[h2]Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black (BBC America)[/h2]
Why: This Canadian talent delivered the best performance of the year not once but four times on BBC America’s breakout sci-fi hit Orphan Black. The show follows street-smart hustler Sarah Manning after she witnesses a woman who looks exactly like her jumping in front of a train. The crazy, brilliant twists throughout the first season are far too delicious for me to spoil here, but Maslany is utterly magnificent in the leading role(s).
In addition to Sarah, she portrays soccer mom Alison Hendrix, brainiac Cosima Niehaus and deranged sociopath Helena. It’s truly dazzling to watch the actress embody each character with distinctive mannerisms and personalities, and Maslany has better chemistry with different versions of herself than any actor-actress pair on television.
Even when the clones are pretending to be each other, the beauty of Maslany’s performance is that we know each of her characters, and we can immediately distinguish between them based on tiny details elegantly communicated by the actress. Though Orphan Black often delves into hard sci-fi, Maslany’s stunning and emotional performance keeps the show both refreshingly grounded and spectacularly compelling.
What’s Next: Season 2 of Orphan Black hits BBC America next April. Maslany also stars alongside Richard Dreyfuss in dramedy Cas & Dylan, which hit screens in Canada this past September.
[h2]Lake Bell – In A World…[/h2]
Why: The triple-threat directed, wrote and starred in one of the year’s best comedies. As a director, Bell proved her skills behind the camera, keeping In A World…‘s plot (about a young woman performing voice-overs for movie trailers) zipping along with considerable energy and enthusiasm.
As protagonist Carol, Bell is utterly magnetic, expertly toeing the line between snarky self-awareness and cheerful peppiness. Finally, Bell’s razor-sharp screenplay makes a case for In A World… as one of the most strongly written comedies in recent years. The film didn’t get as much recognition as it should have, but no one can deny just how powerfully Bell broke onto the Hollywood scene this year.
What’s Next: Bell will appear in 2014 sports drama Million Dollar Arm, lend her voice to next year’s animated comedy Mr. Peabody & Sherman, star in a thriller called The Coup alongside Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan then take on the lead role in Man Up, a British comedy co-starring Simon Pegg.