The 16 best TV performances of 2022
The A.V. Club counts down the most stunning small-screen turns of the year
TV Lists Taron Egerton
Clockwise from left: Zendaya in Euphoria (Photo: Eddy Chen/HBO), Mandy Moore in This Is Us (Photo: Ron Batzdorff/NBC), Sarah Goldberg in Barry (Photo: Merrick Morton/HBO), Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight (Photo: Csaba Aknay/Marvel Studios), Lane Factor and Zahn McClarnon in Reservation Dogs (Photo: Shane Brown/FX) Graphic: Rebecca Fassola
As we continue to toast a pretty damn good year of television—we’ve already unveiled the best shows and moments of 2022—let’s hone in on those essential what-makes-a-series-great ingredients: the actors. The last 12 months have gifted us a ton of fantastic turns, with artists taking on characters both refreshingly new and others familiar but with something new to express. So, from an initial list that ran … quite long, these are our 16 favorite performances of the year. (Oh, and like with those aforementioned lists, so long as a performance first aired in 2022, it’s eligible.) Bravo, all.
60 Comments
I mean, we’re all agreed Rhea Seehorn should be number 1, right? She’s way too low on this list and definitely better than the couple of (admittedly excellent) performances I’ve seen that are ranked above her.
Nope. McClarnon for me.
Yeah, came here to say that it’s bonkers to suggest there were 7 performances better than Rhea’s. Hers is an all-time great performance.
Number One is Aubrey Plaza. It’s always Aubrey Plaza, unless it’s Tig Notaro.
I would toss a slide on here for all the young main cast of Reservation Dogs. They just are so exceptional.
Cheese crying in the finale is my personal most devastating TV moment of the year, absolutely broke me
The Willie Jack healing episode it also amazing.
Best show of the year. And last year. It consistently blows me away.
Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack gave my personal favorite performance on s2 of Reservation Dogs. (“I can’t be tamed.”) But I would not argue with recognizing anyone from that cast
exactly!
Nice to see some love for Mandy Moore’s Rebecca. She really got snubbed hard this year. She was a spectacular revelation throughout the run of “This is Us.” But in its final season she was just amazing.
Totally agree!
I’d like to snub her hard, if you know what I mean!Sorry…I’ll show myself out.
Millie Alcock, while a fine actor, was no match for Emma d’Arcy. Once Allicent and Rhaenyra were played by their “adult” actors, the quality on the show became much better. I’d have nominated Paddy Considine, who was doing wonderful subtle stuff all season, if we were to give House of the Dragon two slots.Separately, Sarah Goldberg was remarkable in S3 of Barry and absolutely deserved an Emmy nomination.
Not sure what moreGary Oldman needs to do to get on this list.
I would throw John Cena in there as well. Or at least in the top 25 (I know this was only 16).
Meh. He played John Cena really well.
I was impressed with how generous of an actor Cena is. He’s fun, but he’s also willing to play along to allow other actors to really shine. He’s not protective of his role as the “silliest superhero in the room,” and that makes the show work.
Agreed, the fact that he didn’t try to out Silly Vigilante as he could tell that Character was wonderful was really great on his part. I was shocked he(Cena) actually had a good range emotions in this role.
Peacemaker should get some kind of award for that credit sequence alone.
I honestly think Genevieve O’Reilly might give the best performance on Andor. the way she plays up the carefully constructed mask and then lets it slip just the right amount is truly incredible. I think about her delivery in that second scene with Luthen all the time, the way she goes from “do you have any idea what you’ve done?” back to the forced politeness, manshow has no wrong picks though really. year-best performances from Diego Luna, Andy Serkis, Denise Gough… Fiona Shaw would probably take it if she had more than her too-brief screentime. it’s nice to see Skarsgard highlighted here, if only because a review here said that he was only there for the paycheck at the start of the season. talk about a take that aged badly lmao
Rhea Seahorn not being number 1 is at best a gross violation, at worst should be recognized by the UN as a crime.
The German production THE EMPRESS on Netflix showcased Devrim Lingnau as the lead and I really can’t point to another performance this year to equal save for Emma d’ Arcy on DRAGONS.For best ensemble of a series, House of Dragons with White Lotus a very, very close second.
I realize Jeremy Allen White is getting a lot of the buzz for The Bear (a show I found ever-so-slightly overpraised), but IMO Ayo Edibiri was the standout from that ensemble. A star-making performance.
In my book, also worth considering:Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, The Dropout. (Hulu)The Cast of Station Eleven [last three eps came out in 2022, I’m going to allow it.]The cast of Yellowjackets (SHO)The cast of Reservation Dogs (FXX/Hulu)The cast of Breeders (FXX)Gary Oldman, Slow Horses (AppleTV+)Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBOMax)Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul Jabar, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBOMax)Kyle Mooney in a bunch of roles/voice-overs, Saturday Morning All-Star Hits! (Netflix)Hiam Abass as Maysa Hassan and Air Waked as Farouk Hassan [Ramy’s parents], Ramy (Hulu)Lily James and Sebastian Stan in the titular roles, Pam and Tommy (Hulu)The cast of Westworld closed it out pretty strong, especially compared to the previous season.Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell, The Guilded Age (HBOMax)
Christine Beranski doing some delicate but fun scenery chewing as Agnes van Rhijn (née Brook), The Gilded Age (HBOMax)Alan Tudyk as “Harry Vanderspeigle,” Resident Alien (SyFy)Jesse Edinburg as Dr. Toby Fleishman, Fleishman Is In Trouble (FXX/Hulu)Lizzy Caplan as Libby, Fleishman Is In Trouble (FXX/Hulu)Amy Schumer as Beth, Life And BethMichael Cera as John, Life and Beth
Starred for mentioning Breeders
I love Aubrey Plaza but she’s probably doing the least on White Lotus. She’s good! I’d love to see some recognition for my personal MVP Meghann Fahy, who gets a vastly more interesting arc, or Sabrina Impacciatore for her delivery of Peppa Pig.
Agreed! I thought Aubrey was good but not amazing in White Lotus. Meanwhile Meghann Fahy is incredible.
Adding my voice to the chorus of “Rhea Seehorn should be #1.” Also missing Bob Odenkirk and Hiam Abbass in Ramy.
Two big standouts for me that aren’t on the list are Andy Serkis in Andor and Matilda Lawler in Station Eleven (the show was at its best when she shared the screen with Himesh Patel).
Tramell Tillman was the best part of Severance, and that’s no small feat. Also the best/most menacing mustache on TV.As for Milly Alcock, it’s amazing how similar her HotD character is to Princess Bean from Disenchantment, from characteristics to looks (right down to her teeth).
Tramell Tillman was really an amazing mix of menacing and like he meant well and was just doing his job
There is an episode where Adam Scott’s character describes Milchick as a “nice man,” and Tramell Tillman played him so you could believe, yes that is the case, but sometimes of course he isn’t but maybe that is just his job requirements
He nails the extreme portrayal of what a corporation really means when it says it wants its employees to be “family.” They want the loyalty, sacrifice, and dedication, they want surface courtesy, enthusiasm, and humor. But they react with aggressive cruelty whenever an employee seeks real connection.
So glad to see someone recognize Tramell!
I haven’t watched HotD yet but Milly is fantastic in “Upright.”
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, for the dance, and for how much she conveyed just with her eyes and posture
Olivia Cooke was better both Emma D’Arcy and Milly Alcock.
I agree that Rhea should be higher, but also Zendaya was absolutely amazing in Euphoria, that episode that is mentioned above, I remember being exhausted after watching it.
Oscar Isaac performance was so wonderful because of the smallest details of his portrayal.
Remember when the whole internet was trashing his British accent, saying it was the crappiest job done out of such a wonderful actor?
Well, (spoiler) it was MEANT to be crappy because the character was just pretending to be British.
Amazing since the first scene.
Anytime Tatiana Maslany appears on TV she deserves awards consideration & her as Jen/ She-Hulk fits this I think, she was more than up to the dual role, obviously
Has anyone seen this already:
The best performances of the year were Zendaya (Euphoria), Meghann Fahy (White Lotus) and Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout). Nobody else was close.And for my money, Aubrey Plaza almost single-handedly ruined the second season of White Lotus. Contrary to what Tim said above, she clearly isn’t capable of expanding on her established persona. She’s exactly as wooden and one-note as we’ve come to expect. Will Sharpe wasn’t much better.
I think everyone in Fleishman has been great, but especially Lizzy Caplan. Voiceover is so easy to ruin and her voiceover has been amazing, and then the work she does as Libby is pretty incredible.
I kind of only care about her plot at this point in the show. I guess the point is that Eisenberg is a lot more of a misogynist than he realizes, but yeesh is his character getting exhausting.
I really like the show but I think it suffers from should’ve-been-a-movie-itis. We needed like 1 1/2 fewer episodes of Toby before we got to Libby seeing Rachel. The episode where he was going through the random stages of “grief” for his wife sleeping with someone new was really disposable. Definitely has been diminishing returns with him, and whatever’s going to happen with or be revealed by Rachel (haven’t read the book) I think would’ve hit harder if the show hadn’t wrung Toby dry.
What is Julia Garner in Ozark, chopped fucking liver?
She was fantastic in the spiraling wreck of the last couple of seasons.
Andrew Garfield I thought also gave a really super performance in Under the Banner of Heaven(actually that whole cast).Rose Byrne blows me away every episode of Physical.
My surprise in Under the Banner of Heaven was Sam Worthington. I really didn’t expect that of him after Avatar and so many other bland action movie roles. On the late arrivals front, Ruth Wilson is really amazing in the final His Dark Materials season, just a few episodes from completion.
Full agreement on both of these. (And interestingly enough, both Garfield and Byrne were actors I never found compelling before and they both turned me around completely with these performances)
Damages is possibly the most underrated prestige TV show ever. And Byrne is a big part of that.
“Christoph Walken”?
Sydney Sweeney over Zendaya. This season, at least.
Not necessarily knocking them, but good for all those young stars who made this list: for doing well after one or two seasons on their show; which have a good chance of being cancelled; and have the rest of their lives to win all the awards…Yet Rhea Seehorn not at the top of this list after six years of motherfucking perfection!?
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I just kinda want to point out that Homelander didn’t reconnect with his dad in season 3, he met him for the first time.
LOL. Zendaya.
Alcock was better as foul-mouthed smartass (“gendered slurs are for cunts”) Meg in Upright.
Jensen Ackles and Erin Moriarty did outstanding work on The Boys. Robert Aramayo on The Rings of Power. Murray Bartlett in Welcome to Chippendale’s.
That 90’s show finally shows the cast of That’s 70’s show. But you have to wait until the end of the trailer