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BENJAMONSTER AWARDS 2025: Outstanding Guest Actor or Actress in a Drama Series

Today's award is Outstanding Guest Actor or Actress in a Drama Series!

Past Awards in This Category: 2024   2023   2022   2021   2020

This year's nominees are...









VANESSA BAYER as DeeDee Dashers in Elsbeth (CBS)
JON BERNTHAL as Michael Berzatto in The Bear (FX/Hulu)
JAMIE LEE CURTIS as Donna Berzatto in The Bear (FX/Hulu)
KAITLYN DEVER as Abby Anderson in The Last of Us (HBO)
SHAWN HATOSY as Dr. Jack Abbot in The Pitt (Max)
ALLISON JANNEY as Grace Penn in The Diplomat (Netflix)
NATHAN LANE as Phillip Cross in Elsbeth (CBS)

And the Winner Is...
JAMIE LEE CURTIS
The Bear (FX/Hulu)
For a second year in a row, Jamie Lee Curtis takes this award for a guest appearance on The Bear. Who would have guessed she could top her chaotic and impressive performance in the Season 2 "Fishes" episode? Well, in Season 3, she had a much less chaotic and much more sweet performance as a caring parent for her daughter in labor. Because of how The Bear is and how Curtis' Donna Berzatto has been in the series so far, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I kept waiting for Donna to mess something up and cause a huge fight. But it never did. It was just a gorgeously acted and quiet two-hander between Curtis and Abby Elliott and it made Curtis' portrayal of Donna even more interesting.

Thoughts on the Rest of the Nominees:
This is an exceptionally strong guest category where a lot of the nominees could have been winners in other years. It was hard to not give this award to Kaitlyn Dever. Regardless of what you think about Abby as a character in The Last of Us, there's no denying how powerful Dever's performance was. Shawn Hatosy was a bookend figure in the first season of The Pitt and did so much with his limited screen time. Allison Janney arrived for the final two episodes of the second season of The Diplomat, and the show really perked up at that point. Jon Bernthal had his best moment yet in The Bear with a great scene with Liza Colon-Zayas. Finally, Vanessa Bayer and Nathan Lane were my two favorite "villains of the week" on Elsbeth with fun performances in the premiere (Lane) and Christmas episode (Bayer).

Tomorrow: Outstanding Guest Actor or Actress in a Comedy Series!
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