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Brittany Snow (The Good Half)
As Leigh, you get the real devastation of Snow’s character and Nick Jonas’ losing their mother, Lily. For with Jonas’ character getting to experience the best of her as Lily distanced herself from Leigh and the failure of her first marriage, to hear and see her reaction to reconciling in her mother’s final months, Snow is able to refocus the film away from out of place comedy and Jonas, with Alexandra Shipp, crafting a romance movie.
Myha’la (Industry)
In my mind, Viola Davis in “How To Get Away With Murder” paved the road so Myha’la could be someone like Harper on “Industry.” As one of the most consistently engaging characters, whether you hate how easily she could backstab someone or are enamored with her underdog story, fueled by unsurmountable ambition, considering how much praise “Industry” got for season 3, I’m hoping, expecting, Myha’la to get the same traction as her peers and not only be a notable part of ensembles, like “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” but get to be the lead.
Willa Fitzgerald (Strange Darling)
If I was to be very honest with you, Willa Fitzgerald, after “Dare Me” back in 2020, was not on my radar. Her role, Coach French, on that show was the type that would make you question if it is the writing or the actor? But, with Strange Darling, similar to how many realized for Shailene Woodley, it was her former show, “The Secret Life Of The American Teenager,” not her abilities; you will see that with Fitzgerald in Strange Darling.
Now, granted, “Strange Darling,” which is also in our top movies of the year, is written in a way that I feel would push most actors to give their best. Also, if thriller/horror movies got recognition from major award bodies, we’d hear about it as much as “The Substance,” but, getting back to Fitzgerald, as “The Lady,” she delivers the unexpected in more ways than one. Whether it truly was just the writing or how much she has grown as an actor in 4 years, she delivered one of the biggest surprise performances in 2024.
Beatrice Schneider (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever)
The youngest member of this list, Beatrice Schneider, elevated “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” beyond anything I believe most expected. As the eldest sister of the Herdman family, a bunch of rag-tag kids the whole town has written off as bad, you could imagine something simple coming from the role. But, Schneider and the trio of writers behind the film bring far more than a kid with a chip on their shoulder trying to bogart their way into the town’s most famous play.
In pursuit of being the perfect Virgin Mary, Schneider is the epitome of this quote we’ve been using for nearly two decades now:
[…] Most things you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely and lacking in social niceties.
- Big Fish
And in watching Schneider give you both this kid who had to be tough to take care of, if not raise multiple siblings, paired with someone who not only wanted to understand the material of the Nativity Story, but ends up exhibiting how those within the town ostracized her and her family like the baby Jesus? Oh, that girl will have you crying by the end of the film and mad there wasn’t anything in the marketing hinting you’d feel something.
Rain Pryor (Brewster’s Millions Christmas)
Beyond being Richard Pryor’s daughter and seeing her in documentaries about her father, I didn’t know much about Rain Pryor. Yes, she has acted in many productions, dating back to the late 80s, but her work has been sporadic, specifically in film and television, since 2000. So, my expectations were low after seeing one of her father’s films getting an unasked sequel. Yet, despite bigger names, at least in modern times, like China Anne McClain, I’d submit Pryor stole the movie.
Part of the reason, to be fair, is because, as a mother down on her luck, making the best of a situation, like many on this list, the writing set up Pryor to succeed. However, anyone who watches a good amount of television and movies can tell you the writing can be good, but if the actors are trash, it doesn’t matter. But with Pryor, she makes McClain’s journey mean something, she makes the continuation of “Brewster’s Millions” still not feel justified, but at least some form of acceptable because her character and performance, which is saying something.
Collin Farrell, Cristin Miloti, Rhenzy Feliz, and Deirdre O’Connell (The Penguin)
The people behind the casting of “The Penguin” deserve the same kind of deal we see major showrunners get because the combination they got for “The Penguin” was damn near perfect. Whether it is Farrell as the title character, Felix as his right-hand Victor, Miloti as Sofia, or O’Connell playing Oswald’s mother, the combination reminds you of HBO’s heyday.
For as Oswald, Farrell reminds you that it is rarely the heroes, it is the villains who make the story and without villains like Penguin, who gives a damn about Batman – who, by the way, isn’t seen once and barely even acknowledged. Then, speaking of Miloti! She may very well be one of the most diverse in talent actresses out there. I say that because there aren’t too many who can do comedy, drama, unhinged, and nail it every time. But as Sofia Falcone, she built up a character who certainly wasn’t a big name in Batman’s Rogue Gallery and made you wonder why this was one of the first major times this character got tapped.
And the thing is, even for those who aren’t villains, like Feliz as Victor or O’Connell as Francis, they draw you in and add something, too. Victor, in his own rise in the criminal underworld, going from this scared kid who lost everything in “The Batman” to someone who is damn near like a son to Oswald and could become a general in his army, it was almost shocking to see the kid from “Marvel’s Runaways” take this role on and not become a nuisance or liability, but someone whose journey you are invested in.
Last but certainly not least is Deirdre O’Connell. As Oswald’s Achilles heel, his mother, a woman with dementia, you could imagine not much being done with O’Connell’s character Francis. However, alongside being Oswald’s Achille’s heel, she also was his heart and as much as hearing him saying “Ma” could easily become a drinking game, considering all the people Oswald has screwed over in his life, realizing one of his biggest betrayals was against his own mother, and how she bared that, was devasting and while I don’t recall crying, there was still a punch that could take your breath away and have you remember for a long time who hit you so hard.
Live Performance: Table 17
From Kara Young, a recent Tony Winner, to Michael Rishawn, who plays multiple, very different characters, and Biko Eisen-Martin, what was delivered in “Table 17” is why it is a damn shame Off-Broadway productions don’t get the same longevity to be on stage as on Broadway. With less than a month and a half of performances, this was one of our favorite live theater shows in 2024.
Rishawn made us laugh to the point we could have been in tears, Young showed she could potentially give Audra MacDonald a run for her money as long as good roles keep getting written, and while in our review, we didn’t praise Eisen-Martin as well as the other two, it was simply because he was good, better than most, but Young and Rishawn were dominant and etching themselves in everyone’s minds so whether face or name, you would know any marketing material or article you see, you would make the connection.
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