BSW interview. He sent her his script for Pieces of April, which she immediately responded to. It's no surprise that Clarkson's focused portrayal in April garnered her a fourth SAG nomination. Her triple nomination this year, for two different films, isn't that surprising, either. In each film she plays a markedly different kind of mother. In The Station Agent she is a woman grieving the loss of her son; in April she is a domineering, repressed cancer victim who has never had a good relationship with her eldest daughter. The complaint that there aren't enough roles for serious female performers of a certain age is perennial. So it's particularly gratifying that in this special effects-heavy, less character-driven moviemaking period, Clarkson is doing some of her best work.

Although she is something of a chameleon, Clarkson didn't radically alter her appearance for April, but nevertheless she disappears completely into her character. Here she deftly pulls off another complex screen role-one that is delicately beautiful, enjoyably broad, and gloriously bold-thanks to a daring but effective strategy that has become her working ethic: going for roles that, as she told BSW, "are going to challenge me." She has become one of Hollywood's best leading ladies. "As an actor, there is a certain point where you are going to repeat yourself," she said. "You can only change so much. But I am looking for diversity and parts that challenge me."

-Lori Talley

For this role, Clarkson was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and an Independent Spirit Award, and she won a National Board of Review Award, a National Society of Film Critics Award, and the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize. She was also nominated this year for a SAG Actor in the lead and ensemble categories for "The Station Agent."

Holly Hunter

thirteen

Holly Hunter believed in thirteen, the feature project by first-time writer/director Catherine Hardwicke, so strongly that she signed on as an executive producer in addition to playing the supporting role in the film. Co-written by then 13-year-old Nikki Reed, who also makes her acting debut in the film, thirteen depicts the increasingly turbulent life of a teenage girl, played by Rachel Evan Wood. Hunter expertly portrays Wood's mother, Melanie, a recovering alcoholic and caring but frazzled parent who, in battling her own demons, temporarily loses sight of her child's downward spiral.

Hunter told BSW, "The thing that initially galvanized me and attracts me to the script still was the [idea] of two people living under the same roof and not knowing each other to a profound degree and how easily that happens, how inconsequential the lapses seem at the time, and then they accrue, and the culmination is this huge chasm that exists between the two of you even though you live together. [My character] has raised this child and loves this child more than anyone other than her brother. The love is enormous, and, still, they're strangers. I can relate to that even though I have no children. I think that the experience that's portrayed is purely a human one that kind of transcends age relations. I mean, I don't think one person truly knows [another], and even I can't fully know myself. I can not fully unravel the tangles that exist in me, much less someone else." Hunter may not know herself, but audiences know that she is a consistently strong actor who gives everything she has to this performance.

-Jamie Painter Young

For this role, Hunter was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

RenZe Zellweger

Cold Mountain

For the first hour of Cold Mountain, the audience watches as would-be lovers Jude Law and Nicole Kidman pine longingly for each other while separated by the Civil War. Disaster and grief are commonplace, and tragedy is everywhere. How refreshing, then, when RenZe Zellweger stomps onto the scene as Ruby Thewes, the no-holds-barred farmhand who snaps Kidman out of her mournful repose. Her effect on the audience is similar; Zellweger provides a welcome reprieve from the drama as she tosses out one-liners worthy of Bridget Jones.

Kidman's Ada and Zellweger's Ruby blossom around each other, and theirs is the true love story of Cold Mountain-so much so that one almost doesn't care whether Law makes it back. Ruby is rowdy but nurturing, the kind of woman we'd want to drink a beer with and then have read us a bedtime story. And just as Ruby begins to verge on caricature, Zellweger allows us to see her softer side when she encounters her worthless father (Brendan Gleeson) and a tentative suitor (Jack White).

Zellweger fell in love with the book Cold Mountain years ago and knew she wanted to be involved in the project. "From cultural aspects to the landscape to the idiosyncrasies of these characters who come from these backgrounds, I just understood it," Zellweger told BSW. No one who has seen her interpretation would argue otherwise.

-Jenelle Riley

For this role, Zellweger was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a Golden Globe.

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Alec Baldwin

The Cooler

It's so good to have Alec Baldwin back. Anyone who caught the actor's phenomenal work in films such as Glengarry Glen Ross and State and Main knew there was more to the eldest Baldwin than tabloid headlines and recent B-movies would have us believe.

The early promise that the husky-voiced star displayed in roles such as The Hunt for Red October seemed squandered in recent years as Baldwin showed up in film after film that was, frankly, beneath him. He has always been hard to categorize-too edgy to be a conventional leading man, too explosive to be relegated to the background-but in The Cooler he finally landed a role that fed off his intense charisma.

In a turn that co-star Maria Bello aptly described as "Glengarry times 10," Baldwin burns up the screen as Shelly Kaplow, the boss of a fading casino. Kaplow could have been just another Las Vegas tough guy with a vile streak, but in Baldwin's hands, we almost pity the poor wretch, even when he's breaking kneecaps and murdering his headliner.

Sure, he may bully and abuse his employee, a sad sack played by William H. Macy, but it's an act of desperation for this lonely, complex man. And when Baldwin shows Shelly's fleeting moments of heart, it makes his brutality that much more shocking. In a city where no one comes out a clear winner, Shelly ends up being the biggest loser of all. It's a testament to Baldwin that we care so much.

-Jenelle Riley

For this role, Baldwin won the National Board of Review Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

Chris Cooper

Seabiscuit

There's nothing flashy about "Silent" Tom Smith, an outdated cowboy and horse breaker, who goes on to become Seabiscuit's trainer. Next to Jeff Bridges' portrayal of the bombastic millionaire Charles Howard, and the fiery grit of Tobey Maguire's Red Pollard, it would have been easy for Chris Cooper's Smith to get lost in the shuffle. Instead, Cooper delivers a quiet and electric performance that is both subtle and memorable. In interviews, Cooper often talks about the choices he made with his voice. By adding a highly pitched softness to it, he hoped to show Smith's sensitivity to animals and relationship to nature. It works. Cooper's Smith is rugged and sturdy, but there is a peaceful vulnerability to him, an added dimension to the role that saves Smith from simply being a stock character.

Cooper told BSW in a 2002 interview, "The homework and using your imagination is so important. What was this character like as a child? What made him what he is now, today, in this scene? It may sound like nonsense to people, but it's essential to fill out your character. And the viewer may not ever perceive 85 percent of the work that's gone with you inside or the work you've done on the character. But when it works, when it's all working in scene work-and it doesn't happen often, but when it does, you know it-it's just like walking on clouds. You were into this character. You were in the moment."

-Pamela Bock

For this role, Cooper was also nominated in the SAG ensemble category.

Benicio Del Toro

21 Grams

What distinguishes Benicio Del Toro as a great actor might just be his fearlessness-his willingness to walk straight to the edge of human sanity and fix an unflinching gaze on the rocks below. Alejandro Gonz?lez I??rritu's suffering-obsessed 21 Grams is the perfect fit for an actor such as he. Indeed, it demands one.

Del Toro plays Jack, a truck driver involved in a fatal accident who has become so tortured by guilt that we believe he is living in his own version of Dante's Inferno. One by one, the expressions on Del Toro's face begin to give us an alarmingly clear picture of what unresolved self-hatred looks like.

Having achieved a feeble grasp on sobriety, Jack has turned himself over to God for salvation in a desperate and somewhat manic attempt to continue living. But as Del Toro shows us, he is not really among the living anymore-rather, he roams the earth like a zombie. In a less skilled actor's hands, it might become tedious to watch the undead wander about and waste away. But Del Toro turns anguish into an art, tapping straight into a vein of ugly, unruly emotions. When Del Toro points at his head and shouts, "This is hell, right here!" it is hard to imagine that anyone would argue.

-Laura Weinert

For this role, Del Toro was nominated for an Academy Award.

Tim Robbins

Mystic River

Tim Robbins may stand nearly 6-foot-5, but we'd never know it from his performance in Mystic River. As Dave Boyle, the adult victim of an unspeakable crime in his childhood, Robbins seems to shrink before the audience's eyes. In many ways he is still a lost and frightened child, haunted by his past and doomed to a cycle of violence he can't escape. Dave has lived his entire life in the same Boston neighborhood, and Robbins perfectly embodies the rhythms and mannerisms of a long-time townie who has resigned himself to a life less ordinary.

No one questions Robbins' versatility-he suffered beautifully in The Shawshank Redemption, oozed snaky charm in The Player, and flaunted his comedic timing in High Fidelity. But rarely has Robbins been seen as a victim or even a victimizer, something he balances perfectly in Mystic River. Dave may or may not be a murderer, but even when his guilt is in question, the audience's sympathy is not. With his downcast eyes, drooping shoulders, and quiet speech, Robbins is absolutely mesmerizing. He may be nominated in the supporting category, but it is his performance that grounds the movie, and it's his character that sets a series of cataclysmic events into motion. Long after the credits have faded, our hearts are still breaking for the little boy who was forced to grow up far too quickly.

-Jenelle Riley

For this role, Robbins won a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a Golden Globe. He was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Ken Watanabe

The Last Samurai

As Katsumoto, the enigmatic leader of a proud, disciplined, but endangered breed of Japanese warriors in The Last Samurai, Ken Watanabe gives a Zen-like performance that balances strength with fragility and brutality with compassion. Tom Cruise may be the star of the film, but Watanabe is its soul. Said Cruise of his co-star, "Ken gave such depth and dignity to Katsumoto that you can feel his spirituality and the weight and responsibility that the character is carrying for his people, for his heritage, for his ancestors."

According to the film's director, Ed Zwick, Katsumoto was the most difficult role in the film to cast, and not until late into the process did he find Watanabe. "I saw many wonderful actors," said Zwick, "but none measured up to the Katsumoto of my imagination. It wasn't until the eleventh hour that our Katsumoto walked in. It took all of two minutes for me to realize I was in the imposing presence of someone with the strength to play Katsumoto. Of course, at the time I had no way of knowing just how warm, intuitive, and inventive an actor he was."

Watanabe has starred in dozens of films and TV series in Japan, including Tampopo, and he seems born to play this physically and emotionally demanding part. Although the actor had portrayed numerous samurai characters before, he had never been called upon to perform in English, adding yet another challenge. Says the actor, "It was difficult, because the Japanese-especially the samurai-in Japanese movies speak without changing their expressions or attitude. But I like to act with a variety of Japanese dialects, so I tried to think of English as just another dialect as well." One thing's for sure: Watanabe is not just another actor.

-Jamie Painter Young

For this role, Watanabe was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

Television

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Everybody Loves Raymond

What a relief to step out of our own family lives and into the world of the Barones. Universal and surprising, the show has captivated cross-generational audiences. But the performances, individually and as an ensemble, have more than captivated the acting community. To the outside world, Raymond (Ray Romano) is a successful sports writer, but we see him as a punching bag. Raymond's wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), is perfectly levelheaded; Ray would be, too, if only his family would let him. Ray's mother (Doris Roberts) can't help but interfere; his father (Peter Boyle) can't be bothered except to protect his rights as the family patriarch. Raymond's brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), gets his licks in wherever possible, fueled by deliciously comedic jealousy. Because the family likes to gather in Ray's living room, we get to watch this dynamic ensemble of actors freshly and expertly interact time and again.

It's the paradoxes each actor finds in his or her character that focus the work. Romano pairs naivetZ with a confidence that his way is right-if only someone would listen. Heaton pairs lightheartedness with intransigence. Garrett matches childlike insecurity with age-old craftiness. Roberts finds the honesty in Marie and uses it humorously to buffer what would otherwise be intolerable cruelty. And Boyle is the master of the thick-skinned victim.

Each actor underplays, trusting us to catch nuances. Every performance is carefully calibrated, perfectly balanced among the ensemble. And let's not forget the Barone kids, played with naturalness and an increasingly sophisticated humor by Madylin, Sweetyn, and Sullivan Sweetyn.

Doris Roberts told BSW, "We come prepared, we're not wasting any time, and we all have lives to go back to. And we do our jobs expertly well, then go on and have our own life. And the best thing is, we not only like each and that's not bull, we trust each other. And that's a very special thing." So is this ensemble.

-Dany Margolies

The ensemble won SAG Actors in 2003 and was nominated in 1999, 2000, and 2002.

Frasier

Is there any question that Frasier's legacy will hold its own against that of Cheers, its parent sitcom? Although the bar-based romp that gave us the Frasier Crane character is considered one of the best TV comedies ever, Frasier will end its 11th and, sadly, final season as a classic show in its own right-and one that matched Cheers in both longevity and quality.

2004 marks Kelsey Grammer's 20th year as Dr. Frasier Crane, a run that ties him with Gunsmoke's James Arness for the longest stint playing a single primetime character. As May's final episode approaches, we continue to guess whom Frasier might end up with romantically, and Grammer maintains the role's richness as Frasier encounters life struggles such as his uncertainty over whether to father another child with Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) and his wobbly return to the world of private-practice psychiatry.

The last two seasons have particularly allowed David Hyde Pierce as brother Niles and Jane Leeves as his wife Daphne to spread their wings. Niles' ex-wife, Maris, is on trial for murder, which inspires more in him than the occasional breakdown, while Daphne has had to cope with both her overbearing live-in mother and her own impending motherhood. John Mahoney's Martin has also steadily evolved into more than just the crotchety Crane patriarch, and Peri Gilpin has winningly demonstrated how deeply her Roz cares for Frasier, be it romantic love or not.

Yes, there's always syndication, but still, the cast of Frasier will be deeply missed.

-Mike Moore

This ensemble won SAG Actors in 2000 and has been nominated every year since 1995.

Friends

After 10 years together, the Friends cast works with impeccable timing, like a well-oiled machine. And if the cast is tiring of the soon-to-end show, they're not showing it where it counts. Over the past season Jennifer Aniston still seemed to be hitting her comic stride as Rachel, a new mother dealing with back-to-work issues, sorting out her feelings for her ex-flame Ross (David Schwimmer), and almost immediately thinking better of her brief flirtation with Joey (Matt LeBlanc). Joey and Ross's rivalry over a hot paleontologist (Aisha Tyler) and over Rachel was a wealth of comic miscommunication, hurt feelings, and noble intentions, played out beautifully, as ever, by Schwimmer and LeBlanc.

Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry, who gamely made the most of some very dead-end subplots in recent years-such as Chandler's addiction to bubble baths and Monica's frizzy hair while on vacation in Barbados-have finally been dealt a better hand with their failed attempts to have a baby. Their misadventures included fertility testing, searching for a sperm donor, and finally deciding to adopt. Schwimmer mined Ross's neuroses in dealing with being mugged and finding out just how unpopular he was in college after Chandler jokingly declared him dead on their website. And LeBlanc got maximum mileage from Joey's run-ins with a pompous director (Jeff Goldblum) and a very bad eyebrow-waxing job. Phoebe's back-and-forth with now-fiancZ Mike (Paul Rudd) took Lisa Kudrow off the sidelines, where she's often been merely a commentator on the wacky behavior of the others.

The knowledge that only half a season remains (although LeBlanc will continue as Joey on NBC's spinoff series next year) adds poignancy to these final episodes. And if ever a group could make us smile through our tears, it's this one.

-Sharon Knolle

This ensemble won SAG Actors in 1996. This is their fifth consecutive nomination since 1999 and sixth total.

Sex and the City

The sixth season of the increasingly less sexy and more serious-minded HBO staple continued its format of questioning of society's double standards, dealing with singles versus non-singles, notches on the bedpost, and of course naughty dinner conversation among four good friends.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie struggles to maintain her relationship with the less successful writer Jack Berger (Ron Livingston), which later ends anticlimactically with a "Dear John" Post-it note. The season ends as she begins dating an older Russian artist. Cynthia Nixon's Miranda sacrifices more office hours for her baby and engages in brief affairs with TiVO and her neighbor but ultimately realizes that she's in love with her baby's father, Steve Brady (David Eigenberg).

Kristin Davis' Charlotte converts to Judaism to marry Harry Goldenblatt (Evan Handler), and although her second trip down the aisle turns out to be a clumsy one, Carrie reminds her that her "perfect wedding" to Trey MacDougal (Kyle MacLachlan) was the start of a flawed relationship. The newlyweds' attempts to start a family end sadly in a miscarriage. Kim Cattrall's Samantha goes from role-playing with a waiter/actor hunk to forming a reluctant relationship. But she is still holding back, hiding her true feelings with the PR skills. In one of the season's only outrageous moments, Samantha finds herself with an unfortunate "Bozo bush" after she tries to color her gray pubic hair.

The sixth season was a return to dating, but with more reality and baggage than there had been before. The silly one-night stands that set the show aflame are nearly gone now because the girls have grown up and come full circle. The superb actors who compose this ensemble offer an effortless banter as they continue to hold up a mirror to the viewership-an audience that now cozies up with a sad awareness that the end has begun for a great TV series.

-Cassie Carpenter

This ensemble won SAG Actors in 2002 and was nominated in 2001 and 2003.

Will & Grace

When it premiered in 1998, this series introduced revolutionary themes in its depiction of a tense but very close relationship between a gay man and a straight woman, offering an intriguing and enlightening look at the boundaries of close platonic relationships. This superbly written show has a slick sitcom veneer but offers razor-sharp insights in an era of rapidly changing social values. In exploring the thin line between platonic and romantic love between a man and a woman, the scripts challenge age-old beliefs. It takes a special breed of actor to walk a tightrope between sitcom yuks and groundbreaking social commentary, and the sublime Will & Grace players perform the feat with flying colors.

The show's rock-solid anchor is Eric McCormack as Will, a gay lawyer and a beacon of sanity among the neurotic types surrounding him. Though Will is among the most eligible bachelors around (at least among gay bachelors), he is by no means perfect. McCormack can be charming and sardonic at the same time and has that rare ability to make sitcom wisecracks sound like real human speech. Debra Messing plays Will's best pal and former roommate, Grace, as more spoiled and immature. But Messing has a knack for showing Grace's soft center just when we're about to decide she has a heart of steel. As Will's flamboyantly gay pal, Jack, Sean Hayes avoids stridency, miraculously coming across as likeable in the face of rampant camping. And as Grace's loopy business associate, Karen, Megan Mullally has an inspired way with a deadpan zinger.

Regarding the group's string of SAG nominations in recent years, Hayes recently said, "It means more to me than pretty much anything else-that you get a pat on the back from the people who know what they're talking about." As quick-witted Jack would undoubtedly add, "Critics are instructed to ignore that last remark."

-Les Spindle

This ensemble won SAG Actors in 2001 and 2003 and was nominated in 2002.

Television

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

As usual the personal lives of our intrepid CSIs took a back seat to the high-tech gadgets and grisly murder scenes, but their cases had a way of bleeding over into the personal this year. While conducting a murder investigation at the end of the third season, Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) was rocked to discover through DNA evidence that her prime murder suspect is not only her father's best friend but also her biological parent. The fourth season finds her deciding to take money from him, but only for her daughter's sake. Through her tough professional exterior, Helgenberger shows us flashes of compassion. As workaholic Sara Sidle, Jorja Fox was able to demonstrate more than forehead-furrowing and intuitive insights this year when her character's paramedic boyfriend was in a car accident and she found out that she was not the only woman in his life. A possible office romance between Sidle and her boss, Gil Grissom (the always wonderfully low-key William Petersen), was sidelined by Grissom, and the resulting awkwardness between the two was nicely played.

Adding to the work tension is the rivalry between Sidle and Nick Stokes (George Eads) over a promotion, not to mention their both resenting Catherine for taking over a high-profile case in one episode. Gary Dourdan, whose character, Warrick Brown, dealt with his gambling problem in past seasons, crossed a line after a small child was killed in a drive-by shooting. In his relentless pursuit of the killer, he told the child's father whom he suspected, and was promptly taken off the case.

Personal pitfalls for Nick this year included talking out of turn about a suspect and seeing that information turn up in the newspaper, compromising his case. The lab rat Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) was promoted to field cases and continued his hopeless crush on Sara. Providing able supporting work as always are Paul Guilfoyle as Capt. Jim Brass and Robert David Hall as the coroner Dr. Al Robbins.

-Sharon Knolle

This ensemble was previously nominated for SAG Actors in 2003 and 2002.

Law & Order

For most shows, cast changes are tricky-a major move that can make or break the delicate chemistry of an ensemble. For the ever-durable Law & Order, however, such changes are old hat, and one of the chief pleasures of the series is watching seasoned veterans mix with newer recruits. Somehow L & O always gets the chemistry exactly right. Though there are no new cast members this season, the current lineup has settled into the roles, making the series even more of a pleasure.

As Detective Lennie Briscoe, Jerry Orbach remains the most comfortable and lovable of TV cops. Orbach is currently L & O's longest-running cast member, having played the curmudgeonly Lennie for more than a decade. Even after all these years, he still brings an unmistakable charm to the role. Jesse L. Martin, who plays Detective Eddie Green, can finally claim the status of L & O veteran, having served on the series for almost five seasons. The chemistry between Briscoe and Green took some time to percolate, but in the current season it feels easy and natural. As their boss, S. Epatha Merkerson keeps them in line, radiating a sense of quiet control.

On the DA's side, Sam Waterston continues to project a feisty, irascible presence as Jack McCoy, who hasn't lost his energy and passion over the years. Meanwhile, as ADA Serena Southerlyn, Elisabeth Rohm seems more assured and confident in her third season. Rounding out the trio, Fred Dalton Thompson's Arthur Branch took the DA's chair with panache last season, and the actor seems poised for a long and fruitful run on the series.

Even though the cases they investigate and prosecute continue to be twisty, tricky, and occasionally outlandish, L & O's polished ensemble guarantees that each turn will be immensely watchable. Indeed, with the show's predilection for cast changes, we're hoping that this lineup will stick around for a while.

-Sarah Kuhn

This often-changing ensemble was nominated in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002.

Six Feet Under

With each new season, the cast of Six Feet Under gets more and more dramatic dirt to dig. This season brought the disappearance of Lili Taylor's Lisa, the sudden marriage of Frances Conroy's Ruth, and a baby aborted by Lauren Ambrose's Claire. Still, as the Fisher clan struggles through intense plot developments, Six Feet never feels overly manipulated. The actions and events have always been less significant than the relationships between the members of this complicated family, which is the heart of the show. All the plotlines and developments, from the mundane to the major, simply add layers to the Fishers' dysfunction.

With each season, Six Feet relies more and more on Peter Krause's Nate to act as its center. In the first episode of the third season, Nate momentarily dies on the operating table during brain surgery. His vision of the future colors his decisions, and Nate vows to lead a more chaste life, marrying Lisa and caring for his infant daughter. Nate and Lisa's union, though difficult to watch, was a subtle and accurate depiction of a marriage gone wrong. The seemingly inconsequential sacrifices made by Nate to appease Lisa's insecurities altered him drastically. No TV drama has ever depicted the difficulties of marriage so accurately.

In a 2002 BSW interview, Mathew St. Patrick, who plays Officer Keith Charles, said, "I started my career as a soap opera actor, and even though there's a lot of dramatic events in this show, the difference is that Six Feet is a study on the emotions behind the actions, not just the actions. I think this show is one of the finest experiences I'll ever have as an actor." Writer and creator Alan Ball originally wanted to make a show about the perils of living in a state of repression. And while many of the members of the Fisher family have come a long way since the show began, Six Feet Under's challenging third season reminds us that there is still much more to unearth.

-Pamela Bock

This ensemble won 2003 SAG Actors and was nominated in 2002.

The West Wing

People often criticize politicians for being all talk and no action. But the dialogue on The West Wing proves that we can have both at once: exchanges between characters are always action-packed, and there is plenty of action-the kind that the American public might suspect goes on inside the White House but never gets a chance to see. These characters are always on the move, adhering to the busy schedule that being part of the presidential cabinet demands. As an acting ensemble, the players show the same cohesiveness that they would if they worked inside a political pressure cooker.

Although the cast members are sometimes criticized for delivering their lines too quickly, they know when to keep the banter quick and when to slow it down for more dramatic moments is finely honed. These actors not only deliver rapid-fire, witty lines but also have shown an admirable ensemble chemistry that has only improved over time. It is no wonder that a cabinet forced to confront plot developments such as these has reached a new level of team play.

As always, the exchanges between Josh (Bradley Whitford) and Donna (Janel Moloney) are sharp, and at times it seems as if they might take a romantic turn-although they never do. A subplot concerning Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) in which his ex-wife has twins shows a personal side. And although the loss of Rob Lowe's character, Sam Seaborn, was a sad development, his replacement, Deputy Communications Director Will Bailey, played by Joshua Malina, meshes surprisingly well.

With Aaron Sorkin leaving the show, a new writer will take charge, but the cast will doubtless continue to give standout performances, even if the dialogue isn't as sharp as it has been in seasons past. Perhaps they've worked long enough with Sorkin to stay in good form. So don't pull a Donna and accidentally vote for the wrong ticket; The West Wing has the best dramatic ensemble currently working on TV.

-Emily Pauker

This ensemble won an Emmy in 2003 and won SAG Actors in 2001 and 2002., with a nomination in 2003.

Without a Trace

CBS' Without a Trace is only in its second season, but the characters who populate this gritty procedural already feel like old friends. Though the emphasis of the show remains the various cases that these hard-charging Missing Persons agents investigate, we are allowed fairly regular glimpses into the characters' personal lives-something that many shows of this nature don't make room for. This formula calls for actors who are able to let us in without allowing their emotional angst to overpower the rest of the show, and, thankfully, Trace's ensemble is more than up to the task.

Anthony LaPaglia's Jack Malone, the team's leader, has his share of personal demons, yet LaPaglia shrewdly demonstrates that Jack is often able to use them in his line of work-his deep-seated emotions help him do his job rather than detract from it.

On the other side of the spectrum, Poppy Montgomery's brooding Samantha "Sam" Spade isn't quite sure what to do with her conflicting emotions, and last year was a particularly tough one for her. The first season ended as Sam was shot during a hostage situation, and the second season has seen her dealing with the fallout. Montgomery brilliantly conveys the fierce emotions that Sam struggles so hard to avoid.

Unlike the seasoned vets Malone and Spade, Eric Close's Martin Fitzgerald is something of a newcomer to the team; he's an eager-to-please rookie who's still trying to figure out how he fits in. In the current season, Martin has been more affected by the cases he investigates. In one instance, he loses control and fatally shoots a suspect. Close expertly plays off the duality of the character without losing control; Martin is still a good guy, but now he has more in common with his cynical counterparts.

The cast is rounded out by Marianne Jean-Baptiste as the mostly serene Vivian Johnson and Enrique Murciano as the resident jokester, Danny Taylor. As the investigators continue to take on cases both familiar and unusual, this troupe of actors engages us in their professional and personal lives. We can only hope they'll continue to have this much angst.

-Sarah Kuhn

Television

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Stockard Channing

The West Wing

The West Wing's first lady, Dr. Abbey Bartlet, began the season somewhat contentiously by describing herself as "just a wife and mother." Critics have complained that the show has never given Stockard Channing enough to work with. However, as the season progressed, Channing's role expanded. Abby is an opinionated first lady, yet she shows herself to be a patient wife.

During the re-election campaign, when President Bartlet experiences MS episodes, Channing gives her character a sensitive and caring side. Throughout the season, she vivaciously does her best to try to positively influence policy without overstepping her title. There are scenes in which Abbey overtly confronts the president and others in which she persuades him more gently. When the two are alone, casual banter and quotidian tasks such as choosing a tie for the president to wear delineate a relationship in which Abbey's influence on her husband is subtle but profound.

Abbey is hardly "just a wife and mother." Channing invests her character with flashes of brilliance, strength, and intelligence. She embodies these qualities in herself as an actor.

-Emily Pauker

For this role, Channing was nominated for Emmys in 2000, 2001, and 2003, with a win in 2002, and nominated for a SAG Actor in 2002 and a SAG ensemble award in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Frances Conroy

Six Feet Under

Widowed matriarch Ruth Fisher has had a lot thrown at her over the past three seasons of Six Feet Under, yet she always seems to hide in the background. Much like any good selfless mother, Ruth's personal trials are secondary to her children's. Her intense and almost total absorption in the people around her only makes us want to know her better. But Ruth is not an easy one to pin down. She is constantly attempting to discover who she is beyond a wife and mother. In the first seasons we saw her as a grieving wife who suffers pangs of guilt over her infidelity. In the second season she explored her newfound freedom with a new love and a crackpot spiritual advisor, and in the third season she met the bold and brassy Bettina (played brilliantly by Kathy Bates), who encourages her to break from her everyday conventions and dare to be selfish.

Originally a New York-based actress, Conroy has many stage credits to her name, including Othello, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, and Neil Simon's The Dinner Party. Perhaps it's her theatrical training that allows Conroy to give Ruth such a remote intensity. Never vying for her close-up, Conroy makes Ruth authentic to the core. She loves her children but also wants to have a life of her own. It's a duality that TV drama doesn't often dare portray.

-Pamela Bock

For this role, Conroy was nominated for an Emmy in 2002 and 2003 and a SAG ensemble award in 2002 and 2004, with a win in 2003. She won a 2004 Golden Globe.

Tyne Daly

Judging Amy

Many of us first saw Tyne Daly in the 1976 Clint Eastwood film The Enforcer, playing an eager female cop. Flash forward to 1982, when she received her big break-again as a policewoman-in the long-running CBS drama Cagney & Lacey. That feisty Daly persona remained in place when she tackled the Broadway stage as the monster stage mother of all time, Mama Rose, in Gypsy. When Judging Amy premiered in 1999, Daly's domesticated social worker Maxine was another gutsy character-no cookie-baking, lullaby-singing granny. In referring to changes made early in the first season, she was quoted as saying. "I thought Maxine was retired and would be doing all sorts of fun stuff like learning French and things. But then they put her back to work."

This script change allowed the opinionated Maxine to go head to head against her daughter, Amy (Amy Brenneman), in the workplace as well as at home. A major part of the series' crackling dramatic energy stems from the volatile mother/ daughter clashes. Daly is never less than riveting and has found a role ideally suited to her status as a revered veteran actor. Last year, after four consecutive nominations, Daly finally won an Emmy for this role. Here's hoping that her second shot at a SAG Award yields another Amy trophy to sit among her mantel-load.

-Les Spindle

For this role, Daly won a 2003 Emmy, was Emmy-nominated in 2000, 2001, and 2002, and earned a SAG Actor nomination in 2001.

Jennifer Garner

Alias

In the past year no character in primetime, except perhaps Jack Bauer on 24, has had to go through the kind of trials that CIA superstar Sydney Bristow has endured-and Bauer doesn't have to do it while wearing bikinis and lingerie. As the season opened, Sydney went from getting everything she ever wanted, including seeing the evil agency SD-6 destroyed, to suddenly losing it all: Her roommate turned out to be a murderous double, her best friend was seemingly killed, and, in one of TV's most jaw-dropping season finales, she woke up in a foreign city to discover that she had lost two years of her life and that her boyfriend had married another woman.

Garner ran the gamut of conflicting emotions. She showed us the softer side of her tough-as-nails spy, first in the fulfillment of her long-simmering romance with her CIA handler, Vaughn (Michael Vartan), and then her heartbreak and anguish as events conspired to tear them apart.

Sure, the provocative plots and apparel keep the show's core fans tuning in, but it's Garner's delicate and nuanced work with strong supporting players such as Vartan, Victor Garber, and Ron Rifkin that keeps viewers coming back, even if they don't have a clue what's going on.

-Sharon Knolle

For this role, Garner was nominated for Golden Globes in 2003 and 2004 and won in 2002.

Mariska Hargitay

Law & Order: SVU

Before landing her part on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mariska Hargitay seemed like a TV star in search of the right role. Her piercing gaze and pitch-perfect line readings made her a standout, whether playing a cop on the short-lived ensemble drama Prince Street or second banana to Nancy McKeon on the failed sitcom Can't Hurry Love. Still, no role seemed tailor-made for her until she stepped into the no-nonsense shoes of SVU's Olivia Benson, a passionate detective who wears her heart on her sleeve and lives for her job. A child of rape, Benson empathizes with many of the victims on a personal level-a quality that makes her very good at her job but occasionally puts her career in jeopardy.

This season has seen Benson in a variety of tight spots on the job, but Hargitay's best work comes out of the more intimate moments she shares with her co-stars. One storyline has Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), the show's resident ADA, faking her own death and entering witness protection. Hargitay does a remarkable job with only a handful of scenes-a roller coaster of emotions plays out on her face as she is forced to say goodbye to her friend and colleague. In these moments, we feel for Benson as much as she does for the victims.

-Sarah Kuhn

Allison Janney

The West Wing

Allison Janney's third nomination for her role as White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg comes as no surprise. Janney always delivers witty dialogue with good timing. She also manages to retain a balance between strength and vulnerability in C.J.'s most emotional moments, which makes the performance seem genuine, not self-indulgent.

In one episode, C.J. delivers a speech at her high school reunion in Dayton. When she returns home, she discovers her father's crumbling home life: His wife has left, and his mental health is deteriorating. C.J.'s reaction provides a shining example of a vulnerable moment that doesn't play sappily.

Janney has given her character numerous memorable turns. In "Disaster Relief," when she and President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) survey the damage from an Oklahoma wind storm, he wants to stay longer than his schedule will permit. Pressing diplomatic matters await at the White House, and C.J. convinces him to leave by disregarding the proper means of addressing him, giving a restrained chastisement.

Whether in the public sector or the private, C.J. is always compelling to watch, thanks to Janney's portrayal. If for no other reason, she deserves a SAG award for the constant and consistent quality of her work.

-Emily Pauker

For this role, Janney was nominated for Golden Globes in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, won Emmys in 2000, 2001, and 2002 (nominated in 2003), and won SAG Actors in 2001 and 2002 (nominated in 2003).

Television

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Peter Krause

Six Feet Under

The third season of this acclaimed HBO series about a dysfunctional family saw no end to the intense drama that one character can suffer on his way to happiness. Played by Peter Krause, Nate Fisher has a near-death experience in the first episode, and then, out-of-body, he realizes that the life he is leading is too similar to that led by his dead father. He becomes a father and husband, takes up smoking, and falls apart after the disappearance and death of his wife. Fisher constantly struggles to maintain the roles in his life as undertaker, husband, father, brother, and son. He manages to do so externally, but with reluctance, because, inside, he is a free spirit turned caged animal.

"It's not like doing a play, where it's a two-hour performance and there's a definite arc and that's the character's life, and that's what it does. Nate's life continues," Krause told HBO. "That's the most difficult thing, because I do devote a certain portion of my psyche and my mental energy to thinking thoughts that Nate would think. There was a period last year where I actually started to dream in character. I haven't been that comfortable in the past playing roles that are close to myself, but Nate's very close, so it's been a great exercise and journey for me. It's difficult because of the nearness of Nate, but it's part of the journey of being an actor. You have to share some personal things once in a while that you'd rather not." Here's hoping that all of Krause's psychologically exhaustive efforts will put something on the mantel this year.

-Cassie Carpenter

For this role, Krause was nominated for an Emmy in 2002 and 2003, a Golden Globe in 2002 and 2003, and a SAG Actor in 2002 and 2003.

Anthony LaPaglia

Without a Trace

Jack Malone, squad leader of the FBI's Missing Persons Unit, inspires loyalty with his unorthodox tactics and quiet determination. The actor who plays him, Anthony LaPaglia, is able to capture these qualities with nothing more than a single line or expression-quite a feat considering that the character's emotions are more complex than the tricky cases his team investigates each week. LaPaglia delivers a performance of astonishing depth; he injects worlds of shading between lines, ever so subtly letting us know that Malone is neither Boy Scout nor flashy rogue.

At the close of the first season, Malone finds himself dealing with a series of crises both personal and professional. His methods for nabbing a suspect are called into question, his team is investigated, and the season ends with a tense hostage situation. LaPaglia conveys the tight snarl of Malone's conflicting feelings, allowing the character to be emotional without losing any of his stoicism. LaPaglia also plays moments of tenderness beautifully-the second season has given Malone multiple opportunities to express concern for his troubled ex-lover and team member, Samantha "Sam" Spade (Poppy Montgomery). LaPaglia manages to let us know that Malone is worried for Sam on a variety of levels-as a trusted member of his team, as his friend, and as a former lover. By giving us a performance that resonates in so many ways, LaPaglia ensures that Jack rivets us, even though we don't always know what to expect from him.

-Sarah Kuhn

For this role, LaPaglia won a 2004 Golden Globe.

Martin Sheen

The West Wing

Martin Sheen has lost none of his signature chutzpah in the role of President Josiah Bartlet. When Bartlet inadvertently reveals to his staff his struggle with multiple sclerosis, Sheen adds depth to an already outwardly strong and forceful character. The actor is dynamic: Bartlet not only embodies strength, purpose, and conviction but also undergoes internal struggles in his multiple roles as commander-in-chief, frantic father, and frail human being.

The president's medical troubles, which began in "Election Night," continue when he discovers tremors in his hand while trying to sign legislative bills-the first readily apparent symptom of MS glimpsed by members of his staff. Sheen's character maintains his composure, but the veil is thin. Bartlet's roles as president and father collide when his daughter, Zoey (Elisabeth Moss), is kidnapped from a nightclub by terrorists. Given the conflict of interest, Bartlet temporarily steps down from the presidency. Sheen showcases his character's integrity, intelligence, and humanity when Bartlet realizes that his family must come first.

The real presidential election won't happen until November, but in the meantime we can settle for giving President Bartlet his props and Sheen a SAG award.

-Emily Pauker

For this role, Sheen won SAG Actors in 2001 and 2002, and was nominated in 2003 and 2000. He won a Golden Globe in 2001, and was nominated in 2002, 2003, and 2004. He was nominated for Emmys in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.

Kiefer Sutherland

24

As America's most overworked counter-terrorism agent, Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland manfully slogged through another hellishly punishing 24-hour stint this year, barely taking time out from saving lives and defending the presidency to recover from a heart attack and a heroin addiction he acquired while undercover between seasons. This role, one of the most physically demanding on television, requires the actor to deal out torture, to undergo it, and to take out his many adversaries single-handedly. Sutherland somehow sells even the most far-fetched plot diversions, such as a game of Russian roulette in the midst of a prison riot or an elaborate sting operation to get back in with the very drug lord Bauer spent years trying to imprison.

Bauer himself is a consummate actor, having to switch loyalties at the bat of an eye and convince reluctant adversaries-and sometimes his own true-blue colleagues-that he has sold out his cause, and week after week the actor ably guides us through this fever-pitch existence. Sutherland plays Bauer as almost masochistically patriotic, so dedicated to his president and country that he's willing to sacrifice his own good name, well-being, and very life to see justice done. The pleasure comes in watching Bauer draw on his last reserves of strength and manage to coerce a skeptical enemy into trusting him just a little bit longer.

-Sharon Knolle

This is the second consecutive SAG nomination in this category for Sutherland. He was also nominated for the "24" ensemble in 2003 and has been nominated for two Emmys and three Golden Globes, winning the Globe in 2002.

Treat Williams

Everwood

Everwood snuck up on us in 2002 as an unassuming but engaging little drama on the WB, and just as surprising was Treat Williams' emergence as a leading man worthy of recognition for his role as Dr. Andy Brown, a widower and father of two. Not that Williams hasn't been recognized everywhere from the Emmys to the ACE Awards, but this time he has managed to deliver a consistently solid performance steeped in simplicity, subtlety, and sincerity.

As the series opens, we believe the shock and sadness Andy still feels after his wife has been killed and he has uprooted his family to the village of Everwood, Col. Williams makes Andy's ongoing struggle to reconnect and communicate with his kids after years of choosing work over family very real-and quite often he does so without jarring plot twists or fiery, melodramatic dialogue.

Although at first the main conflict seems to occur between Andy and his teenage son, Ephram (Gregory Smith), his young daughter, Delia (Vivien Cardone), becomes increasingly difficult as Williams' character inches toward getting serious in his new relationship with his fellow doctor, Linda Abbot (Marcia Cross). After Delia melts down at the thought of her dead mother's disappointment in being replaced so soon, it is with bewilderment and fear as much as with love that Andy tries to right the ship. This understated realism sets Williams' Andy Brown apart both in primetime and during awards season.

-Mike Moore

For this role, Williams was nominated for a SAG Actor in 2003.

Television

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Patricia Heaton

Everybody Loves Raymond

Television wives have a lengthy history as tolerant, long-suffering foils to the ridiculous antics of their husbands. It's refreshing, then, to see that Patricia Heaton's Debra Barone has lost none of her sharpness or power as the show finishes up its eighth season. Heaton has always been a master of the slow burn, whether Debra is dealing with her in-laws' insults or trying to reason with her thickheaded husband. But in 2003, Heaton hit new comedic highs with a series of episodes that continued to define Debra as more than just a bad cook or nagging spouse.

First, there was her drunk-driving arrest, which was, of course, the fault of her overbearing mother-in-law. This was followed by one of the best episodes in the run of the show, "Baggage," in which something as simple as who would put away the luggage turned into a battle. Not only did Heaton get to show off some great physical comedy, wrestling on the staircase with Ray Romano-who plays her husband, Ray-but there were also moments of remarkable tenderness between the two.

Ray and Debra's marriage feels strikingly authentic, despite how different the two are. As Heaton told BSW, Debra made "a strange marriage match" with Ray. "I think maybe some people have questioned why someone like Debra may have married someone like Ray," she acknowledged. Yet when Heaton and Romano are sharing the screen, nothing feels more right.

-Jenelle Riley

For this role, Heaton won Emmys in 2000 and 2001 and was nominated in 1999, 2002, and 2003. She was nominated in the SAG ensemble category in 1999, 2000, and 2002 and won in 2003. She was also nominated for a SAG Actor in 2002 and 2003.

Lisa Kudrow

Friends

Quirky Phoebe Buffay finally found love in 2003-twice. After years of fly-by-night beaux, Phoebe was forced to choose between two marriage-minded suitors, Mike (Paul Rudd) and David (Hank Azaria), and ended up picking Mike. Of course, being Phoebe, she's the one who eventually does the proposing.

With 10 years of playing the flighty singer and masseuse under her belt, Kudrow has honed her comic shtick, but Phoebe's romantic entanglements afforded her the opportunity to stretch new comedy muscles, such as in the scene in which she breaks up with Mike's old girlfriend on his behalf. And who couldn't help but laugh when Phoebe was an extra on Joey's soap opera or when she drove people from Monica's restaurant with her always-terrible guitar playing? Phoebe may not have had a challenge as poignant as she did when she decided to be a surrogate mother for her brother (Giovanni Ribisi) in the fourth and fifth seasons-and when she unexpectedly wanted to keep one of the triplets-but Kudrow can always be counted on to make the most of any line reading, and Phoebe could always be counted on to deliver some strange advice to her friends. Phoebe's off-kilter take on any situation is often the funniest part of any episode, whether it's her pride in silly songs such as her "Smelly Cat," or her flippant responses to serious issues. As the series draws to a close, it's hard to believe we have to say goodbye forever to Phoebe (and her twin sister, Ursula). At least there will be reruns.

-Sharon Knolle

Kudrow was nominated for this role four times and won a SAG Actor in 2000. In 1996 she was nominated for a Golden Globe and took home a SAG Actor in the ensemble category. She has had a total of 12 SAG nominations, including several ensemble nominations for "Friends." Kudrow is a six-time Emmy nominee with one win.

Debra Messing

Will & Grace

Debra Messing's championship work in this series might be described as Annie Hall with an edge. Her character, Grace, an interior designer, is much too sophisticated to mumble "La-dee-dah, la-dee-dah," but she seems as inept in relationships as was the aforementioned heroine. Grace has a tendency toward self-absorption, finding wry humor in human foibles that would be terribly annoying in real life.

This season, she has suffered through marital woes with her new husband, Leo (Harry Connick Jr.), and had a tense meeting with Leo's ex-girl friend (Mira Sorvino), complicated by the revelation that this woman was also a rare heterosexual fling in Will's past. Grace's feelings of jealousy when women get too close to her platonic best pal are a recurring theme in the series, and Messing never fails to mine the situation for boisterous laughter tempered by the ironic sting of truth. After four nominations and as the only member of the ensemble cast not to have won an Emmy, Messing finally had her turn last fall. She recently said: "It was a long wait, but it made the receiving of it that much sweeter." Unless the powers-that-be in Tinseltown are asleep on the job, she'll also return from this year's SAG ceremony as more than a bridesmaid.

-Les Spindle

For this role, Messing won 2002 and 2003 SAG Actors as an ensemble member; she was nominated this year in the same category and also won a 2003 Emmy, with nominations in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002.

Megan Mullally

Will & Grace

Megan Mullally seems destined to join the most-beloved sitcom second bananas of all time in the TV hall of fame. We're talking Vivian Vance, Rose Marie, Valerie Harper, Christine Baranski-comedians with the ability to turn featured roles into star turns. She can play "dumb-like-a-fox" as skillfully as anybody we can think of. There's something about that bimbo voice coupled with her infallible delivery of sharp-as-nails bons mots that makes her deadpan characterization of the gleefully sardonic Karen an indispensable ingredient in this show's six-year success.

She recently referred to that unique high-pitched voice as "an instinctive thing." She continued, "That's something that Sean [Hayes, series co-star] and I have in common. I think it was just a feeling I had that it would be better for the pace of the show, and it would be funnier in some way." Indeed it is funny, but it is merely the icing on an all-around tasty characterization. This season, Mullally continued to find fresh nuances of character, whether butting heads with a foe from her past (guest star Candace Bergen) or dealing with the horrors of meeting the father (John Cleese) of the woman who stole her husband. Her indelible work in this series has made her a poster child for resilient neurotics everywhere, offering proof positive that there is life after Betty Ford residency and scumbag husbands.

-Les Spindle

For this role, Mullally won a 2002 SAG Actor and a nomination in 2001. She also won 2002 and 2003 SAG Actors as an ensemble member. The cast is nominated for ensenmble again this year. She also won a 2000 Emmy, having been nominated in 2001 and 2002, and was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

Doris Roberts

Everybody Loves Raymond

At age 74, Doris Roberts is enjoying one of the best years of her career. In September she won her fourth Emmy Award, and in November she stretched her dramatic muscles, portraying an Alzheimer's victim in the TV movie A Time to Remember. But it's her work as Marie, everyone's favorite mother-from a distance-on Everybody Loves Raymond that has garnered her a long-overdue nod in SAG's category for female actor in a comedy.

In 2003, Marie continued her meddlesome ways but also had new opportunities to shine. When her son Robert became engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Amy, the Barones found themselves spending time with Amy's wonderfully weird parents, played by Fred Willard and Georgia Engel. The dichotomy between Engel and Roberts was a riot, with so much communicated as the two sized each other up with sly glances. And Marie's delight when her cooking was complimented was summed up beautifully with a simple laugh of false modesty.

In less skilled hands, Marie could be a one-note shrew, but Roberts finds a way to make her universally loveable. As Roberts told BSW about her character, "I never do anything deliberate. I do things because I'm thinking I'm going to make it all better. I know a lot of people find her unbelievably intrusive, which she is, but you can laugh at her. And if you can laugh at me, you can laugh at your own mother. And that's why it connects."

-Jenelle Riley

For this role, Roberts won Emmys in 2001, 2002, and 2003 and was nominated in 1999 and 2000. The ensemble was nominated for the SAG Actor in 1999, 2000, and 2002 and won in 2003.

Television

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Peter Boyle

Everybody Loves Raymond

Think the job is easier when everyone around you does the heavy lifting, setting up the joke so you can land the punch line? Even if you work with some of the best actors on television, you could easily blow the moment. But not if you're Peter Boyle, king of zingers.

Playing Frank Barone, father of the title character, Ray (Ray Romano), the actor tackles split-second timing and nearly poisonous sarcasm. The character, however, tackles nothing. Couch potatoes the world over would do well to model themselves on him. The actor has carefully crafted a character who finds everything effortful and annoying-except watching television, that is. Despite what the rest of us would consider gifts from heaven-a nearly 50-year marriage to Marie (Doris Roberts), apparent financial comfort, two decent sons (the other played by Brad Garrett), and the consoling presence of a level-headed daughter-in-law (Patricia Heaton) and three adorable grandchildren (Madylin, Sawyer, and Sullivan Sweetyn)-nothing suits Frank, whose only earthly task is defending patriarchy. And we completely believe Boyle's creation.

Should he step to the podium to offer his thanks as this year's winner, we hope he includes a tribute to his hair stylist. Although the flawless timing, vocal cadences, and sideways glances are Boyle's masterful signature, Frank's hairdo adds that extra hilarious touch.

-Dany Margolies

For this role, Boyle was also nominated for a 2004 SAG ensemble award. He shared in the 2003 SAG ensemble award. He was nominated for 2002 ensemble and individual awards, and for the 1999 and 2000 ensemble award, as well as a 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 Emmy.

Brad Garrett

Everybody Loves Raymond

Not everybody loves Raymond, despite the petulant insistence of Ray's baby brother, Robert. Ray Romano may play the titular character, but most of us have an equally good time watching Brad Garrett's fraternal creation. At nearly 6-foot-9, Garrett looms over everyone on-set, particularly his diminutive mother (Doris Roberts) and sister-in-law (Patricia Heaton), and his basso-buffo voice could topple cliffs. But Garrett reins in his size, ensuring that his character seems eternally boyish, insecure, and lonely-in the funniest possible way of course.

Robert is sometimes befuddled, sometimes painfully self-aware, stumped by simple relationships and relieved at life's little insanities. He's also a police officer-a job Garrett never brings "home" and a fact he makes us forget as he lives under the thumb of his hilariously domineering mother and his uniquely skewed father. We look forward to the work the actor is currently doing with his character's new marriage to an equally befuddled wife (Monica Horan).

Garrett may have started in standup, but who wouldn't now think of him as a classically trained actor? He may be setting up a punch line for one of his fellow actors, but he also lands a few of his own along the way, and yet his modesty and unselfishness never let us see the preparation and effort. Perhaps this award-or a spinoff someday-will prove that everybody also loves Garrett.

-Dany Margolies

For this role, Garrett won Emmys in 2002 and 2003 and was nominated in 2000. He was nominated in for a 2004 SAG ensemble award, shared in the 2003 ensemble award, and was ensemble-nominated in 1999, 2000, and 2002.

Sean Hayes

Will & Grace

At this point, Sean Hayes has been honored so many times for his performance as flamboyantly flaky Jack McFarland that it's easy to dismiss him as yesterday's news. If we did so, however, we'd ignore one of television's most consistently hilarious sidekicks-a character who still elicits giggles despite his hopeless devotion to all things shallow.

As the years progress, Hayes' performance on Will & Grace continues to grow bolder and brighter as he sets the bar even higher for future sitcom funnymen. Hayes inhabits the role so convincingly that we believe the lengths Jack will go to for his silly schemes, such as participating in a gay spelling bee and giving acting lessons to James Earl Jones.

Still, though Jack is as outrageous as ever, this season has also showcased a new dimension to the famously fickle celebrity wannabe. When he starts studying nursing on a whim, Jack discovers that he enjoys the courses and the work-maybe even enough to make a career of it. Hayes makes this baby step toward maturity touching but never cloying. Jack may be showing the first signs of growing up, but Hayes' ability to balance this with the character's larger-than-life attitude ensures that Jack will never lose the trademark spark that made us love him in the first place.

-Sarah Kuhn

Hayes won SAG Actors in 2002 and 2003 and was nominated in 2001 for this performance. The "Will & Grace" ensemble has been nominated in 2001, 2002, and 2003, as well as this year. For this role, he was nominated for Golden Globes in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 and for the Emmy in 2001, 2002, and 2003, with a win in 2000.

Ray Romano

Everybody Loves Raymond

Poor Ray Barone. He's convinced he's the most put-upon husband, son, brother, and father in all of Long Island. Luckily for Ray Romano, the actor has found the perfect outlet for his prodigious comedic talents, creating a seemingly helpless eye in the center of an intransigent family. Every week the character faces the same old foes-er, family members-and every week the actor mines fresh gold from relatively ordinary travails. The character treads thin ice around his wife (Patricia Heaton), knowing when to hold her and when to scold her. He fends off the wiles of his brother (Brad Garrett) and staves off the barbs of his father (Peter Boyle). Only his exceedingly intrusive mother (Doris Roberts) consistently penetrates his defenses, turning Ray into jelly-to his embarrassment and to our delight. Romano handles all with a low-key, understated touch, but we'll never overlook the longings, disappointments, and small moments of satisfaction his character experiences every week. Indeed, Romano has turned the often wet-rag Ray, confused and frustrated by life, into one of the screen's most realistic husbands.

Romano seems selfless on-set, particularly when he shares a moment with the scene-stealing Barone kids (Madylin, Sawyer, and Sullivan Sweetyn). Now's the chance to reward him for all that pretending to be doing nothing.

-Dany Margolies

For this role, Romano was nominated this year in the ensemble category. He won an Emmy Award in 2002 and was Emmy-nominated in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003. He shared in the SAG ensemble award in 2003 and was nominated for an ensemble award in 1999, 2000, and 2002.

Tony Shalhoub

Monk

Who ever thought that a quirky show about an ex-detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder would become one of television's most clever and innovative comedies? On the face of it, there's nothing too novel about Monk. We've certainly seen a detective riddled with baggage and kicked off the force (Profiler), and we've seen a savant detective who pieces together a crime seemingly without effort (Columbo), as well as the blustery captain of the force and his inept assistant (The Rockford Files). What makes Monk stand out is its sincerity, and it simply wouldn't work without Tony Shalhoub's subtle and thoughtful performance. Shalhoub manages to portray his character's phobias and disorders without short-shrifting his keen intelligence and vulnerability. Shalhoub must balance Monk's eccentricities with his aptitudes. Though central to the show's premise, Monk's disorders are not the focus of the action and are never played as simplistic slapstick, but rather as a hurdle.

As Shalhoub told BSW, "When I'm doing a comedy, I try to not think of it as a comedic part; I try to think of it as a very serious part. What are the stakes to this character? What does this guy need? I take all my comedic characters very seriously, and that's funny to me. Monk has got some serious issues, and he is focused on what's important to him. I think that's where the best comedy comes from. If you look at Chaplin or Buster Keaton, that's the model for me-the tragic clown. I've always thought the best comedy comes out of pain."

-Pamela Bock

For this role, Shalhoub was nominated for a 2003 SAG Actor. He also won the 2003 Emmy and 2003 Golden Globe and was nominated for a 2004 Golden Globe.

Television

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries

Anne Bancroft

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

One can't help but notice that this is a role Anne Bancroft enjoys playing, and indeed her joy is somewhat infectious. Watching a skilled veteran actor happy and hard at work provides an undeniable pleasure. In Robert Allen Ackerman's TV version of Tennessee Williams' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, Bancroft plays an aging Italian Contessa who has apparently lost her family assets in the war-they were bombed, she tells us. She has now become a predator in order to survive, making a modest living by procuring Italian gigolos for rich American women and taking a percentage of the profits.

Bancroft relishes her character's unmitigated wickedness. Indeed, there is not much of a sympathetic side to the Contessa, who floats about society engagements in her black evening wear like a vulture, targeting potential clients. Yet while there might not be much to like about her character, Bancroft gives us numerous glimpses of the Contessa's weakness and desperation. It's hard not to feel sorry for her when we see her, wigless and enraged in her small apartment, verbally abusing a gigolo and attempting to convince him that he must make the most of the few good years he has left. Coming from a character whose best years are entirely behind her, the pathos in lines such as these is almost unbearable.

-Laura Weinert

For this role, Bancroft received an Emmy nomination.

Helen Mirren

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Helen Mirren achieves screen performances that are like strings of pearls-each film moment is beautifully rounded and feels linked at its very center to every other moment. Although we can't know this until later in the film, Mirren's first few minutes on-screen cut straight to the core struggle that her character faces: backstage, the aging Broadway star Karen Stone rushes to go on as a far-too-old Juliet, fumbling with a string of pearls that breaks and scatters all over the floor-a poignant first glimpse into a story about the loss of youth and beauty.

We soon find Karen adrift in Italy, mourning the loss of her husband and her youth. This role offers countless opportunities to wax maudlin, and Mirren characteristically resists each of them. Instead she displays a stony but elegant determination to accept her new life for what it is and to discover the unique pleasures of late womanhood.

When an aging Italian Contessa (Anne Bancroft) becomes ruthless in her efforts to ensnare Karen into paying for the company of her stable of poor yet stunningly attractive gigolos, Mirren's character consistently and gracefully declines. "When the time comes that no one can desire me for myself," she says, "I think I would rather not be desired at all." Mirren achieves a pitch-perfect delivery of this classic line: We believe that she wants to mean this, and yet we are not entirely sure that she does.

Indeed the real dramatic heat of this film begins once the uncommonly charming young gigolo Paolo appears to begin genuinely falling in love with her, and she with him, despite herself. With consummate skill, Mirren displays the emotional shifts between wanting to feel love again, being invigorated by it, and being filled with doubt and disappointment that perhaps the entire situation is a charade that will ultimately make a fool of her.

-Laura Weinert

For this role, Mirren received nominations for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Mary-Louise Parker

Angels in America

Is there any actor who can embody the confusion of a tormented mind more effectively than Mary-Louise Parker? Like a modern-day and more fortunate Frances Farmer, Parker has shown us the extremes of mental imbalance but lived to tell the tale. In her Tony-winning stage performance in Proof, she displayed the shards of a shattered psyche while retaining a keen intelligence, thereby convincing us that she could be the author of a disputed mathematical formula.

In Angels in America, Parker portrays Harper Pitt, the pill-popping wife of a closet-case lawyer. She has totally lost her grip on reality, escaping from a barren marriage by walking through the refrigerator into an Arctic landscape that is frozen and safe. Parker strips Harper naked both figuratively and literally. She does a totally non-gratuitous nude scene in which she tries to stop her husband from leaving her. It's evident from her willingness to do anything-even display her naked body-that she loves this man. We can also see that she knows he is gay and all wrong for her. Even among stellar performers such as Meryl Streep and Al Pacino, Parker stands out.

-David Sheward

For this role, Parker won a Golden Globe.

Meryl Streep

Angels in America

It should come as no surprise that Meryl Streep could play a Mormon housewife, an ancient Orthodox rabbi, and the specter of a motherly spy with equal dexterity. So there's no need to waste time praising her facility with accents for her triple-role performance in Angels in America. Instead let's concentrate on her ability to delineate each character's rocky journey from confusion to clarity.

The rabbi opens the piece and sets the tone for the whole six-hour miniseries. Although she is unrecognizable under a heavy beard and dark Hassidic garb, Streep's intelligence shines through as she relives the entire immigrant experience as the rabbi eulogizes Louis' grandmother.

As the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, she could have been nothing more than a symbolic phantom. But she strongly defines the central objective of this Communist wraith: to bedevil Roy Cohn, the man who sent her to the electric chair. We watch Ethel come to terms with her hatred and even find sympathy for the dying Cohn as she intensely recites the Kaddish over him. The ritualistic Hebrew prayer for the dead is spoken with a mixture of venomous anger and piercing sorrow as she vents her fury and finds forgiveness for her old enemy.

As Hannah Pitt, the Mormon mother, Streep displays the most far-ranging emotions. When her son confesses being gay during a drunken midnight phone call, the look on her face communicates recognition, panic, and, finally, firm denial. You can see a whole lifetime and a web of relationships in that stunned face. Through Streep's subtle shifts in expression and gesture, all three of these characters come alive under wigs, beards, cloaks, and hats.

-David Sheward

For this role, Streep won a Golden Globe.

Emma Thompson

Angels in America

She swoops through the ceiling of Prior Walter's apartment, smashing the roof and stunning the occupant with her heavenly brilliance. In a similar vein, Emma Thompson has stunned us with her radiance as the shy princess in Henry V, as the witty and love-smitten Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, as the brainy and compassionate heroine of Howards End (a role for which she won an Oscar), as the lonely sister in Sense and Sensibility, and as the caustic professor dying of cancer in the TV-movie version of Wit. Also this year, Thompson has been singled out from a cast of British stars in the romantic comedy Love Actually as a wife who painfully discovers her husband's infidelity on Christmas morning.

But none of these creations is anything like the seraphim she plays in Angels in America. Playwright Tony Kushner's vision of a heavenly messenger combines the stunning beauty of Renaissance paintings with a raw sexuality. Her mere presence causes physical stimulation and climax in the earthly beings whom she chooses to visit. Thompson has power, anger, and sensuality as she descends, delivering an earth-shattering message. Given Thompson's commanding voice and presence, it's believable that she can fly from heaven to earth, destroy edifices, and give fantastic sensual pleasure. She doesn't even need special effects. Her sharp cameos as a tough nurse and an addled bag lady are icing on a rich cake.

-David Sheward

Television

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries

Justin Kirk

Angels in America

Justin Kirk is probably best known to the general public for a short-lived TV series called Jack & Jill. Therefore his shattering performance as the reluctant prophet Prior Walter in Angels in America comes as a stunning surprise to most viewers. But Kirk has been offering strong characterizations to regular New York theatergoers for years. He will be remembered as the mentally disabled teenager in Frank D. Gilroy's Any Given Day, as the unfaithful, blind lover in Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion! , and as the conflicted artist struggling with a moral and aesthetic crisis in Jon Robin Baitz's Ten Unknowns.

In Angels, Kirk's character, Prior, is a former drag queen suffering from AIDS. He is called into service for a fantastic mission by Emma Thompson's angel. In the course of the movie, Kirk shows us Prior's fear of death and rejection as his longtime lover, Louis, leaves him to face the illness alone. He also reveals incredible backbone as he defies the angel and heaven itself. As heavenly hosts crash through his ceiling and ghosts float around him, he knocks off quips and one-liners to quell his terror. There's even a hysterically scared rendition of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?," delivered as he shivers under the sheets. His anger is equally felt as he rips into Louis for his cowardice and defies a host of bureaucratic seraphim. Though Al Pacino's snarling portrayal of Roy Cohn is the showpiece of Angels, Kirk's Prior is its beating heart.

-David Sheward

Paul Newman

Our Town

A filmed version of what is in essence a staged performance of Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town calls for no special effects-indeed for no sets and props. Needless to say the performances had better be damned good. And holding the production together is the character known as the Stage Manager, our narrator and tour guide, who occasionally steps into a scene as another character. Those of us who remember the blue eyes and striking profile of a younger Paul Newman might not have thought of him as this sort of leading man. But you'd better believe he was cast here for his quiet yet authoritative persona, for his ability to play pure honesty, and for a nobility not at all hurt by that profile and those still-vivid eyes.

Newman captures the hominess, the languidness, and the old-fashioned directness of Wilder's Everytown: Grover's Corners, N.H., circa 1900. He's the ideal professor to teach us about life as it was-or perhaps as it still should be-when we listened to our elders. He watches with underplayed but all-knowing interest the business of the townsfolk, and somehow he convinces us to do the same. And when called upon by the townsfolk to offer sincere comfort, capable assistance, and wise advice, he also inspires us to learn.

This performance is the perfect summation of the best of Newman's acting. Perhaps the greatest compliment we could offer is to say that his performance would be at home on the finest stages anywhere.

-Dany Margolies

Al Pacino

Angels in America

Snake. Hyena. Toad. Dog. These are the images called forth by Al Pacino's animalistic portrayal of Roy Cohn, the archconservative closet-case demagogue who dominates Angels in America. In the stage version, Ron Leibman played Cohn and chewed up several truckloads worth of scenery. Pacino scales it back for the small screen. Even so, the bravura tirades are just as delicious, as when he screams at a secretary while taking six calls at once and wishing he were "an ever-lovin' octopus."

Amazingly, Pacino makes us care about this monstrous McCarthyite. In a barroom scene with Patrick Wilson, who plays Joe Pitt, he tenderly puts his arm around Joe's shoulder and commiserates over their shared lack of love for their fathers. Cohn is obviously drunk, but the spark in Pacino's eye betrays that he's maneuvering Pitt into taking a job with the Reagan Justice Department. There's also a subliminal sexuality to the embrace, as we know that both Cohn and Pitt are closet homosexuals. It's love, seduction, and manipulation-all at once.

Pacino gives us a riveting deathbed scene in which we're convinced he's reliving a childhood nightmare and crying for his mother. The pain in the voice is so real that it's a shock when, a second later, he gleefully cackles at Ethel Rosenberg's ghost (Meryl Streep) for buying the act.

The performance exhibits the ambiguity of Michael Corleone from the Godfather films, the viciousness of Tony Montana from Scarface, and the despair of Lt. Col. Frank Slade, the blind vet from Scent of a Woman: It's a summation of an astonishing career.

-David Sheward

For this role, Pacino won a Golden Globe.

Forest Whitaker

Deacons for Defense

With a performance of enormous breadth, Forest Whitaker stands at the center of this drama based on the true story of fearless African-American men from Bogalusa, La., who armed themselves against the KKK and took a more militant stance than did most activists during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Whitaker's Marcus Clay is a thoughtful family man and mill worker at a segregated plant who forms the Deacons of Defense to protect those nearest him from the mounting brutality of the town's racists.

Whitaker, no surprise, is terrific. Certainly it's as tough a role as he has ever had to play, and it gives the star ample opportunity to demonstrate why he is one of Hollywood's best-kept secrets. He rarely gets the props he so rightfully deserves, perhaps because he makes it all look so easy. Whitaker's work here is spare, lean, and powerful. His efforts in this film, directed by Bill Duke, come from a tradition of straightforward narrative acting that recalls Denzel Washington's performance in Spike Lee's Malcolm X. There is a realistic social consciousness to Whitaker's performance, which gives the film depth and relevance. When asked what matters most when it comes to acting, Whitaker told BSW, "I just want to play a part that I can really submerge inside of. I care about doing things that have some hope in them and that have some degree of spirituality in them. I'm not good at vacuous things."

-Lori Talley

For this role, Whitaker was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

Jeffrey Wright

Angels in America

The only member of the Angels in America Broadway cast to repeat his performance for the HBO version is Jeffrey Wright. But "repeat" is not really the right word for his TV take on Belize, the snap-queen nurse; it's a different creation from the theatre version. Stage acting requires large gestures; for the small screen a characterization must be ratcheted down a few notches. Wright trims his sails accordingly, but this gives Belize a keener tack. Whereas onstage Wright was outlandishly campy, on TV he uses humor to cap volcanic anger. As a gay and effeminate African-American man, Belize is furious with the system that allows people such as Roy Cohn to claw their way to the top of society. In his scenes, Wright is quieter than he was on Broadway, but this makes the line readings more intense and forceful. In a confrontation with the white liberal Louis (Ben Shenkman), he simply says, "You love America, Louis. I hate America." It's delivered with a withering but almost offhand disdain that is devastating.

There's also the added bonus of Wright's second role, Mr. Lies, the fantasy travel agent Mary-Louise Parker conjures up. He's a cocky, relaxed, loose-limbed guide to the underside of Parker's mind-a total contrast to the fiery Belize.

-David Sheward

For this role, Wright won a Golden Globe.

And the other winners are...

The New York Film Critic Circle

Best Actor: Bill Murray - Lost in Translation

Best Actress: Hope Davis - American Splendor

Best Supporting Actress: Shohreh Aghdashloo - House of Sand and Fog

Best Supporting Actor: Eugene Levy - A Mighty Wind

The San Francisco Film Critics

Best Actor: Bill Murray - Lost in Translation

Best Actress: Charlize Theron - Monster

Best Supporting Actor: Peter Sarsgaard - Shattered Glass

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Clarkson - Pieces of April

The Los Angeles Film Critics

Actress: Naomi Watts-21 Grams

Runner-up: Charlize Theron-Monster

Actor: Bill Murray - Lost in Translation

Runner-up: Sean Penn - 21 Grams and Mystic River

Supporting Actress: Shohreh Aghdashloo - House of Sand and Fog

Runner-up: Melissa Leo-21 Grams

Supporting Actor: Bill Nighy - Love Actually

Runner-up: Benicio Del Toro-21 Grams

New Generation Award: Scarlett Johansson

Career Achievement: Robert Altman

The Broadcast Film Critics

Best Acting Ensemble: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Best Actor: Sean Penn-Mystic River

Best Actress: Charlize Theron-Monster

Best Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins-

Mystic River: Best Supporting Actress: RenZe Zellweger-Cold Mountain

Best Young Actor/Actress: Keisha Castle-Hughes-Whale Rider

The Golden Globe Awards

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama: Sean Penn-Mystic River

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Charlize Theron-Monster

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Bill Murray-Lost in Translation

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Diane Keaton-Something's Gotta Give

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Tim Robbins-Mystic River

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: RenZe Zellweger-Cold Mountain

Best Performance by an Actor in TV Series - Drama: Anthony LaPaglia-Without a Trace

Best Performance by an Actress in TV Series - Drama: Frances Conroy-Six Feet Under

Best Performance by an Actor in TV Series - Comedy: Ricky Gervais-The Office

Best Performance by an Actress in TV Series - Comedy: Sarah Jessica Parker-Sex and the City

Best Performance by an Actor in Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for TV: Al Pacino-Angels in America

Best Performance by an Actress in Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for TV: Meryl Streep-Angels in America

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV: Jeffrey Wright-Angels in America

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV: Mary-Louise Parker-Angels in America