Best acting performances overall

Tome

Tome

Berktwad
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Black Thorn
I thought it would be interesting to see what actors everyone thought had the best performances in Buffy and Angel. I'm talking strictly acting-wise; I don't mean your favorite characters. Go ahead and list in order your top five performances for main characters and recurring characters in both shows combined. Like this:

Major Characters
1- Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers)
2- Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg)
3- Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Price)
4- Amy Acker (Winifred Burkle/Illyria)
5- James Marsters (Spike)

Recurring Characters
1- Stephanie Romanov (Lilah Morgan)
2- Harry Groener (The Mayor)
3- Juliet Landau (Drusilla)
4- Eliza Dushku (Faith Lehane)
5- Julie Benz (Darla)
*BONUS ROUND* Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)

Your turn! 🙂
 
Best actor on either show was Anthony Stewart Head. Though he was often given the worst material.

Alexis Denisof I'd say second

With James Marsters 3rd

For actresses Id say Alyson Hannigan though she had no chemistry with Amber Benson and there baby talk dialogue was cringe sometimes. Honestly she was best in that Angel Crossover with her husband

SMG was fine at what she did early on but then fell into 1 note territory in doing the same thing over and over. With the Halloween episode for example she clearly couldn't do an 18th century woman. By Season 7 she was clearly bored and it showed on screen.
 
Eliza (got to have her)
Alyson (not at band camp, her vamp and evil selfs were brilliant)
Amy (brilliant at both characters)
David (again both sides of himself were well done)
Alexis (and again wet behind the ears to a demon hunter!) lol
 
major characters

1. AH - As Giles I felt like he was giving a master class on acting a lot of the time. brilliant .
2. JM - As Spike he had so many layers. i am a major fan of spike and not everyone is that's for sure
3. SMG - she rocks the house, what can i say.
4. AB - some people have mocked amber benson's acting as Tara. i honestly thought she was always on point and honest. her scene with Willow when she was jealous of Amy was a very good display of her skills. she was often quite subtle and always poignant to me
5. MT - she was awesome as Dawn. natural, believable, and created her own fierce zone. another hated character i enjoyed lol

as for recurring, clearly ED as Faith was a powerhouse, no question. i couldnt stand Wesley's character on buffy , he redeemed himself on Angel for me. AD was a good actor, the character was annoying AH. seth green as Oz was excellent.
 
ASH was arguably the best actor. In the early seasons he was the emotional glue that held it together
Alexis had as good an acting range as anyone on either show
I used to think that James relied more on charisma than acting skills but he could also be very good in the quiet reflective moments and he had great chemistry with most people which brought out the best in them
Alyson was always very good
And I always liked Amy - I just wish her character had been given more chances to stretch her skills

I thought SMG was great in the early seasons but I do agree with @Btvs fan that she sometimes fell into more of a routine with her portrayal in the later seasons

I think Eliza and David improved the most. In S3 Buffy Eliza was great at playing the cool rebellious girl but not always as effective with the more serious stuff but had improved massively by Angel S4.
And watching David in S1 you wouldn’t think he could ever have been the star on his own show
 
Dogs of Winter said:
ASH was arguably the best actor. In the early seasons he was the emotional glue that held it together
Alexis had as good an acting range as anyone on either show
I used to think that James relied more on charisma than acting skills but he could also be very good in the quiet reflective moments and he had great chemistry with most people which brought out the best in them
Alyson was always very good
And I always liked Amy - I just wish her character had been given more chances to stretch her skills

I thought SMG was great in the early seasons but I do agree with @Btvs fan that she sometimes fell into more of a routine with her portrayal in the later seasons

I think Eliza and David improved the most. In S3 Buffy Eliza was great at playing the cool rebellious girl but not always as effective with the more serious stuff but had improved massively by Angel S4.
And watching David in S1 you wouldn’t think he could ever have been the star on his own show
Click to expand...
I agree about Eliza and David improving a lot over time.
 
Dogs of Winter said:
ASH was arguably the best actor. In the early seasons he was the emotional glue that held it together
Alexis had as good an acting range as anyone on either show
I used to think that James relied more on charisma than acting skills but he could also be very good in the quiet reflective moments and he had great chemistry with most people which brought out the best in them
Alyson was always very good
And I always liked Amy - I just wish her character had been given more chances to stretch her skills

I thought SMG was great in the early seasons but I do agree with @Btvs fan that she sometimes fell into more of a routine with her portrayal in the later seasons

I think Eliza and David improved the most. In S3 Buffy Eliza was great at playing the cool rebellious girl but not always as effective with the more serious stuff but had improved massively by Angel S4.
And watching David in S1 you wouldn’t think he could ever have been the star on his own show
Click to expand...

David in Welcome to the Hellmouth is a different David in Not Fade Away that's for sure.


I'd also add Glen Quinn, he took a literal Whistler clone and in only 9 episodes made him incredibly memorable. Very difficult considering he's basically the side kick
 
Main
1. SMG of course- she can do sweet/innocent (Witch, Surprise/Innocence) or sexy (Bewitched, Who Are You?) good or evil (s7), comedy (Beer Bad, Living Conditions) heavy drama (The Body, Forever, Prophecy Girl) - girls got range
2. Alyson also has crazy range- though I could’ve done with Dark Willow being way more evil/scary, she proves her range with the difference in tone between regular Willow and vamp Willow alone.
3. James as Spike no doubt
4. Amy as Fred/Illyria - huge range in character that shows her acting chops- which she already demonstrated great range with Fred in seasons 2-5
5. Charisma as Cordelia - she really gave the mean girl from Buffy s1 such a deep heart by the end even though I hate how assassinated she was, I appreciate the growth for better or worse and that Charisma brought enough heart to Cordelia that I really loved her character and was heartbroken when she died in s5.

Recurring
1. Julie as Darla no doubt
2. Juliet as Drusilla no doubt
3. Eliza as Faith- not best example but she did go through the motions so I’ll give it to her
4. Amber as Tara - agree with previous poster that she conveys emotions very subtly and beautifully
5. Elizabeth as Amy- love her journey even if it still leaves me wanting more- the nuance in her character makes her interesting and Elizabeth Anne Allen is a good actress
 
I think Vincent Kartheiser acted Connor well, especially when you consider the differences between S5 Connor and earlier Connor. I do not like Connor for most of his appearance and do not think Connor was well written, but I think Vincent did a good job of working with the poor material he was given.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Agree completely.
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