Peter Capaldi - "Randall Brown", The Hour
Rob Lowe - "Dr. Jack Startz", Behind the Candelabra
Zachary Quinto - "Dr. Oliver Thredson", American Horror Story: Asylum
David Wenham - "Al", Top of the Lake
Thomas M. Wright - "Johnno", Top of the Lake
Capaldi is so notoriously skilled with the rapid-fire profanity of the Iannucci oeuvre that his understated news executive proved unexpectedly to be a highlight of The Hour's second season. In addition to playing well off of Anna Chancellor, Capaldi took a potentially cliche-heavy story of a parent searching for a child placed for adoption and rooted in an emotionally honest, quietly devastated performance. Something about Rob Lowe in Behind the Candelabra felt grounded in his decades of experience in Hollywood - how many people who feed on the vanity of others in a youth-obsessed town may have crossed his path and wound up even partially represented in his chillingly blithe performance? I said last year that Quinto "was perfectly tuned to Murphy's particular wavelength," and his different role in the new incarnation of American Horror Story did the same with a more overtly villainous cast. The second season of AHS tapped into the same vein that made Quinto so magnetic in the early seasons of Heroes. I waffled about who to take from Top of the Lake, but had to ultimately make Peter Mullan my #6. Wenham's performance is creepy the way people in real life are creepy - many performances on TV can't leave it as subtext, but Wenham signals subtly that there's just something off about Al where another actor might have overplayed their hand. And Wright impressed me even before I realized that that nagging feeling of familiarity came from a goofy old Disney Channel movie. Within Johnno's reserved nature, Wright shows both his frustration with his inaction and the fact that he still can't push himself past it.
Honorable Mentions: Scott Bakula, Behind the Candelabra; James Cromwell, American Horror Story: Asylum; Rupert Everett, Parade's End; Joseph Fiennes, American Horror Story: Asylum; Michael Gambon, Restless; Stephen Graham, Parade's End; Peter Mullan, Top of the Lake; Evan Peters, American Horror Story: Asylum; Sebastian Stan, Political Animals; James Wolk, Political Animals
I wouldn't be surprised to see: Dan Aykroyd, Behind the Candelabra; Billy Campbell, Killing Lincoln; Ciaran Hinds, Political Animals; Lindsay Owen Pierre, Betty & Coretta; Oliver Platt, The Big C: Hereafter; Matt Ross, Ring of Fire; Jeffrey Tambor, Phil Spector; James Woods, Mary and Martha; Malik Yoba, Betty & Coretta
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