As TV Guide looked back on 2024, no list was harder to narrow down than this one, our roundup of the year's best TV performances. Peak TV may be over, but actors are still giving it their all. In fact, we were so spoiled for choice that to keep this list fresh, we stuck to performances that we hadn't already celebrated on previous years' rankings. That means you won't find TV Guide favorites like Interview with the Vampire's Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid, Somebody Somewhere's Bridget Everett, Pachinko's Minha Kim, Girls5eva's Renée Elise Goldsberry, Evil's Katja Herbers, and Hacks' Jean Smart. One of the joys of TV is getting to watch an actor grow a character over time, and we saw plenty of that this year — but one of the joys of a best-of list is getting to recognize something, or someone, new.
This year, we're celebrating breakout star turns, scene-stealing villains, a beloved side character finally taking center stage, and actors playing actors. In roles that range from lovably comedic to brutally tragic, here are TV Guide's picks for the best TV performances of 2024.
For more, check out our lists of the 10 best shows and 10 best episodes of 2024.
10. Tom Glynn-Carney, House of the Dragon
Even if you believe Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, you had to be at least a little moved by the Greens' story in House of the Dragon Season 2. That's largely due to Tom Glynn-Carney's performance as King Aegon II Targaryen. Glynn-Carney excels at playing a man who, despite holding the most powerful title in all of the Seven Kingdoms, wields the least influence. His mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), tells him as much: "Do simply what is needed of you. Nothing." And while Aegon is perhaps the last person deserving of sympathy considering his crimes against both the Blacks and the smallfolk, Glynn-Carney's portrayal makes it nearly impossible to despise the king. In fact, one of the most harrowing scenes of House of the Dragon Season 2 is one that centers his pain. In the Small Council meeting after the brutal murder of Aegon and Helaena Targaryen's (Phia Saban) son Jaehaerys, the king bares all. Glynn-Carney portrays his character with such excruciating grief and searing rage here that you can perceive the mourning father within the incompetent ruler — albeit for just a brief moment. -Kat Moon
9. Carrie Preston, Elsbeth
No one makes an entrance like Elsbeth. The show's dazzling array of guest stars are a neat opening act, but on Elsbeth, Carrie Preston's Elsbeth Tascioni is the main event, the one people come to see. When she finally pops up, often literally, from behind an ornate bouquet or a large Christmas decoration, it's possible to imagine a live studio audience going wild with applause. Now, the real show can begin. Elsbeth reimagines the Good Wife fan favorite as Columbo in a technicolor coat, a shrewd investigator who really is that peppy but also knows how to wield it. As a character, she brightens up a crime scene. As an actor, Preston is just as invigorating; she performs every moment down to the last detail, finding the most unexpectedly funny way to draw out a syllable or point a finger. Still, she never loses the humanity behind Elsbeth's quirks, and she's clearly savoring the chance to find new shades of a character she's been fashioning for over a decade. Put simply, she's always interesting. Elsbeth is fascinated by people; Preston makes her equally fascinating to watch. -Kelly Connolly
8. Walton Goggins, Fallout
Though Walton Goggins has over 100 screen credits to his name — including a goofy school administrator in Vice Principals, a single dad in the CBS comedy The Unicorn, and a transgender escort in Sons of Anarchy — there's a clear "Walton Goggins role" that he excels at: Shane from The Shield, Boyd Crowder from Justified, and now the Ghoul in Prime Video's video game adaptation Fallout. Like those other two characters, the Ghoul is a loner who lives by his own lawless code because he has to, and we can't help but root for him. That's the power of Goggins, an actor so charismatic and effortlessly cool that he's able to layer depth and humanity onto the wicked, making you feel why the Ghoul is a loner, or why he doesn't abide by the rules. And as Cooper Howard, the un-irradiated, pre-bomb Hollywood movie star the Ghoul used to be, Goggins can dial down his signature Georgian drawl and flash the smile of a silver screen legend concerned about the welfare of the country he fought for, showing off his range before we flash-forward back to the Ghoul cannibalizing one of his friends. That duality, and the way Goggins lets hints of Cooper surface in the Ghoul in a story seemingly about how things can irrevocably change in an apocalyptic wasteland, makes it Goggins' most triumphant performance yet. -Tim Surette
7. Billy Magnussen, The Franchise
The success of The Franchise depends on its incredibly talented ensemble, and while Himesh Patel, Daniel Brühl, and Lolly Adefope are all very worthy of praise, only one member of the cast turned a mounting mental breakdown into an act of riotous comedy: Billy Magnussen, who has long solidified himself as one of our most reliable "handsome yet funny" guys. The Franchise follows the troubled production of Tecto: Eye of the Storm, a low-tier superhero movie made by a team of apathetic producers and starring a cast who could not care less how the film turns out. Except for the one guy who really needs it to work: Magnussen's Adam Randolph, the teetering and insecure leading man who spends each episode in a state of near-constant crisis over everything from his performance to his body. As Adam, Magnussen is an anxious live wire, a man on the razor's edge of implosion as he does everything in his (very limited) power to turn the movie into something career making, maintaining childlike hope even as it becomes increasingly clear that Tecto is destined to fail. If Emmy voters are listening, this is the type of performance the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category was made for. -Allison Picurro
6. Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Country
True Detective loves an odd couple. It's easy to frame Night Country through that lens, both on screen and behind the scenes; the HBO drama's fourth season pairs Kali Reis, a professional boxer and relative newcomer to acting, with Hollywood legend Jodie Foster, casting Reis as the believer to Foster's skeptic. Where Foster's Liz Danvers is abrasive and pragmatic, Reis' Evangeline Navarro is all raw nerves and righteous anger. Together, they're magnetic. But focus too much on the contrasts and you miss the way the characters — and the actors — bleed into each other. Navarro is a contradiction in herself: She's spiritually inclined but afraid the world has been abandoned, a moral conscience who leads with her fists. And Reis is not just remarkable for how fearlessly she goes toe to toe with her scene partner. Her soulful performance stands on its own, guiding Night Country into and out of the dark. Plus, she makes it look easy to emote while freezing. -Kelly Connolly
5. Cristin Milioti, The Penguin
Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone may not be the character The Penguin is named after (that distinction belongs to Colin Farrell's Oz Cobb), but the Batman spin-off is Milioti's playground. She portrays with ease an antagonist who simultaneously inspires fear and awe, and lures in the viewer with each new revelation about her past. Much of this history is unveiled in the show's outstanding fourth installment, "Cent'Anni," which excavates Sofia's trauma from the hellish Arkham. But it also celebrates her triumphant return, and Milioti makes Sofia someone who, despite having been physically and emotionally broken, has developed an impenetrable armor — as reflected in her fierce style transformation. She is a warrior, and only Milioti could have imbued the character with so much power and magnetism. -Kat Moon
4. Enrico Colantoni, English Teacher
As English Teacher's conflict-averse, perpetually exhausted principal, Enrico Colantoni is the closest thing the offbeat comedy has to a straight man. (Emphasis on the word "straight.") Bombarded by constant complaints from the students, their parents, and every member of the faculty, Colantoni's Grant Moretti embodies the long-broken spirit of a seasoned public school educator who has made a career out of trying to please everyone and now spends his days barking at teens to stop vaping in the cafeteria. The character may always have one foot out the door ("I'm off the clock, my car is technically not school grounds") and a white-knuckled grip on his own sanity, but what makes the performance so singular is how Colantoni never lets you forget about Moretti's big, kind heart. Evan (Brian Jordan Alvarez) may be a permanent thorn in his side, but Moretti still gamely shows up at a gay bar to celebrate Evan's birthday, and he barely even blinks at the porn playing on the TVs — after all, this guy's seen it all. -Allison Picurro
3. Ken Leung, Industry
Ken Leung has spent the past few years fine-tuning Industry's Eric Tao, Pierpoint's calculating CPS managing director, into one of TV's most deliciously complicated characters. In Season 3 of the HBO drama, the character sinks lower than ever, allowing the always electric Leung to dig in his heels even further. When the season opens, Eric is untethered and not-so-secretly spiraling as the collapse of his home life coincides with new pressures at the firm after being made partner. As the episodes tick by at the show's signature frenetic clip, he continues pushing forward by whatever means necessary. His betrayal of his longtime colleague Bill Adler (Trevor White) in the season's penultimate episode, an echo of what he did to Harper (Myha'la) at the end of Season 2, is the kind of move that feels as shocking as it does inevitable. Eric has molded himself into a monstrous, ruthless backstabber because that's what he, an outsider, understands must be done in order to succeed in a world that wasn't made for him. He wields his ever-present baseball bat like a shield and lets his alert eyes scan rooms in rapt, silent attention, but all it takes is a meek, unguarded slump of Leung's shoulders to remind you of Eric's humanity, even when he'd rather not show it. -Allison Picurro
2. Delainey Hayles, Interview with the Vampire
One of the most startling breakout performances of the year was delivered by Delainey Hayles in Interview with the Vampire's second season, where she stepped into the role of Claudia, previously played by Bailey Bass. With Claudia older and more mature (mentally, if not physically) as she and Louis (Jacob Anderson) clawed their way to Paris from New Orleans, Hayles was given space to make the character entirely her own without sacrificing any of the qualities that made her so complex and lovable in Season 1. In Hayles' hands, Claudia is a fearless spitfire, a beacon of righteous anger, as her resentment grows toward the limitations of her body, toward Louis for forsaking her in favor of yet another man, and toward the Théâtre des Vampires troupe, with whom she so believed she would finally find a vampiric community who understood her. With her big, expressive eyes and uncanny talent for rattling off vicious one-liners, Hayles is achingly vulnerable, playing the jilted daughter as naturally as she does the doomed romantic heroine. -Allison Picurro
1. Anna Sawai, Shōgun
It's almost paradoxical to say that Anna Sawai is the emotional core of Shōgun. That's because her character, Toda Mariko, is the show's epitome of living with "The Eightfold Fence" — a practice of walling in one's feelings. In an exchange with John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), Mariko described this fence as "an impenetrable wall behind which we can retreat whenever." Sure, Blackthorne could be met with polite nods and bows by the lords and ladies of feudal Japan, but Mariko advises him not to be fooled. "Beneath it all, we could be a great distance away." How does an actor portray this kind of trained stoicism? Sawai's performance is a masterclass. Her Mariko is emoting, but always through a mask. There are moments when a buried sentiment nearly surfaces in the form of a gentle furrowing of her brow or a faint lift of the corners of her mouth, but they are fleeting. And yet it's Mariko's journey that prompts the most visceral reaction from viewers. The walls she built could have easily pushed us away, but Sawai's portrayal of a forbearing woman is inviting — even if a hastened glimpse through the tiniest of cracks is the closest we get to Mariko's intimate desires. -Kat Moon
Honorable mentions: Mike Colter, Evil; Maya Erskine, Mr. & Mrs. Smith; Hannah Einbinder, Hacks; Mary Catherine Garrison, Somebody Somewhere; Cooper Koch, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story; Ruth Negga, Presumed Innocent; Julio Torres, Fantasmas; Hoa Xuande, The Sympathizer
Keep the celebration of the best TV of 2024 going!
Check out TV Guide's roundups of the best shows and best episodes of the year.