From a cast-down clown to a nasty nurse, these TV roles
are career highlights for actors who typically stick to the silver screen.
Thanks to his effortless charm, Matthew McConaughey became a star in romantic
comedies opposite Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner, Sarah Jessica Parker in
Failure to Launch, and Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Fool's Gold.
Beginning in the 2010s, McConaughey began exploring his darker side with
roles in prestige movie dramas. He shed nearly 50 pounds for his Oscar-winning
performance as an AIDS patient in the late Jean-Marc Vallée's Dallas Buyers Club.
But McConaughey turned in one of the best performances of his career in the first
season of Nic Pizzolatto's HBO crime anthology series True Detective. He played brilliant,
tortured detective Rust Cohle, a man investigating a series of grisly murders in rural Louisiana.
"World needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door."
As Cohle, McConaughey delivers an unforgettable performance
that's equal parts charismatic and dangerous.
With a filmography as rich as Laura Dern's, it's tough to pick her best work. Her ongoing
collaborations with David Lynch are excellent options, from her breakthrough turn in the
suburban nightmare Blue Velvet to her tour de force performance in the mind-bending
Inland Empire. Dern's finest work over the course of her five-decade
career is always marked by a willingness to dive into her characters' uglier sides.
She achieves this best as Amy Jellicoe in HBO's dramedy series Enlightened.
The well-intentioned but destructive Jellicoe suffers a nervous breakdown,
attends rehab, then returns home to pick up the pieces with a fresh,
spiritually-evolved perspective. Over the course of two critically-acclaimed but under-watched
seasons, Dern explores the intersection of Amy's unpredictable rage and blazing altruism.
Dern's Golden Globe-winning performance as Jellicoe kicked off what Vox labeled
the Dernaissance, leading to her explosive performance in Big Little
Lies and culminating in her Oscar-winning turn in Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story.
Taraji P. Henson first attracted attention for her role in John Singleton's 2001 dramedy Baby Boy,
but her breakthrough performance was in Craig Brewer's 2005 crime drama Hustle & Flow,
opposite Terrence Howard. As pregnant sex worker Shug,
Henson offered audiences a first glimpse at her signature blend of tough love and
biting wit. Those qualities would define her work for years to come.
"And I work like a dog day and night, living off of coffee from a pot none of you wanna touch!"
Henson earned an Oscar nom for her tender performance in David Fincher's drama The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, as Benjamin's adoptive mother. However,
she delivered the performance of her career as Cookie Lyon in FOX's music business series Empire.
As the ex-wife of hip hop mogul Lucious, played by former co-star Terrence Howard,
Henson delivers an electrifying performance,
acting as if Lady Macbeth were cast on The Real Housewives. Critics noticed:
Henson earned three Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe over the course of the show's six seasons.
As an actor, Justin Theroux can effortlessly seesaw between
satirical comedies like Zoolander and crime dramas like The Girl on the Train. However,
his first big screen moment came in 1997's Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. A
short scene with Janeane Garofalo illustrates Theroux's smoldering heat and impeccable timing.
Theroux went on to epitomize the entitled jerk,
delivering strong supporting performances as an 80s investment banker in American
Psycho and a petulant director under the thumb of the mob in Mulholland Drive.
But it wasn't until Damon Lindelof's epic series The Leftovers debuted on HBO in
2014 that we saw the full scope of Theroux's range. As tortured police chief Kevin Garvey,
Theroux delivers the best work of his career.
"Sometimes you have to pretend."
His performance grounds the sprawling drama as it evolves from Season One's story of family trauma
to something scratching at the philosophical cosmos in the third and final season.
In the 1980s, Rob Lowe built a reputation for playing disaffected bad boys in coming-of-age
dramas in films like Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire.
Over the following 30 years, Lowe's roles have ranged from slapstick comedy in Wayne's World,
Tommy Boy, and the Austin Powers trilogy to prestige TV drama like The West Wing.
Of course, his best work came when he joined Season 2 of NBC's
Parks and Recreation as Type A fitness fanatic Chris Traeger, who may or may
not be responsible for the uptick in people saying "literally" literally all the time.
"My body is finely-tuned like a microchip and the
flu is like a grain of sand. It could literally shut down the entire system."
Lowe infuses Chris' unwavering optimism with an endearing charm that never feels
oppressive — an onscreen feat few but Lowe can pull off.
Zach Galifianakis' big break came with Todd Phillips' raunchy 2009
comedy The Hangover. As the quirky and unpredictable Alan, Galifianakis
stole every scene from better-known co-stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha.
He cultivated his unique brand of socially awkward humor with memorable
turns in Alejandro Iñárritu's Birdman and two more installments of The Hangover trilogy.
But Galifianakis gives the best performance of his career in FX's underrated dramedy Baskets
as identical twins Chip and Dale Baskets. Galifianakis is in his element as ruthless,
delusional Chip, an aspiring artist who fails out of clown school in France and
is forced to return home and accept work as a rodeo clown in Bakersfield, California.
After an impressive career in Australian movies as a teenager,
Nicole Kidman rose to international fame with Tony Scott's 1990 action
thriller Days of Thunder, alongside her soon-to-be husband Tom Cruise.
"You're fine. Put on your clothes."
Over the ensuing three decades, Kidman proved to be a versatile movie star with
four Academy Award nominations – for Moulin Rouge!, Rabbit Hole,
Lion, and Being the Ricardos – and one win for The Hours.
Kidman's performances walk a thin line between raw vulnerability and poise. That quality is
best exemplified in her turn as retired lawyer Celeste Wright in HBO's Big Little Lies. Celeste
leads a seemingly perfect life with her wealthy family in Monterey, California. But beneath
the facade lies an awful secret; she's being abused by her husband. Kidman imbues Celeste's
trauma with complexity and contradiction rarely seen in domestic violence dramas.
Gaby Hoffman managed the rare feat of growing her career from successful child actor through
adolescence and into adulthood. She first made a name for herself opposite Kevin Costner and
Amy Madigan in Field of Dreams and the late John Candy in Uncle Buck. As a teenager,
she appeared in big-budget films like disaster-thriller Volcano
as well as independents like 200 Cigarettes and You Can Count On Me.
Her indie work led to roles in high-brow comedy series, including the performance
of her career on Amazon's groundbreaking dramedy Transparent. As the ever-restless Ali Pfefferman,
youngest sibling of LA's neurotic Pfefferman clan, Hoffman is a revelation. She infuses
her confrontational and prickly yet sensitive character with open-hearted
grace as Ali yearns to understand their family legacy and their place within it.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is a multifaceted performer with a diverse list of credits, including blockbusters
like The Dark Knight, iconic indie Secretary, and the award-winning drama Crazy Heart. In 2021,
she added screenwriter and director to her resume
with the critically acclaimed adaptation of Elena Ferrante's novel, The Lost Daughter.
Directing work aside, Gyllenhaal's finest role in front of the camera is
her performance as 1970s sex worker turned porn filmmaker Candy in HBO's The Deuce.
"Fact is, I think I might be doing something else really soon."
Gyllenhaal plays Candy with dignity seldom afforded to sex worker characters, heightening
the emotional stakes as she works her way up from the streets. You can't help but be moved
as she achieves the power, financial security, and independence she's fought for since episode one.
Steve Carell rocketed to stardom with his performance in Adam McKay's smash hit Anchorman:
The Legend of Ron Burgundy. As Brick Tamland, the eccentric meteorologist with an IQ of 48,
Carell introduced his comedic wheelhouse to the world: the cringey, hapless fool.
He went on to perfect his style in his first leading role in Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old
Virgin, but reached his apex in his iconic turn as Michael Scott on NBC's The Office. In the
first season, Carell mimicked Ricky Gervais' character David Brent on the BBC's version of
the show. As the series continued, Carell infused Michael Scott with more empathy, making him one
of the more endearing — if incompetent — sitcom characters in recent memory. Even as he shifts
to more dramatic roles, it is difficult to imagine Carell ever topping Michael Scott.
"Would I rather be feared or loved?
Um, easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me."
As a young actress in the 90s, Christina Ricci rose to fame with a string of popular family
movies, including The Addams Family, The Addams Family Values, and Casper.
Ricci went on to play elusive heroines in darker films, earning indie clout for her
turns in Don Roos' black comedy The Opposite of Sex and Vincent Gallo's bleak, surrealist
drama Buffalo '66. As her movie career continued, Ricci was frequently overshadowed by her co-stars,
from Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow to Charlize Theron in Monster.
Ultimately, Ricci turned to the small screen,
taking on a variety of complicated women from history like Zelda Fitzgerald, Nellie Bly,
and ax-murderess Lizzie Borden. However, the best role of Ricci's career is that
of sociopath nurse Misty in Showtime's hit drama Yellowjackets. As Misty, Ricci fuses
the wholesome innocence of her early work with the creepy menace of her later performances.
Kate Winslet enjoys taking chances. Early in her career, she chose roles that demonstrated range,
which kept her from being typecast. She made her audacious debut as a murderous teenager
in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, then tackled Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility,
Shakespeare in 1996's Hamlet, and followed it up with Titanic.
Despite the fame that came with Titanic, Winslet continued to stretch herself,
resulting in seven Oscar nominations and an overdue win for The Reader.
"You've grown up, kid."
But the best and most challenging role of her career came in HBO's miniseries Mare of
Easttown. As a dogged Philadelphia detective investigating a murder,
Winslet mines pathos and humor from the bleakest of circumstances. As a result, she rightfully won
best actress at the SAG Awards, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and the Primetime Emmys.
Winslet's Mare is a performance that lingers with you long after the case is closed.
Jeff Daniels is a standout in all of his films, from high-end dramas like Pleasantville and
Steve Jobs, to less distinguished outings like Dumb and Dumber and Dumb and Dumber 2.
Over his four-decade career, Daniels has proven he can handle any genre. He first
appeared on the big screen in Miloš Forman's 1981 period drama Ragtime in a minor role
as a police officer. Two years later, Daniels' career took flight with James
L. Brooks' Oscar-winning tearjerker Terms of Endearment. He played Flap, the young,
impulsive college professor who marries the vivacious Emma, played by Debra Winger.
As Flap, Daniels tapped into the messiness of his character's life.
He perfected this sensibility in his most impressive movie performance. In
Noah Baumbach's 2005 dark comedy The Squid and the Whale, Daniels played a pretentious,
jealous English professor in denial about the breakdown of his family. But the performance
of Daniels' career came in Aaron Sorkin's love-it-or-hate-it HBO drama series The Newsroom.
"Well, our Constitution is a masterpiece. James Madison was a genius. The Declaration
of Independence is, for me, the single greatest piece of American writing."
Daniels starred as famously difficult television
anchor Will McAvoy, delivering Sorkin's monologues with a hair-raising intensity
that is part Shakespearean actor, part carnival barker. Despite all that,
Daniels manages to render him human, earning three Emmy nominations and one win for his bravado work.
Steve Buscemi's prolific movie career blossomed in a series of collaborations with Joel and
Ethan Coen, beginning with 1990's gangster drama Miller's Crossing. Over the next 8 years, Buscemi
and the Coen brothers collaborated on four feature films — Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo,
and The Big Lebowski. Buscemi's work with the Coens and his performance as Mr. Pink in Quentin
Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs honed his reputation as one of the greater character actors of all time.
“How do you do, fellow kids?”
Buscemi showed a radically different side in Terry Zwigoff's offbeat indie Ghost World as Seymour,
a gentle jazz enthusiast who becomes the morbid obsession of recent high school grad Enid. But
he turned to television for the best role of his career: Nucky Thompson in Terence
Winter's HBO prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire. Buscemi is mesmerizing as the corrupt Atlantic
City treasurer, playing the well-deserved leading role in complete command of his craft.