Aidy Bryant – “Girls” & “Horace & Pete”
We’ve been impressed for a while by Aidy Bryant, who’s quickly established herself as one of the best SNL-ers of the current batch, but the late winter made us think she had much bigger things in store for her than just the show, with two killer supporting roles on big-name shows. Bryant cropped up first on “Girls” playing the boss of Zosia Mamet’s Shoshanna, and stole not just her episodes, but the entire season with a quick wit and warmth that made her completely compelling to watch. She was quite different, and in much more serious territory, in “Horace & Pete,” playing the daughter of Horace (Louis C.K.), frosty and standoffish with her estranged father and clearly still wounded by the hurt that he’s caused over a quarter of a century. It’s a hugely impressive demonstration of her range that she could do both within a few months, and suggests that extremely bright things are in her future once someone wises up and gives her her own show.
Regina King – “The Leftovers”
When “The Leftovers” decided to do a soft reboot for the second season by keeping the Garvey clan, but uprooting them to Texas, it was a risky move. There were many questions about how the narrative would handle such a shift, but it worked, and a big part of that success was in the casting of the Murphy family, the Garveys’ neighbors, who would become entwined with their lives. And anchoring the Murphy clan is Erika, played by Regina King, an Emmy winner for “American Crime” last year but just as deserving of attention for her turn in the HBO series. Her journey throughout season two — in which she must grapple with the disappearance of her daughter, the secrets hid by her husband John (Kevin Carroll), and more — could lean toward the soapy, but King finds the strength in Erika that makes no mistake that she’s the foundation of the family, one that will not be defined by her hearing disability, and faces no obstacle without a plan to overcome it. Erika is a quiet force in the second season of “The Leftovers,” and King’s performance doesn’t resonate with immediate flash. It’s the kind of turn that shows its rewards slowly — a rare skill — but one that’s absolutely essential in helping to build toward a very anticipated third season.
Rachel Bloom – “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
We tried to resist “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” for so long — our fears that it would be unbearably twee, the TV equivalent of the terrible music-comedy performer at an improv night, were too great. But eventually we relented, and we’re incredibly glad we did, because the show is a joy, and on so many levels it would be nothing without Rachel Bloom, its co-creator and star. Bloom can pull off the lighter elements effortlessly, performing the versatile musical numbers without skipping a beat and with an almost Lucille Ball-ish sense of timing. But there’s a depth and even darkness to what she’s doing that elevates both her character Rebecca, and the show in general, a rich specificity that makes even her most unpleasant behavior seem completely understandable. It’s fiercely committed, beautifully nuanced, sort-of fearless stuff, and though her Golden Globe win for the show might put her in the running for a nod, we suspect the show’s low ratings make this a long shot, and that’s a damn shame.
Anna Camp – “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
We don’t always pay that much attention to the Guest Actor Emmy race, but it’s one that can showcase some of the best and most surprising TV acting of the year. And one such turn we’d love to see recognized is Anna Camp in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” The actress has, through things as different as “True Blood,” “Mad Men” and “Pitch Perfect,” made a career out of playing mildly terrifying, uptight Type A young women, and that reaches a peak of a sort with her ‘Kimmy Schmidt’ character, Deirdre, a fearsomely smart young rival to Jane Krakowski’s trophy wife. Palpably bored out of her mind by the life of the idle rich that she’s married into, she’s reduced to tormenting Krakowski’s Jacqueline. Camp plays with her with a truly demented streak and tears into the role: It’s one that truly made us rethink her as an actress, and we hope to see much more like it from her.
David Costabile – “Billions”
The cast of “Billions” deliver exactly the kind of reliable greatness that you’d expect them to — it’s a show made up of nothing with ringers, with actors who’ve shone on shows from “Homeland” to “Sons Of Anarchy” to “Trophy Wife” to “Daredevil” all turning up and bringing their A-game. Best of all, though, is David Costabile, a wonderfully varied character actor who’s been in everything from “Flight Of The Conchords” (the hapless Doug) to “Breaking Bad” (the ill-fated Gale), and is often one of the highlights of whatever he’s appearing in. And he’s having so much fucking fun as Wags, the deeply loyal, somewhat fearsome lieutenant to Damian Lewis’ hedge-fund titan Axe. He’s an attack dog with all the best lines (“We have to be more pure than the Virgin Mary before her first period”), and as ever with Costabile, everything he does feels inspired, right up to the strange, curled-up moustache he affects.