19 Praiseworthy Performances from 2015

Vera Farmiga as Norma Bates in Bates Motel Season 3 Episode 6. Having to play a character with so many contradictions and emotions has to be exhausting, but Vera Farmiga pulls it off with ease episode after episode. It’s hard to believe she could get any better, but in “Norma Louise” she takes it to a stunning level of brilliance as a woman who’s given everything she has and realizes that no matter what, she has to give more. Every thing she feels, we feel. Vera’s performance is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Liev Schrieber as Ray Donovan on Ray Donovan Season 3 Episode 12, "Excuscito." For the first time in 36 years Ray goes to confession, with a priest who knows some of his worst and most heineous secrets, as well as his greatest vulnerabilities, and he just breaks. He lets of so much rage and sorrow and pain, all while being shot and bleeding half to death. Schrieber brings forth so much emotion as the well-lapsed Catholic hoping to right his wrongs and forgiveness seems easy at that point.

Bellamy Young as Mellie Grant on Scandal Season 5 Episode 9. Mellie has always been one of Scandal's most interesting characters, but she's been particularly strong this season In "Baby It's Cold Outside," she stood up for what she believed – literally – for one of her most powerful performances.

Her epic filibuster had nothing to do with Fitz or Olivia or anything like that; it was all about protecting the rights of women. It didn't matter that it was Christmas Eve, that she was wearing heels, or that she really had to pee. She did what she had to do, and it worked. It was inspiring and incredibly well done.

Elizabeth Henstridge easily pulled in her best performance of the series on Agents of Shield Season 3 Episode 5. Almost the entire episode focused on her character Jemma Simmons stranded on a planet and forced to find a way to survive. Henstridge did an excellent job showing Simmons' loneliness and utter despair along with her desperation to survive and find a way back home.

Watching her hold onto her optimism and hope for so long and then seeing the realization hit her when she loses it was absolutely heartbreaking. Henstridge's performance was so captivating that it was easy to forget the rest of the regular characters weren't around.

Joelle Carter - (Ava Crowder - Justified) If the final season of Justified had one true star, it was Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder. Finally out of prison, Ava was caught between her fiance Boyd Crowder and being Raylan Gibbons criminal informant. If Boyd caught on, she could end up dead, and if she failed as a C.I., she’d be thrown back in prison and most likely killed.

But leave it to Ava to play both sides and ditch both men in favor of her own future. It was a high wire balancing act leading up to Justified Season 6 Episode 13, “The Promise” that left us guessing until the very end. Through it all, Carter showed us Ava’s combined determination and vulnerability in an amazing performance that won’t soon be forgotten.

John Noble as Morland Holmes in Elementary. Sherlock repeatedly refers to his father as evil, making deals with the devil, performing black magic, and other colorful descriptions, but John Noble's performance makes it all too easy to set such things aside as poetic exaggerations.

That is, up until the end of Elementary Season 4 Episode 6, when Morland cold-bloodedly threatens the life of a would-be blackmailer, and suddenly it's all to easy to see why people are just so scared of this man. Noble is absolutely brilliant in the role, and he absolutely elevates every scene in which he appears.

Peter Capaldi as the Doctor in Doctor Who. No list of brilliant performances this season would be complete without mentioning Peter Capaldi in Doctor Who Season 9 Episode 11, "Heaven Sent." The entire episode depended on his acting ability, since there were only three other actors in the entire episode, and only one spoken line not delivered by him!

His character spent almost the entire story trapped and alone (aside from the monster set to kill him), and we got to see him at some of his highest and lowest points as he spent four and a half billion years punching his way through a wall with only his fists and an iron determination.

Aya Cash as Gretchen Cutler in You're the Worst. Aya Cash blew it out of the park on more than one occasion but she really ran the gamut of human emotions in You're the Worst Season 2 Episode 9, "LCD Soundsystem." Gretchen's clinical depression had been building and manifesting itself slowly but surely all season, culminating in her breakdown and blow-up at her friends several episodes prior. But her performance in episode 9, a few weeks after the depression reveal, was remarkable.

Watching Gretchen invest all of her hope and put all of her emotional distress onto the neighborhood couple that seemed to be perfect was obviously ill-advised. And when that realization came crashing down on her, Cash's performance in the closing scene, as she broke down and began sobbing after realizing that this perfect couple was not so perfect after all, was absolutely astounding.

Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe in Blindspot. It's hard to pick out one particular episode to highlight Jaimie Alexander as the amnesiac Jane Doe in Blindspot, but I'll go with Blindspot Season 1 Episode 1. This is a woman with no memory, no past, no identity. She's scared, confused, and almost completely covered with tattoos. Alexander conveys such a rich complexity of emotion and trauma in a simple, wide-eyed stare that you can't help but feel for this woman and dive into the mysteries surrounding her.

David McCallum as Ducky on NCIS. He brought in a great performance on NCIS Season Season 13 Episode 11 when we saw him catapult between abject sadness when explaining that his brother was likely dead (after years of searching for him) and overwhelming joy when he finally got to meet his brother again at a nursing home. It provoked huge emotion among viewers.

Jon Hamm in the final episode of Mad Men, "Person to Person." It was an incredible journey to watch Don Draper grow and discover who he was over the eight year run of Mad Men, but Hamm's performance in the farewell episode was nothing short of award-worthy. Don finally found the passion and creativity that he'd spent the series looking for, as well as a renewed peace about his life as Dick Whitman.

When Don broke down in tears during his group therapy scene, listening to another member describe everything that he himself had been feeling, viewers broke down as well because we'd all taken Don's journey with him. Hamm's ability to connect with the audience in that moment is easily my favorite performance of 2015.

Louis C.K. in Louie Season 5 Episode 8, "The Road, Part 2." Louie is reluctantly trying to make the most of his disastrous comedy tour by spending a night drinking with a fellow comedian. Louis C.K. always gives an incredible performance as Louie, but there was something extra-special in the way that Louie reacted when his newfound comedian friend died after cracking his skull on the bathroom floor.

C.K.'s face held so many emotions ranging from incredulous to amused to frightened to sadness, all in that one moment, watching this man bleed. It was one of the most poignant moments in the comedy series.

Craig T. Nelson in Parenthood Season 6 Episode 12 "We Made it Through the Night." Zeek Braverman got the news that his failing health wouldn't get better without surgery, something that he had no desire to go through. The moment that Zeek accepted that he's basically created his own death sentence, and then asked his wife Camille to accept it as well, was an emotional gut-punch for viewers of Parenthood. No one wanted to see Zeek suffer, but Craig T. Nelson made us all feel like it was going to be okay.

Nothing was more heartbreaking than watching Emma decide she had to let Killian go to save him in Once Upon Time Season 5 Episode 11. That scene in "Swan Song" may have been Morrison's most powerful from the entire run of the show. Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan, Once Upon a Time) In the Once Upon a Time Season 4, Emma sacrificed herself to the dark side to save Henry’s other mother Regina. In doing so she became the newest Dark One, the "Dark Swan.”

The twist gave portrayer, Jennifer Morrison, the chance to shine as Emma spent half of Once Upon a Time fighting the darkness within, turning her true love into a Dark One in order to save him, and now deciding to travel to the Underworld in order to find him. We’ve always loved Emma Swan as the reluctant savior but never was she more heroic than when she choose fight the evil within.

Elyes Gabel in Scorpion Season 2 Episode 12 "Dam Breakthrough." Walter hadn't really reacted to his sister's death. He kept going on as if things were business as usual. But when Ferret Bueller went missing, Walter completely broke down. Elyes Gabel had me sobbing within seconds. All he said was "I didn't want to lose my sister," but that was all it took. Gabel gave a phenomenal performance.

Aden Young as Daniel Holden on Rectify Season 3 Episode 6. Basically everything that Aden Young does as this character is amazing, but in the Season 6 finale, his road trip with his mother is so beautiful and endearing. He's been banished from his home state, so this is the last time they have this opportunity.

He asks to make a pit-stop at the prison, standing outside of it in awe, then telling his mother that sometimes, he wishes he could go back. He shows more emotion than we've probably ever seen from him, but he still manages to have his dry sense of humor. Everything about his performance in that episode is perfect.

The Leftovers Season 2 Episode 8, "International Assassin," belonged to Justin Theroux and he commanded attention with every aspect of his performance. His character, Kevin Garvey, was thrust into Purgatory and forced to kill the ghost who had been tormenting him so that he could regain control of his life – a task that sounds a lot easier in theory than it turned out to be. Theroux was tasked with every emotion, from bewilderment and dismay to anger and compassion. It had to be done with just the right hints of comical and dramatic overtones and Theroux hit them perfectly.

Cameron Monaghan as Jerome Valeska in Gotham. After being broken out from Arkham, the ginger-haired nutcase proved how nutty he really was in Gotham Season 2 Episode 2, “Knock, Knock.” Not only was he willing to set a bus full of cheerleaders on fire, he played a horrific game of Russian roulette with Greenwood that put the “wow” in wow. Monaghan deserves a standing ovation for this chilling, mesmerizing, and outstanding in every way performance.

As Barry Allen on The Flash Season 1 Episode 23, "Fast Enough," Grant Gustin proved once again and for good that he was not only a perfect superhero, but a great dramatic actor. Whether saying good bye to one of his two dads or trying to save his mother's life after going back in time and crying harder than a man should be allowed at the drop of a hat before he then went on to save the world, Gustin made it all look so effortless. He's a natural, emotional actor with charm and wit. He's a star who can act and that's a real treat.