● Female
Limited Series
FYC: Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
W
E’VE SAID IT BEFORE AND WE’LL SAY IT AGAIN: Limited and anthology series are where you can find today’s most exciting television—and TV acting. That’s particularly true of the women who captivated us enough during their short run of episodes that we find ourselves begging for a second season. Here are 2021’s buzziest and best female performers in miniseries or TV movies.
Connie Britton
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cowardice, empowerment, and loneliness exactly when this twisted satire needs them.
Jessica Chastain
“Scenes From a Marriage” This mostly two-hander starring Chastain and Oscar Isaac never shies away from heavy emotions, trusting its stars to plunge us into the depths of a fraying marriage. In as different a mode as possible from her title role in this year’s “The Eyes of Tammy
Danielle Brooks
“Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia” Anyone who’s still unaware of Brooks’ onscreen brilliance hasn’t been paying attention. Her charisma levels are higher than ever when she’s breathing life
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Faye,” Chastain reminds us of her ability to convey raw vulnerability, infusing her Mira with outrage, joy, and heartbreak.
Jennifer Coolidge
“The White Lotus” Coolidge has harnessed her gifts in countless projects. Still, this Mike White series gives us a gratifying opportunity to see an actor embody a role crafted precisely for her. Tanya is a vapid, spoiled snob—someone whom Coolidge invites us to ridicule. Yet she’s also—“at the core of the onion,” as she proclaims in the show’s best speech—a woman adrift, grieving the loss of her mother and daring us not to empathize. backstage.com
COURTESY LIFETIME
“The White Lotus” Study Britton’s line readings on “The White Lotus,” and you’ll realize she’s a bottomless well of subtext. On the surface, her Nicole Mossbacher is a shallow, spoiled lady-boss, too self-obsessed to relate to her husband (Steve Zahn) or children (Sydney Sweeney and Fred Hechinger). But Britton digs beneath that outer layer to unearth
into another gifted performer: gospel goddess and civil rights trailblazer Mahalia Jackson. Brooks maneuvers the curves of a typical biopic, and her embodiment of Jackson’s joyful triumphs are made all the sweeter after she’s guided us through her crushing adversity.
“THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD”: KYLE KAPLAN; “SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE”: JOJO WHILDEN/HBO
DANIELLE BROOKS ON “ROBIN ROBERTS PRESENTS: MAHALIA”
