5. Ben Linus - Lost
If ever there was a guy that you could say did so much with so little, its Michael Emerson. Debuting in the then red hot Lost in a minor role as Henry Gayle, Emersons performance brought the character to life and gave the show something that it was lacking- a villain. The way he took on the role of Gayle in those first couple of episodes should serve as an example to all actors, the possibility was always there for an expanded role but he had to make the most of it. The way he delivered his lines with cowardice and cunning in equal measure and perhaps more importantly how much Emerson expressed in silence, he always gave the impression that Henry was hiding something behind those mesmeric eyes. This excellent guest turn led to the true role of Ben Linus. Much has been made about what exactly the writers of Lost had planned out for the show and what they were making up as they went along, the creation of Ben shows that unplanned storylines werent necessarily a bad thing. Discovering that Ben was the leader of the antagonistic others was fascinating, even more so when it was revealed that they werent actually savages. In the space of just a season, Michael Emerson had gone from having a guest star role, to playing arguably the most important character in the entire show. Further seasons would reveal that Ben- like Locke- was merely a puppet in a much bigger game of cat and mouse. This turn of events would usually mean the end for a character like Ben, having lost their place as the antagonist the former main villain would typically meet their maker or fade into the background, but not Ben. Though his place as the big bad was taken by Keamy, Charles Widmore and eventually The Man in Black, Ben Linus would still have several memorable moments in the show. Chief among them was the death of his adopted/stolen daughter Alex, again the moment was completely sold by the expressions on Emersons face, as we could understand every emotion Ben was going through in that scene.