Every year brings new, exciting performances from actors old and new, and 2023 has been no different in its first six months. Here are the best of the year so far from film and television.

Honorable Mentions:

• Phil Dunster; Ted Lasso
• Joel Edgerton; Master Gardener
• Sarah Goldberg; Barry
• Glenn Howerton; BlackBerry
• Emma Mackey; Emily
• Johnathan Majors; Creed III
• Joaquin Phoenix; Beau is Afraid
• Lea Seydoux; One Fine Morning
• Ali Wong; Beef
• Helene York; The Other Two

Dominique Fishback; Swarm

The world at large may not have known the name of Dominique Fishback just yet, but she proved herself a bona fide star in the Amazon limited series Swarm. She appears in almost every scene throughout the 7-episode series, and fully owns the spotlight while navigating her character’s (to put it lightly) sticky morality. The show stumbled a bit in the later episodes, but Fishback knew exactly what kind of show she was in and plumbed the depths of pop star devotee Dre’s soul. Maybe Swarm strains credulity a tad when its protagonist literally kills in the name of an artist, but it gets our online culture exactly right, and our worship of those we think we know best, all thanks to Fishback’s unforgettable performance.

Rachel McAdams; Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

It’s no accident that the mother in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is just as complex as its protagonist. Rachel McAdams has to be a nurturing presence for her daughter, who’s going through the horrible experiences of puberty, while maintaining her own emotional arc. She’s not the perfect parent, but McAdams has an innate likability that brings all of her character’s efforts front and center. Whether she’s trying to appeal to the moms of the PTA of the new community or helping her daughter buy a training bra or confessing why she has a strained relationship with her parents, McAdams navigates all of her character’s developments with an emotional honesty that the film needs. We take her for granted sometimes, but McAdams’s work in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. shows that she’s one of our most essential actors working today.

Park Ji-min; Return to Seoul

Any conversation about revelatory performances from this year begins and ends with Park Ji-min’s shattering performance as Freddie, a Korean adoptee raised in France and returning to her home country, at the center of Return to Seoul. Davy Chou’s character study about national and personal identity requires a magnetic performance at its center, and Park carries the film with the confidence of a seasoned veteran. What’s even more astounding is that Return to Seoul is Park’s first performance – of any kind. Park has to navigate a host of different emotions throughout the film’s runtime, from vulnerability to confidence to friendliness to righteous indignation, and Freddie is one of the most complex protagonists of any film this year. There are plenty of moments when Freddie becomes purposefully unlikeable, but the magic trick of Park’s performance is that we never stop rooting for her. If Return to Seoul is any indication of her talent, I can’t wait to see whatever Park Ji-min has in store next.

Sarah Snook; Succession

Look, virtually everyone on Succession belongs on this list, if we’re being honest. Between Jeremy Strong, J. Smith Cameron, Alan Ruck, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen, Peter Friedman, David Rasche, and Alexander Skarsgard (and many, many more), there was rarely a weak link among the show’s stacked cast as it barreled through its final season. The show’s primary focus in season four may have been Jeremy Strong’s Kendall, but Snook had perhaps the meatiest and most dramatic material of each episode, and she handled it with a captivating level of nuance. In each episode, Shiv navigated her way around her siblings, her complicated relationship with her husband, the Waystar Royco frenemy Mattson (Skarsgard), and forged alliances to try to make her way to the top. Every Succession character is drawn with such incredible depth, but Snook stood out from week to week and will perhaps go down as the show’s most versatile performer.

Donnie Yen; John Wick: Chapter 4

Donnie Yen doesn’t need American films to be considered a legend. Much like the great Hong Kong action stars like Jackie Chan or Michelle Yeoh, he’s cultivated a hefty career outside of the states already. But his performance in John Wick: Chapter 4 is perhaps the best of the series, a physically impressive action presence that’s matched by his surprisingly layered emotional work. Adding a blind assassin in the John Wick universe could easily come off as gimmicky, but Yen stands out in the way he utilizes his character’s physical abilities to really become a force to be reckoned with. Yen’s grounded complexity makes an already interesting character unforgettable from the moment we first see him on-screen to the final moments of the film.