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There’s nothing better than seeing an actor on the silver screen subvert expectations, whether that means being bowled over by a newcomer’s performance or watching a familiar face
effortlessly shift gears in that person’s career trajectory. This year, a noteworthy number of actors achieved these milestones, playing everything from real people who’ve made an impression to fictionalized folks facing life’s frictions.
In “The Holdovers,” newcomer Dominic Sessa plays a surly teen stuck at boarding school with his equally abrasive teacher (Paul Giamatti) over winter break. Sessa relished inhabiting a character close to his own age in
his first film role. “The funny thing about high school plays is [in] a lot of them, you’re playing older people,” he says. “It made it challenging because it was like, ‘Oh, I can talk like a kid. I can be myself in a lot of ways.’ Getting to that point where you can trust yourself.”
Sessa holds his own against heavy hitters such as Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph with a commanding ease. Though there was no real rehearsal time and he had to learn how to hit his marks and find his eyelines, he credits his collaborators for guiding him through his emotional scenes. “Because they’re so good and they bring so much,” he says, “I didn’t have that much difficulty really just dropping into that.”
Charles Melton is also grabbing attention for his heart-rending performance as the much younger half of a tabloid-scandalized couple in “May December.” The “Riverdale” heartthrob stars opposite Academy Award winners Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, under the astute direction of Todd Haynes. “I call Todd, Natalie and Julianne this trifecta of excellence,” he says.
Audiences see a different, deeply compelling side of Melton, who also recently appeared in the Peacock series “Poker Face” and starred in 2019’s indie romance “The Sun Is Also a Star.” “Todd created this world, this atmosphere that really allowed me to just transform and trust in my instincts,” Melton says, calling Portman and Moore masters
of their craft. “I really felt open, safe and collaborative throughout the whole process.”
Fantasia Barrino has come a long way from not only winning “American Idol” but starring in Broadway musical “The Color Pur-
ple,” a role she’s now reprised in director Blitz Bazawule’s film adaptation. “When I
first stepped into Celie’s shoes in 2007, I was
in a very different place in my life,” she says.
“My personal life was a shambles. It required an incredible amount of strength to live
in her skin for eight shows a week while trying to manage the chaos in my life. When I was asked to re-inhabit Celie, I was able to meet her again from a much stronger place,
approaching her with a new understanding. Instead of focusing on her challenges, I was able to focus on her triumph and determination — and that was healing.”
Barrino, who recently talked with Variety about her experiences with sexual assault for a Power of Women cover story, was able to expand her craft this time around, including tap-dancing in the “Miss Celie’s Pants” musical number. “I also chose to do my own stunts in the scenes where Mister physically abused Celie,” she says. “As an
artist and someone so deeply connected to her journey, I needed to physically experience those moments on set to help free
not only Celie but myself from the past.”
Trace Lysette has also deepened her craft, starring as the titular character in “Monica,”
a woman returning home to care for her dying estranged mother (Patricia Clarkson). Since much of her performance is internal, she discovered new brushstrokes: “As actors, we are always wanting to learn, to be taught, by the characters we are so lucky to play. Monica taught me restraint; she taught me so many things about subtlety and nuance
in the work. I never felt the need to reach, only to be real, truthful and know that everything she needed was already inside me.”
One of the keys was finding the right collaborators in director/co-writer Andrea Pallaoro and co-writer Orlando Tirado. “It became clear they wanted my notes, my ideas, my feelings on the script — and on
Monica as an individual — to make sure the authenticity piece was intact,” Lysette says. “I knew the doors this story could open, so I knew we had to give her the TLC she needed.”
Lysette’s star turn is meaningful in many ways, especially for trans representation: “The shot is so rare for any actor, let alone a trans actor, to play the title character in such a quality film. This is so much bigger than a film, but ultimately that’s why a film like this is so important. Trans lives are at stake.”
Eugenio Derbez had already conquered comedy and had a dramatic supporting role in 2021 Oscar winner “CODA.” However, his lead performance as a teacher who unlocks his sixth graders’
potential in “Radical” is turning heads. “I love comedy, but once you get pigeonholed,
you have to be really careful about when
and how you make the crossover.”
To do that, he examined the work of contemporaries including Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Bill Murray. “I really wanted to wait until the right moment,” Derbez says. After ‘CODA,’ my business partner and I said, ‘Okay, now feels like the right time to make ‘Radical.’ We waited 10 years.’ ”
Derbez, who also stars in the Apple TV+ series “Acapulco,” found portraying real-life teacher Sergio Juárez daunting, but he was
focused on a few central concerns: “Who is this person, and why do they get up every day and under the hardest circumstances possible try to help make the world a better place?” From there, his process quickly solidified. “I spent a lot of time with Sergio asking questions and observing him, but I ultimately
decided I just wanted to capture his essence, not really try to imitate him.”
After years on the beloved sitcom “It’s
Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Glenn Howerton was up for a change. And he found a unique opportunity to do just that as CEO Jim Balsillie in “BlackBerry,” about the company behind the early smartphones. “My background is in drama. I never intended to have so much of my career be
in comedy, although I love it,” he says. “But my intention to do both has just taken me
a little while to get there.”
But there wasn’t much of a difference breaking down a character in his comedy work than in drama: “The toughest thing for me was not having a ton of experience mapping a character’s journey over the course of a film. I felt like I was in unfamiliar waters
to a certain degree,” Howerton says. “I had to map out such an arc of a character over the course of a film, basically at home by myself and having conversations with the director.”
The fact that his onscreen appearance is so staggeringly different from Howerton’s helped the actor slip into character. “It’s like an intense version of dressing up for Halloween,” he says. “When you put a mask on, it almost frees you from yourself — liberated a little bit from your own quirks, your own personality. It changes the way I stand and walk into a room.” And the risk yielded much reward. “I felt like I was taking a big swing, but the last thing I wanted to do was play it safe. Being able to trust my own instincts when
it comes to how I approach material — this has been very validating of that.”
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