Best actress on the series?

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

Amy Acker, hands down, is the best actress over both shows; I would say the role of Illyria proves that. 9 episodes to create a much lauded fan favorite out of a character most people were ready to hate.

Absolutely no question about this. The scene where Illyria pretended to be Fred (for the Burkles) blew me away. The way Amy became Illyria...she didn't even require the makeup to do so. Just facial expressions and her voice. To this day, it still gives me chills.

 

[silvermoon]

I've been listening to classic loveline episodes on youtube and love the fact that a number of members of the cast were on the show. amber benson james eliza emma etc.

 

[TamsinValencia]

Sarah
Michelle
Gellar but also Eliza Dushku. Especially when they switched in 'Who are you'. Pretty and talented, what more could you want?

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Re: Acker; I do. Illyria was a fantastic performance, and is the reason she is still working today. But neither Normal Fred nor Crazy Fred were anything exceptional, just another Jossian archetype character. I'm not saying she's a bad actress, but she didn't hit the critical or commercial success of the Big Four, and that's nothing to be ashamed of

 

[thetopher]

With Amy Acker I really have the Fred/Illyria switch-up in mind for her top tier performance (coupled with the writing), she was good before then but, really, there are very few who could make existential dread and pain in a Cthulhu-esque alien monster like Illyria and make me actually believe it, and even make me feel bad for it.

 

[Btvs fan]

I agree that Amy Acker was the best on either show. She was the best thing in Dollhouse too.

Early years Sarah was good but not perfect (her 18th Century noble woman in Halloween was painful) it's obvious she got bored (by Season 3 according to Aly) and was phoning it in or simply doing cry scenes all the time.

Aly was good but her scenes got repetitive too. Plus she had no real chemistry with Amber Benson though that's not all there fault. The baby dialogue and Network rules didn't help

 

[hoponlilmama]

I agree that Amy Acker was the best on either show. She was the best thing in Dollhouse too.

Early years Sarah was good but not perfect (her 18th Century noble woman in Halloween was painful) it's obvious she got bored (by Season 3 according to Aly) and was phoning it in or simply doing cry scenes all the time.

Aly was good but her scenes got repetitive too. Plus she had no real chemistry with Amber Benson though that's not all there fault. The baby dialogue and Network rules didn't help

That's according to Alyson, so who knows if that's the case.
Looking back though, it seems clearer there was some phoning in during s7.