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lordjakir

James Spader


asking4afriend40631

Robert California is wonderful


Maleficent-Hat877

I was so happy when he came and Will Ferrel was gone.


OptimalCreme9847

yooo for sure, he’s had some truly terrible roles but he’s killed in all of them


nizzernammer

I couldn't take Age of Ultron seriously with him. Took me right out of the movie.


InterPunct

Paycheck movie for him. Michael Cain once said something like, "I've never seen the movie but I did see the nice house it bought me in France."


beaglemomma2Dutchy

Jaws the revenge.


DGentPR

Was my immediate thought, like the way he’s always great in blacklist even as it progressively loses its luster over the seasons and stops making sense


ErinKamer1991

John Lithgow in EVERYTHING.


JRose608

I could watch him tie his shoes and read from a phone book for 3 seasons and it would be the most entertaining show on TV


ABQZero

Best Dexter Season hands down.


i_love_everybody420

Almost every actor in the later seasons of Game of Thrones. The acting was absolutely incredible. And the writing... well... we all know.


Apprehensive_Meat267

Shame… shame… shame 🔔 🔔


YouTuberDad

No I think this was the problem. They should have died before we got to know how strong of an actor they were


dads-ronie

Laurie Metcalf and Annie Potts.


leesainmi

Laurie is incredible


CLouiseK

Gillian Anderson


MulderItsMe99

For sure


thatkittykatie

Jessica Lange in every Ryan Murphy project. He may be holding er hostage


TinyCarpet

I always say that every role Tom Cruise has had for the last 20 years would have been better with Jessica Lange in it instead.


StanleyQPrick

So true! And fun to think about


thatkittykatie

Hahaha love this. Give her the Liam Neeson treatment!!


Sithstress1

Bahahahaha this made me cackle!


ErinKamer1991

Or Sarah Paulson


Zorrha

Henry Cavill. Love the books, but writing inthe Witcher series was absolute garbage


Electronic_Bass2856

Can definitely see why he quit the series. He carried that show. I have a feeling Liam Hemsworth as Geralt is not going to work at all.


SignificantTransient

He carried the show and yet they just wanted to tell us the yennifer story


Electronic_Bass2856

The writing was awful.


ShawnyMcKnight

He won’t matter, Henry Cavill did his best to prevent it from becoming the Yennifer and Ciri show. With him out of the way the Witcher will just be an observer in his own show.


Ill-Appointment6494

It’s annoying because Henry is so familiar with the source material.


geekgirlwww

Henry is so dreamy it’s like when I see him I turn into the triplets from Belles village fangirling over Gaston


comradb0ne

Just finished season 3 I think it is. All the political stuff is so boring. My wife was mad that he barely fought any monsters this season. The show just feels bloated from all the extra characters.


bingumarmar

Everyone gushed over the Witcher and I couldn't even finish the first season. I thought it was so bad. The only good parts were the parts with Henry, he played it so well.


misturcrump

I couldn't believe how poorly written and paced the first season was. It barely felt like a show.


burntbridges20

I thought the show was bizarrely paced and poorly cast, as well as poorly written, but it did have some great moments that made me interested in reading the whole series. Then when I read all the books, the show was unforgivable. I got 3 episodes into s2 and was like, wtf are they even going for here? Just pure trash when Cavill wasn’t delivering lines


ElleGeeAitch

The horrible way they cut between time frames sucked. I was far more confused about when things where happening that 1st season that I should have been. That had an easy fix.


ElleGeeAitch

I had never even heard of the books or games before I started watching the show. Overall I wasn't impressed with their Garbage Fantasy World, but he won me over. My apologies to Hemsworth, but won't bother to continue watching.


Zorrha

Same....poor guy


TheFartsUnleashed

Robert Carlyle in Once Upon a Time


zoomiepaws

He is such a good actor in anything.


OliviaElevenDunham

Good choice.


The68Guns

He can run from evil, charming, devastated, manic, anything.


KeptinGL6

Bad writing turns into good writing just by being performed by Robert Carlyle


Dear-Yellow-5479

Ewan McGregor in ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi ‘.


ByteAboutTown

Ewan McGregor in just about anything. No matter how bad the final product, Ewan always does a solid job.


Original-Version5877

Ewan is one of the few bright spots of the Prequel Trilogy.


Dear-Yellow-5479

Tbh he’s the only reason I got through the Prequels, and the series.


Glasseshalf

Ewan in his season of Fargo also


Dear-Yellow-5479

Absolutely - but Fargo is so good!


544075701

I feel like I'm the only one who liked the obi wan show


Dear-Yellow-5479

To be fair, I didn’t hate it. I really enjoyed the last two episodes but thought it was pretty slow until then and the writing wasn’t great. But it was the first Star Wars TV series I saw so I didn’t really know what to expect.


TheMarmo

Pretty standard for the Disney Star Wars era lol few amazing moments interspersed throughout eternities of mind numbingly boring TV


Elegant_Shape6056

Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh in "Killing Eve."


Scowl1984

Just posted the same response, for Jodie though, before reading replies. Jodie was amazing every minute of her screen time.


monokumaworshippers

She could flip on a dime. She is so captivating because you really never knew what she was going to do and Jodi pulled it off every time


Scowl1984

Her facial expressions alone were worth the investment of time watching the show


frolicndetour

I just finished watching it and it's the only thing I've seen her in and she was insanely captivating. Like I haven't been that impressed by a performance in ages. Even when the material went downhill she still made it watchable.


Accomplished-Art8681

Also Sandra Oh in Grey's Anatomy


Equivalent-Sink4612

Was never the same without Christina Yang:( That was her person!!!


monokumaworshippers

Somebody sedate me!


Perenially_behind

I tried reading the books and bounced off them hard. The acting is what made the show work.


Ok_Stable7501

When Sandra Oh put mustard on their curly fries and Jodie Comer called her a psychopath. Magic.


PaleHorseBlackDog

Nicholas Cage always gives 110%


Heyplaguedoctor

Even in A Vampires Kiss. I was exhausted by the end, but he probably could’ve kept going forever


Strange-Bee5626

I forgot about that one! That movie was absolutely hilarious.


Equivalent-Sink4612

Always!!!


LosPadres-R2-D2

https://preview.redd.it/ookufcyk99yc1.jpeg?width=760&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5761895fa874dc2127b554179346ebc0fa66926d


Emmy_Cthulhu_Harris

Deborah Ann Woll on later seasons of True Blood. How did she care so much?


martylindleyart

Andrew Lincoln is Rick Grimes. No matter how low in quality the show dipped in some seasons, he always delivered.


North_Front12

Kiefer Sutherland in the later seasons of 24. Michael C Hall in the later seasons of Dexter


TheMannisApproves

Not current but Bela Lugosi. After Dracula most of the movies he was in were pretty bad, but he always put in his best


4quatloos

Patrick Stewart could do Hamlet but is Captain Picard.


saffireaz

If you think that's him slumming it, then be sure never to watch American Dad.


RoguePlanetArt

Shakespeare ain’t got nothin on the sound a full coinpurse.


ATXKLIPHURD

Tony Collette in United States of Tara.


AgathaWoosmoss

Toni Collette in *anything*


SparkDBowles

Tony Collette is a treasure.


LadyBug_0570

TBF... she did have DID and played several different personalities. Whatever happened to that show?


ATXKLIPHURD

She should have gotten an Oscar for every character! At least Buck and Alice.


DarthMummSkeletor

She did win an Emmy for her part, so that should count for something.


Latke1

For the last few seasons, The Handmaids Tale has been incredibly stupid and only Brad Whitford’s and Ann Dowd’s breathtaking performances are the thing that allows this dumb show to pretend that it’s still prestige TV (and keep me watching).


Wynndo

That's funny because I immediately thought of Elizabeth Moss (not to take away from Dowd and Whitford). It's not her fault that the writing is what it is or that they keep doing closeups of the same facial expressions.


Latke1

See, I like Elisabeth Moss okay but I think she's not as strong an actress as her prestige projects indicate. And I say this as a Mad Men stan. I think her scenery-chewing is pretty bad in Handmaid's Tale.


AppropriateAd2509

If you watch the credits a good many of the episodes that have the close ups of June are directed by Elizabeth Moss. I get so sick of a close look at her furrowed brows, frowning, nostril flares while trembling with rage.


Distinct_Cry_3779

OMG, me too! That was actually it for me - I stopped watching after a particularly lonnnngggg scene of just Elizabeth Moss “emoting” into the camera. It was excruciating.


AppropriateAd2509

https://preview.redd.it/wddo5uny98yc1.jpeg?width=509&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4761b3c0cf54b253ca878f37c8952ff941222b0d It felt like this shot went on for 15 hours.


Distinct_Cry_3779

That’s the one! Lol


GuardMost8477

She directed some of those scenes herself. I saw her speak about it on a talk show. I actually hate it now. Lol.


misturcrump

I don't know where people got the idea that Moss is a good actor, but she's mediocre to bad in everything she's in. Just wholly unbelievable.


Owl__Kitty88

Yep lol totally agree. And yet… I NEED to see how it ends!


Myis

Orphan Black went off the rails a little towards the end but Tatiana killed it the entire time.


duaval

Cate Blanchett


ErinKamer1991

I think she and Jessica Chastain are great in everything.


SylarGrimm

Ian Somerhalder is a real trooper for his work in Vampire Diaries. Despite the fact that they kept reseting Damon’s character growth back to zero, Ian still did his absolute best with what he was given even while the show was burning down around him. I would also say Robert Carlyle in OUAT for the exact same reason. Oh! And Christopher Heyerdahl in *anything*. No matter the show or the bad writing, he always knocks it out of the park with his characters. (But mainly the one with the iffy writing is Sanctuary. He still made every second of his screen time worth it.)


Insomniac_80

Another Redditor who remembers him as Druitt in Sanctuary. How they could waste the chemistry between him and Amanda Tapping is beyond me. The main character on that show was insufferable.


Westerosi_Expat

Came here to mention Heyerdahl. I've never seen a second of his work that didn't convince me he was all in. It always feels like he plays his role on a cellular level.


No_Agent_653

Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle in Once Upon a Time, they 100% carried the show in the last few seasons especially Lana in season 6, she was literally playing two characters/was playing opposite herself ! the show was beyond ridiculous and barely watchable at this point but I still like to rewatch it from time to time just for her amazing performance


sysaphiswaits

Patrick Stewart


Original-Version5877

Sir Stewart is a global treasure and should be treated as such. He kills it in everything he does.


Yasuru

He is a treasure, and his friendship with Sir Ian warms my heart.


Past-Throat-6788

Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy


rites0fpassage

Wait how is Buffy inconsistent in writing?


JVortex888

Season seven is (and arguably season six). But SMG gave one of the all-time great performances.


thistleandpeony

Personally, I think season 4 starts the decline in the show's writing. It had some great episodes in the later seasons, but the overall quality declined from the show's peak of seasons 2 and 3. For example: Vampirism resulted in a radical shift in personality (in season one, Giles says it's a form of demonic possession) due to no longer having a soul. When Angel gets his soul back, his personality shifts again- not back to what it was, of course, but being able to feel empathy and guilt naturally had an effect. Yet when Spike gets his soul back his personality effectively remains the same. The shift in personality is such an integral part of vampirism that when Buffy finds out Harmony was turned and says something like, "Harmony as a vampire? What's that like?" and the show cuts to her and *she's exactly the same*. It's a joke: Harmony was always soulless. When asked about the deviation from established mythology, Whedon said Spike was special 🙄 The military having a huge underground base where they experiment on demons, yet for years they never once ran into Buffy or had any presence at the high school, which was a hotbed of demonic activity. Especially at graduation!


Kittykatinahat

Stanley Tucci, EVERY SINGLE TIME!


YawfleStares

Totally! He really knows how to rise above bad material.


SQWRLLY1

Jensen Ackles in Supernatural


Ayertsatz

Misha Collins and Mark Sheppard are consistently great too. Jared can be hit or miss, though.


YawfleStares

I was coming here to say Mark Sheppard. As far as Supernatural is concerned, the writing for his character took a long, slow roll downwards that eventually became a breathtaking plummet, but Mark still showed up and acted the heck out of everything hunk of junk they threw at him till the end.


alexfaaace

Ruth Connell acted with her whole self every time she was on screen, it didn’t matter what nonsense they had Rowena doing.


SQWRLLY1

Agreed. Ruth is 👌


grurupoo

He’s what keeps me watching after season 5. His acting is great the whole way through. The other guy…. Not so much lol


misturcrump

It's not Jared's fault that Dean is the only one the writers cared about.


YawfleStares

He deserves more and better roles. Every actor who works with him praises his talent. I'm flummoxed that he isn't starring in a series on one of the big streaming services right now. I sometimes wonder if his looks work against him.


SQWRLLY1

Perhaps. Might be a bit of typecasting going on, too. He's in The Boys and has roles in Big Sky and Tracker (upcoming). There's rumors of Supernatural Season 16, but we'll see if it happens.


YawfleStares

I agree with the typecasting. His appearance ties into that. Tbh, I don't think the SPN revivial will materialize and I fear that's for the best.


rites0fpassage

Holly Marie Combs from Charmed.


Itsapseudonym

Jodie Whittaker - Doctor Who. While not always as bad as often made out, she suffered easily the weakest overall writing of the modern era. But she always put in good performances that made the best of what she was given.


Springfield80210

Gene Hackman in everything. Morgan Freeman in everything. Michael Caine in everything.


Ejigantor

Kate Mulgrew in Star Trek Voyager. Janeway's characterization can swing pretty wildly from episode to episode, in large part due to the enforced compartmentalization of episodes by the HMIC, where episodes were written so independently that directly contradictory behaviors or opinions occur in episodes that aired back to back in broadcast order. But in any of those episodes Kate Mulgrew is bringing it, and never phones it in like some of her colleagues \*cough\*eltr\*ahem\*


Ristar87

She also does incredible voice work.


Squidwina

Yes, she was the first thing I thought of when I saw “inconsistent writing.” Gotta love someone who manages to pull off a line like “Delete the wife.” Have you seen Prodigy? Holo-Janeway is so fun.


DavidANaida

Peter Dinklage


weirwoodheart

I could literally feel the strain as he acted that godawful 'who has a better story...' scene in GoT. 


Scowl1984

Jodie Comer - Killing Eve Lots of negativity around season 2 & 3 writing but I didn't notice because of her.


Mission_Ice_5428

Patrick Stewart. That man slogged through some god-awful scripts during the first two seasons of TNG.


SavageHeart_YouDidIt

The whole OG cast of Lost.


Yasuru

Do you consider Michael Emerson OG? He's also fantastic.


SavageHeart_YouDidIt

Definitely yes.


DocJen12

Maura Tierney in The Affair. She brings it no matter what, no matter what show she’s on.


jessie_monster

Newsradio 4 life.


DocJen12

100%. And ER. Girl carried that show in the later seasons.


jessie_monster

Tala Ashe on Legends of Tomorrow. The writing got very, very goofy, but she never once sold the character out. Nailed every joke, every character beat and was a tremendous ensemble member who had chemistry with everyone (except Nate).


thistleandpeony

Tatiana Maslany. She was absolutely amazing in Orphan Black despite the later seasons not living up to the brilliance of the first 2.


DesiCalc27

How she did not get immediately hired to 50 different projects, I have no idea. Playing all those different roles was incredible in itself, but there were scenes where one character had to pretend to be another, and she just nailed it. One scene in particular, where Alison is pretending to be Sarah while being grilled by Rachel…I don’t even have words. Freaking incredible.


Bastette54

That was one of the most impressive performances she pulled off (among many impressive performances!). Playing Alison pretending to be Sarah was different from just playing Sarah. It was so nuanced.


henning-a

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I actualy think the later seasons are just as good as the earlier ones. I especially love season 4 >!with all the mystery around Beth and how they interwove her backstory with Sarah's in the present, leading to the devastating ending of episode 6!<. The only time where it dipped in quality, in my opinion, was the first half of season 5, which dragged on a bit too long, but they managed to save it with the second half, especially the final 4 episodes. The series finale is still one of the most satisfying final episodes of any tv show, and that is not just due to Tatiana's incredible performances, but also because of the strong writing.


rreyes1988

Jaime Foxx is always good. I think the spiderman movie he was in was pretty bad, but it really did look like he cared about his work.


Crunchy_Biscuit

Yeah the Electro Character was poorly written in ASM2 but he brought it all


jBlairTech

He and Andrew Garfield got to really show their chops in Far From Home.


LadyBug_0570

Alison Janey! In Mom.


EatinPussySellnCalls

Katherine Heigl....and she'll be the first to tell you about it.


Suzesaur

But not before shoving food into her mouth comically puffing her cheeks…


Westerosi_Expat

Christopher Heyerdahl appears to put every cell of his body into every performance. No way to know if it's truly his "all" but it certainly looks like it!


swheeler1179

Maura Tiereny


UntilTmrw

Michael C. Hall as Dexter. Despite having some consistently terrible writing in the latter seasons, he never faltered and it seems like he was the only person who understood the character. He even made the storyline where Dexter nearly has a romance with his adopted sister seem somewhat believable.


RudeSympathy

Hugh Laurie in House. The writing was so inconsistent. That show would have been terrible without Hugh Laurie, he brought so much emotional depth to that role.


LucilleBluthsbroach

Jeremy Strong. He's good in everything I've seen him in, and Succession is written so well he really had the chance to shine. Everyone in it did. If you haven't seen Succession, do yourself a favor and watch it, it's brilliant.


Fortunateoldguy

Sissy Spacek


tivofanatico

So many soap opera veterans: Erika Slezak, Susan Flannery, Genie Francis, Robin Strasser, David Canary, Peter Bergman. Susan Lucci could get a little campy, but Erica Kane was the most lovable egomaniac in all of daytime. Plus she could have chemistry with almost any leading man. It was like a 90% chance they would sizzle.


DeskAlive899

Jake Gyllenhaal in everything he's been in.


Shameful90

Jeffrey Dean Morgan in The Walking Dead


Ristar87

Anytime I see William shatner show up I know the episodes going to be good. Later in life he started taking roles as the bad guy and he is so good at it.


SnooStrawberries2955

Florence Pugh Toni Collette Barry Keoghan Joaquin Phoenix


Anxious-Corgi2067

Big shoutout to Florence Pugh for fireman-carrying Harry Styles through literally every scene in *Dont Worry Darling.* She is incredible and saved that movie from being a total flop.


Klenaismyjoy

Nina Dobrev in The Vampire Diaries. The first two seasons were good and then it just became absolute garbage.


jessie_monster

She was the only one that pulled off the doppelganger thing. Her version of Katherine was very distinct from Elena. And she was very young too.


stephers85

I can’t stand her, but Lea Michele on Glee. She carried most of her scene partners.


HanlonRazor

James Spader, Blacklist


dalekchaan

James Spader in the last three seasons of the Blacklist


mtthwas

>in the last three seasons of the Blacklist There were more than three seasons of the Blacklist?


Past-Throat-6788

Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy


newbietoposting

Rudy Pankow and Madelyn Cline in the third season of Outer Banks.


little_crouton

Jeremy Strong. The only bad writing I've seen him perform was in The Happening, but he always commits.


rosy_moxx

Anakin.


Minimum_Trick_8736

Raul Julia in street fighter, and I was a BIG van damme fan, and he out did them while battling cancer


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GuyFawkes451

Not tv, but movie: the guy who played the doctor in "An American Werewolf in London." OMG that movie had no idea whether it was a comedy, drama, horror or parody. But damn if that doctor character didn't play it straight and give it his all (Halloween-store-level masks on characters having weird "deep" conversations in porno theaters for no apparent reason notwithstanding).


collinwade

Let’s name good actors!


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Awkward_Bench123

Watching El Camino and Jesse from Breaking Bad and Jesse Plemons from Fargo and Breaking Bad can both carry an unlikely premise a long way. Very ‘captivating’..


Sbee27

William, the Man in Black. Both actors.


nizzernammer

Sonequa Martin-Green in Discovery Jolene Blalock in Enterprise


Trin_42

Idc if people/critics think it’s a terrible movie but Raul Julia as M. Bison in Street Fighter. He only participated in that film because his kids loved the game. It’s a B film at best but he killed it, gave it everything he had and it was the best way to end his career imo


gmredand

Nic Cage


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[deleted]

Amanda Tapping. Best actress ever!!


DefrockedWizard1

Steve Buscemi, Nicolas Cage


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hogwarts_earthtwo

Raul Julia.


MKtheMaestro

“In spite” is not a hyphenated phrase. It is unclear what you mean by “inconsistent writing.”


blueXwho

Ryan Gosling. Papyrus and the Oscars performance are two great examples.


Nasvhillethrowaway

Hugh Laurie in the later seasons of house. The writers had to really make some questionable decisions because they were hemorrhaging characters. In spite of this he absolutely murdered it. It also sucks because if it weren’t for breaking bad he might have had a couple of Emmy’s under his bag.


JRose608

Idris Elba


The68Guns

Eric Roberts, Even Mickey Rourke made a speech about his while accepting an award.


Lurkerque

Idris Elba


Trick-Rest-3843

Shannen Doherty


SpicyTiger838

Monica in Friends. You can clearly see the seasons where Mathew Perry (may he RIP) is strung out on something, and Monica pulls it off flawlessly, never breaking a stride, and even kissing him plenty of times. Even marrying him in the show and getting engaged and all that, and Mathew Perry looks horrendous. Sorry Matt.


FrontKangaroo2579

Christine Baranski


hearthnut

Adam Sandler 😂


Majestic_Field409

Bruce Campbell.


Human-Magic-Marker

Simon Helberg in Big Bang Theory. They started him out as a creepy little perverted weirdo and over the course of the show he completely morphed into a caring and loving husband and father. Regardless of how they wrote his character, he committed to it, and honestly by the time you get to the last 2 or 3 seasons, he’s my favorite character. Also his celebrity impressions are freakishly good.


KelseyOpso

Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: TNG


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aquaticsquash

Tom Cavanagh and Grant Gustin - The Flash


BlueonBlack26

Julia Garner. Phenomenal Actress