2. Emmy Rossum - Shameless
No, its not because her name is Emmy, but that doesnt mean she doesnt deserve one. Rossum plays Fiona Gallagher, oldest sister and caretaker of the Gallagher clan. Residing in south Chicago squalor, Fiona battles family, finances, and feces to keep her younger siblings in her care. The heartbreaking scene in the courtroom when Fiona is petitioning to become the legal guardian of her siblings because drunken father (brilliant William H. Macy) is too, well, drunk, or the final fight between her and boyfriend Jimmy has to stir something up in you, or youre not human. The brilliance of Rossum is performing her character in a way that youre always rooting for her, and you feel so down when she fails. Its not cheesy, its not my girl Friday moments, but just the honest to God, ups and downs of a girl trying to keep everything together when its always falling apart.