[For more of Collider’s Best of 2016 lists, clickhere]
As many of the lead actors and actresses of this year’s best TV series get the recognition they very much deserve in year-end lists and Best Of rankings (including ours!), that praise can also overlook some excellent supporting players in the same series. In the case of the list below, not all are in supporting roles (Queen Sugartaught us, ultimately, that Charley really was the lead character and even the title one), but they are performers who could be considered up and coming – at least, to U.S. audiences.
These 11 actors (I tried to cap it at 10 but couldnotcut anyone from this list) also just gave exceptional performances, ones that really made them stand out, which in the era of Peak TV is no easy feat. Some, likeRectify’sClayne Crawford, have already started to find more mainstream success in a series likeLethal Weapon, and that is a wonderful thing. Each of these actors deserves for you to know their name, especially since in the next few years everyone else will probably know it, too.
Joseph Gilgun
Whatever you may have initially or ultimately thought ofPreacher, you’d be hard-pressed to find to find anyone who didn’t brighten up when Cassidy was on screen. Cassidy is a tricky character — a charming psychopath, essentially — yetJoseph Gilgun’s outstanding performance gave him a surprising amount of vulnerability. Just when we had become comfortable with him as a loveably messy friend though, he turned vicious, and reminded us that he is indeed a blood-sucking killer. And yet, those two things never felt completely opposed. Gilgun clearly had fun with the character, and it came through in his easy countenance and natural swagger. ThoughPreachercould at times be a little slow and a little convoluted, one thing was consistent: Cassidy was always a delight.
James Norton
If you don’t recognizeJames Nortonby name, you might recognize his face since he was in not one but three British-import TV shows in 2016:War & Peace,Happy Valley, andGrantchester. In each he is a completely different kind of character — inWar & Peacehe was principled and tortured, inHappy Valleyhe was a manipulative psychopath, and inGrantchesterhe’s kind and tenacious — and yet he plays each with such charm and confidence that he is mesmerizing to watch regardless. Norton attacks each role with depth and sincerity in a way that makes him a very clear star on the rise. He isn’t a household name yet, but he will be.
Rhea Seehorn
Better Call Saul’s second season wouldn’t have worked if Kim Wexler had been played by almost anyone other thanRhea Seehorn. She had to counterBob Odenkirk’s bombast as Jimmy with her own quiet charm, she had to be a voice of reason and morality without being a school marm, and she had to make us care deeply about her to see just how much Jimmy hurt her when trying to do the right thing ended up backfiring on her terribly. She did all of that, and so much more. Season 2 really became, in many ways, a story about Kim and her desire — like Jimmy — to want to fight to build up something she created, and not be stuck under a corporate thumb forever. Kim is incredibly smart and capable and a rare TV character you would genuinely want to be friends with. And also, thanks to Seehorn, no character on TV this year smoked a cigarette with more feeling.
Dominique Provost-Chalkley
Melanie Scrofanois wonderful inWynonna Earp; she defines not just the character but the whole tone of the show.But her on-screen little sister Waverly, played byDominique Provost-Chalkley, deserves her own credit for making the show what it is. Waverly is a necessary balance for Wynonna — she’s upbeat, sociable, and likes to research and plan before acting. But Provost-Chalkley also just comes off as so damn likable, and that has to count for something. Waverly’s slow-burn storyline throughout the first season about discovering her sexuality was also something Provost-Chalkley handled with aplomb. It never felt forced or sudden, thanks to her natural ease with the role. Ultimately, she turns a plucky side-kick into a character the show couldn’t do without.
Goran Bogdan
DespiteThe Last Panthersbeing a miniseries that also starsJohn HurtandSamantha Morton, it is Croatian actorGoran Bogdanwho truly shines, anchoring the international co-production with a truly break-out performance (for American audiences, at least). Bogdan’s character Milan was at the heart of the story of the (real life) Panthers, a largely bloodless bank-robbing crime syndicate that was also a brotherhood. The Bosnian War and everything that followed propelled a desperate Milan to join the group and ultimately become its last true believer. It’s incredibly affecting to watch, as Milan’s love for his true brother and his adopted family comes at odds with the increasingly violent acts that now surround him in this changing world. Bogdan makes Milan both exceptionally tough yet also deeply empathetic, and emerges as an unlikely and unforgettable tragic hero.
Sian Clifford
Many of the performers on this list act, in some capacity, as a foil for the lead character. This could not be more true ofSian Clifford’s character Claire, sister to the titularFleabag. Claire is a buttoned-up perfectionist who is constantly riddled with anxiety, but Clifford plays her in a way that also makes her extraordinarily empathetic. She has an immense vulnerability, and some of the season’s rawest emotional moments are when she breaks free of herself for just a moment and laughs at her vulgar husband’s jokes, or when she is genuinely crushed by his thoughtless actions. But Clifford also has a sharp sense of comedic timing, and her side-glances and physical reactions (or facial expressions) in response to things Fleabag has said are often uproariously funny. The show is Fleabag’s, but it wouldn’t be as good without Clifford as Claire.
Brian Tyree Henry
One of the funniest and most natural performances of the year has to beBrian Tyree Henryas the fictional rapper Alfred Miles, a.k.a. Paper Boi, inAtlanta. Henry utterly owns the role, and gave a tour de force performance in the episode “B.A.N.,” one of the best of the year. But his appearance in every episode has such fantastic candor and sincere ease that it gives weight to the series’ otherwise surreal tone. Henry captures a naturally friendly swagger for Paper Boi, but also transitions him into someone unafraid to use physical violence or firearms with sometimes shocking speed. One of the things that makesAtlantaso successful is how perfectly it captures the tone of a city without ever seeking to define that city as a whole. Henry does the same with Paper Boi as a rapper — he’s both familiar and unique.
Clayne Crawford
Though I have been singing the praises ofRectify’sClayne Crawfordfor years, his emotional portrayal of Teddy, Jr. in the show’s fourth and final season has reached new heights. Crawford perfectly captures what feels like a particularly southern conflict between decorum and despair in Teddy. We get to see him in his darkest moments when he slips out of the facade of everything being fine, but it’s even more nuanced when Teddy is with others and hiding behind that mask of the strong, has-it-all-together man and we see it slip, just for a moment. Crawford is absolutely exceptional, and while his new role inLethal Weaponwill never call upon him to do anything of that depth, he’s been given the opportunity to charm a new and much larger audience now (and, I’m sure, is making a ton more money doing so — and I could not be happier for him). May it continue!
Finn Wolfhard
One of the things that’s so special aboutStranger Thingsis that its main plot focuses on a group of kids, and yet, the show is not for kids. That puts a lot of pressure on those kid actors to have to be pretty great to charm an adult audience, which they absolutely did. While each of them deserve a mention, when I did my requisite binge of the series it was really Finn Wolfhard who stood out. He played Mike’s goofiness deftly and never cartoonishly, and also naturally established Mike as the group’s leader, one who was brave and steadfast in both wanting to find his lost friend, but also in protecting Eleven. Wolfhard was asked to do a lot of complicated things with his character — he had to be brave but also a schoolyard victim, he has to be a geek but also a hero, and he had to be a leader and decision-maker while also believably being a kid. He did all of this, and was a true stand-out even in a crowded series with a solid ensemble cast.
Dawn-Lynn Gardner
The gorgeously directedAva DuvernayseriesQueen Sugarhad a lot of moving parts and no clearly established leader until closer to the end of its inaugural run, but even so,Dawn-Lynn Gardner’s Charley stood out from the beginning. Though there were many emotional storylines, Charley’s fall and eventual rise was one of the most fascinating to watch. She wasn’t always the easiest character to root for, but Gardner balanced Charley’s sleek, cultivated persona with her inner turmoil in a way that never went too far in any one direction. And despite things constantly falling apart around her, she remained strong and determined, never giving up. She didn’t always make the right choices, but Gardner showed us just enough of Charley’s softer side to make her relatable and, ultimately, a sugar sovereign we can believe in.
