BENJAMONSTER AWARDS: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Today's award is Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series!

The nominees are:

DYLAN BAKER as Biff Simpson in Hunters (Amazon)

BILLY CRUDUP as Cory Ellison in The Morning Show (Apple TV+)

KIERAN CULKIN as Roman Roy in Succession (HBO)














GRIFFIN DUNNE as Nicky Pearson in This is Us (NBC)

MARK DUPLASS as Chip Black in The Morning Show (Apple TV+)

TOM PELPHREY as Ben Davis in Ozark (Netflix)

MICHAEL SHEEN as Dr. Martin Whitly in Prodigal Son (FOX)

And the Winner Is...
KIERAN CULKIN
Succession (HBO)
Succession is filled with great performances and they all took it up a notch in the second season. But the best performance belonged to Kieran Culkin as the sarcastic, troubled, and still ambitious Roman Roy. Although Succession is a drama, Culkin was responsible for a couple laugh out loud moments. His sarcastic interjections with really pointed thoughts about his fellow family members were so well delivered. Yet his character also experienced some interesting developments over the season, from his enrollment in the management training program to his troubled and increasingly co-dependent relationship with Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron). Succession has a lot of rich characters and Roman is commenting on the stories perhaps more often than being in the center of them but Kieran Culkin is an invaluable member of this ensemble and a breakout star in this.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
There were two members of the cast of The Morning Show among the nominees. Billy Crudup is the one getting all the attention in the Emmy season and he is very strong as the charming Cory Ellison. But equally strong is Mark Duplass as the harried Chip Black. Both added a lot to that cast. Dylan Baker was the best part of Hunters. He always seems to play shady parts but this was one of his most outrageous and chilling ones yet. I wasn't a huge fan of Griffin Dunne early on in his This is Us tenure, but I thought he added an awful lot of dimension to the Nicky character in an expanded role this season. Michael Sheen did a great job as an unhinged yet oddly caring serial killer father in Prodigal Son. Finally, the one who was closest to winning this was Tom Pelphrey who added so much to the third season of Ozark with a dynamic performance that had some humor but also an awful lot of sadness.

Tomorrow: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series!