To be fair, I’ll make a list of my favorite TV actresses in response to last week’s list of top actors on TV. Admittedly, there are more TV shows that have male leads but that doesn’t mean that the female talent is also sparse. Here are my top actresses in drama.
Margo Martindale
Surprise! First on this list is Margo Martindale, the best actress in all of TV. And why shouldn’t she be? She’s one of the best players on The Americans, has her own network show on CBS, and is acting alongside Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep on August: Osage County. And if you’ve been watching Miss Martindale for as long as I’ve watched her, she even steals the spotlight from her co-actors, Meryl Streep included.
Robin Wright
I’m not that big a fan of House of Cards but I saw the first season and I have to say that they have one of the best ensembles on “TV” in the last year. Kevin Spacey leads the pack but Robin Wright made sure that she wouldn’t be out-shined by the Oscar award winning actor. Miss Wright just won Best Actress in a Drama in the Golden Globes and the Satellite Awards, proving that she is one of the most capable actresses in TV right now.
Tatiana Maslaney
So Tatiana didn’t win the Golden Globe, that’s disappointing. From all of the nominees, she’s one of the favorites thanks to her excellent portrayal of different clones in her hit show Orphan Black. Admittedly, Miss Maslaney has a more avid following on the internet rather on the mainstream but a major award show trophy could’ve cemented her growing popularity. Her loss wasn’t that devastating as her acting chops was mainly appealing due to the number of characters that she plays. But if she gets the chance to focus on one character then we must prepare ourselves for greatness and nothing less.
Anna Gunn
Who hates Skyler White? I do. And that just proves how Miss Gunn expertly portrayed the character of the wife of a methamphetamine king pin. She’s so good that people even hate her in real life, no joke. I’ve been re-watching the whole of Breaking Bad and there are a couple of times that her character, Skyler, acted to get out of trouble or to get what she wanted. One was when she was returning Marie’s baby gift (the tiara) and when Skyler called the locksmith to break in on Walter’s apartment. She’s so good, even her character is good at acting.
Kerry Washington
Scandal is crazy famous right now thanks to Kerry Washington’s excellent portrayal of Olivia Pope. Even before Scandal’s popularity exploded, we already knew that Miss Washington was a very capable actor. She had a big part in Django Unchained as Broomhilda, the titular character’s love interest. And in 2013, she proved that she had other acting tricks aside from drama when she hosted Saturday Night Live and gave a very impressive performance. She was nominated for a Golden Globe but lost to Robin Wright.