2 minute read
National/Regional
JADEN MICHAEL ON “COLIN IN BLACK AND WHITE”
EVAN PETERS ON “MARE OF EASTTOWN”
of them. Watching him onscreen, you get the sense that this is an actor who understands artistry at its core: here a touch of sexy suaveness, there a glimpse of creative fire in his eyes. The Emmy winner makes this titan of industry somehow both familiar and unknowable.
Jaden Michael
“Colin in Black and White”
In light of the historic reckoning for racial equity we’ve seen over the past year, pro footballer Colin Kaepernick’s story of activism has never been timelier. He gets the Netflix treatment with Ava DuVernay at the helm and a perfectly cast young star. Portraying the high school experiences around race and athletics that shaped Kaepernick into the man he is today, Michael is a boy wonder, doing the source material proud while preaching a message the world needs to hear.
Clive Owen
“Impeachment: American Crime Story”
We’ve long known that SAG Award winner and Oscar nominee Owen can act, but color us impressed with his uncanny embodiment of one of American history’s most divisive politicians. His Bill Clinton isn’t one that you’d find on “Saturday Night Live,” and in this strangerthan-fiction FX dramatization of his years-spanning sex scandal and subsequent trial, that’s a good thing.
Evan Peters
“Mare of Easttown”
After a decade of reliably stellar work on the small screen— especially in the Ryan Murphy TV-verse—Peters’ turn as smitten detective Colin Zabel finally notched him his first Emmy nomination and win. His halfsmiling, prodding delivery of the line, “How do you know what I want?” offers sweetness matched with despair—especially knowing the character’s fate that soon followed.
Aaron Pierre
“The Underground Railroad”
Pierre captivates us from the first
moment he appears onscreen as Caesar, an enslaved man in antebellum Georgia plotting his escape in this gorgeous, ambitious miniseries. Though the character (spoiler alert) only appears in a handful of episodes, Pierre’s performance leaves an indelible impression of a brilliant, magnetic human robbed of reaching his potential by a wicked world.
Paul Rudd
“The Shrink Next Door”
Rudd unveils more and more layers to titular psychiatrist “Dr. Ike,” and it’s what enables this true-life miniseries to do the same. Case in point: the awe he expresses as he realizes that his patient-cumfriend is, in fact, wealthy. As the wheels turn in Ike’s head and he resolves to continue overstepping boundaries to achieve his dream of a luxe life, it’s apparent there’s nothing predictable about his manipulative games.
Michael Shannon
“Nine Perfect Strangers”
We never knew we needed to see Shannon killing a pig while tripping on a hallucinogenspiked smoothie—but as it turns out, we’re all the better for it! Leave it to a character actor of his bottomless talents to sell us on a man who, while grieving the loss of his teenaged son, finds enlightenment on a retreat (thanks to drugs served up by Nicole Kidman as a Russian femme fatale).
Courtney B. Vance
“Genius: Aretha”
The word “complicated” comes to mind when describing C.L. Franklin’s relationship with his daughter, this National Geographic series’ Queen of Soul. That’s why Vance, who can always be counted on to create fleshed-out characters, warts and all, should be commended for illuminating that dynamic in only a handful of installments. He turns the pastor’s larger-than-life pronouncements into some of this season’s most compelling TV.
