BENJAMONSTER AWARDS: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited/Anthology Series!

The nominees are:

JOSHUA JACKSON as Bill Richardson in Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

JOE MANTELLO as Dick Samuels in Hollywood (Netflix)

DYLAN MCDERMOTT as Ernie West in Hollywood (Netflix)

JIM PARSONS as Henry Wilson in Hollywood (Netflix)

JOHN SLATTERY as Fred Schlafly in Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)

JOHN TURTURRO as Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf in The Plot Against America (HBO)

And the Winner Is...
JOHN TURTURRO
The Plot Against America (HBO)
The best performance in HBO's chilling The Plot Against America came from John Turturro as the Rabbi who was aligned with a Nazi-sympathetic President Charles Lindbergh. While the show was based on a book from the pre-Trump era, the show obviously was easy to parallel to our times. And Turturro's performance was perhaps the most chilling of them all because he was enabling the enemy and dismissing the heroes yet was in a position of power. By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late. Turturro delivered a very convincing performance as his haughty and condescending attitude transitioned eventually to paranoid and scared. He completely immersed himself in the role with his affect and was the best part of the limited series.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
This was a category dominated by Hollywood, which had a lot of strong performances by supporting actors. Jim Parsons seemed to relish his outlandish character, the slimy Henry Wilson. Dylan McDermott has enjoyed somewhat of a second act of his career playing pretty outrageous characters but also provided some interesting depth as Ernie West while Joe Mantello may have been the most convincing of all the Hollywood men in a more understated role as Dick Samuels. John Slattery may have been overshadowed by his many female co-stars but he played an important role well in Mrs. America. And Joshua Jackson was also a more under the radar element to Little Fires Everywhere but served a very important function within the story and was convincing.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series!