10 Big Time Actors Who Are Way Better On TV

Acting on the big screen, kicking ass on the little screen.

Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston
AMC

Undoubtedly, this is a golden age of TV, where the budgets are big, the plots are sumptuous and the writing is intelligent. It's a brave new world, but it wasn't always this way. 

Who would have thought that a gangster sit-dram would rewrite the bible on how TV series should be made? Who'd have thought that a show about 4 highly sexed socialites in New York would prove to be a genuinely heart-felt and intelligent show about women? Who'd have thought that a fantasy about dragons, and swords, and sex and intrigue would turn out to be so popular and polarising that whenever it's airing, it's the the only thing anyone is talking about? 

But such was the power and success of The Sopranos, Sex And The City and Game Of Thrones.

Film is glorious, but TV is fast becoming the screen of choice for quality storytelling. And don't the actors know it. Yes, while history is peppered with actors who started in TV then got big in Hollywood, now, it's happening all the time. What's more, the actors are even coming back to TV, or buzzing back and forth between the two.

The migration towards TV and the quality of the programming are becoming such a big deal that more often than not, we're seeing actors do their best work on the smaller screen. Here then, is a list of 10 who are pin-ups for Television's New Golden Age despite having fully fledged big screen careers.

10. Martin Freeman

Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston
Gero Breloer/AP

In the past couple of years, Martin Freeman's star has risen with ludicrous pace, and it's not hard to see why. Beneath the oh-so English gent demeanour lies a sparky intelligence, an everyman familiarity and perhaps the most overlooked value, pluckiness. 

On The Big Screen:

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was good, and while Freeman's job was straight-forward, he did it very well. He kept the curious blend of silliness and insight and seemed to bounce off the hyper-quirky cast with loveable British aplomb. Then of course, there are the gigantic Hobbit films, in which Freeman again lends his talent for being a normal person in an exceptional situation, and then grows as a person. Meh.

In Your Living Room:

On the little screen, Freeman's characters have had a better shot at revealing intelligence. Look at Tim Canterbury in The Office though: yes he was a fool for Dawn, but in a world of oddities, he approximates a voice of reason. He anchors us. 

In Sherlock, John Watson is one of the few who the sociopathic detective listens to. If you're going to have a character of freakish cognitive talents and magnetic presence, you need a no-nonsense, resilient and patient man to face up to it. 

Best TV Moment:

"You're not haunted by the war Dr. Watson, you miss it". Freeman reacts minutely, with control, self-realisation and a flicker of deep-seated power.

Contributor

Filmmaker, Actor and Writer.