2023 has been another stellar year of dramas so whittling this list down to just five was a mammoth task. These leading performers took us to vastly different places, from the small rural towns to the highest of elite society, from a small restaurant in Chicago to a giant hole in the ground, each giving performances that truly resonated with us.
Here are our picks for the Best Leading Performances in a Drama Series in 2023
5. Sarah Snook – Succession: Season 4
Of all the people playing the game in this last season of Succession, it was Shiv was doing it the most. Watching her wheel, deal and schmooze her way into a potential position of power was a joy to experience but it was in the more personal moments where Sarah Snook really shined. Her performance in ‘Connor’s Wedding’ was compelling while Shiv’s fight with Tom in “Tailgate Party” was an incredibly raw and brutal piece of television. A stellar season from one of Australia’s best currently-working actresses.
– Ashley
4. Natasha Lyonne – Poker Face: Season 1
This feels like the role that Natasha Lyonne was meant to play. She seems to just be a natural fit as the drifter Charlie, who is happy to work small jobs to get by, making friends wherever she goes before she inevitably stumbles across a murder that she feels compelled to solve due to her innate ability to tell when people are lying. Lyonne is just oozing her own unique type of charm and it was so much fun watching her piece each of these puzzles together before enacting her own form of justice. May she play this role forever.
– Ashley
3. Sarah Lancashire – Happy Valley: Season 3
As Happy Valley ended this year after three seasons, so did Sarah Lancashire’s time as Catherine Cawood. The third season brings some of the most harrowing scenes for Lancashire as Catherine has to deal with her grandson, visiting Tommy, the man who raped her daughter and attempted to kill her, from prison, against her best wishes. What makes it worse is that her sister has been helping organise the visits between Tommy and her grandson. Despite the family show-downs and turmoil around Catherine’s ability to forgive and who she should have her back against, Sarah Lancashire continues to be the brute force of the police force, down to her last day delivering a final piece of evidence before saying goodbye for good. But what’s made this performance so memorable is how human it is and the representation of older women in the police force as the star of the show.
– Dylan
2. Rebecca Ferguson – Silo: Season 1
Juliette Nichols is given as a supporting character introduction. However, viewers are soon thrown into the mystery of the Silo and a murder as much as she is when the sheriff dies and appoints her on his final night. Why she takes the job is to dig deeper into what’s going on inside the Silo, but soon it’s what’s outside that’s more intriguing. However, a character keeping a lot locked up and very protective of herself for obvious reasons, it’s between the scenes of the past and present that Rebecca Ferguson can craft out the fun and joy that Nichols once had and the hard exterior that now searches for answers.
– Dylan
1. Jeremy Allan White – The Bear: Season 2
“I don’t need to provide amusement or enjoyment. I don’t need to receive amusement or enjoyment.” Carmy’s whole arch this season was building to this moment. The Carmy we see in season 1 is so high-strung and still reeling from the death of his brother, so when Molly Gordon‘s Claire is introduced as his love interest this season, Jeremy Allan White gets to explore a side of Carmy that he’s never seen before. Of course, his focus on the restaurant falls to the wayside a little as he leans too much on the living side of the work-life balance, leading him to where he ends up in the finale and to this heartbreaking exchange of self-sabotage which White plays brilliantly. I have rewatched his 7-minute monologue from season 1 several times because it is just a beautiful piece of acting, and I may just rewatch this moment as much because it is just as moving.
– Ashley
