Why: As abused slave Patsey, Nyong’o turned in a truly luminescent performance that captured the pain and torment of Patsey’s daily existence, exploring the physical, mental and emotional toll that slavery took on her during her time as a slave of the sadistic Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). Expect Nyong’o to be the name on everybody’s lips at this year’s Oscar ceremony. The actress came out of nowhere (12 Years A Slave was her first film after graduating from the Yale School of Drama) to turn in the most gut-wrenching and deeply human performance of the year.
What’s Next: Nyong’o has a supporting role in the upcoming Liam Neeson thriller Non-Stop, about an air marshal attempting to prevent someone from murdering passengers on board an international flight.
[h2]Taylor Schilling – Orange is the New Black (Netflix)[/h2]
Why: After starring in sleepy melodrama The Lucky One, Schilling needed something huge to break away from the pretty-face mold. Luckily for her (and for us), she found Netflix’s excellent prison dramedy Orange is the New Black. As the upper middle-class homemaker Piper Chapman, who’s sentenced to 15 months in a women’s federal prison for transporting drug money during her rebellious college years, Schilling is sympathetic, hilarious and thoroughly believable.
In a program that’s home to an all-around terrific ensemble (it was tough to leave Laverne Cox and Uzo Aduba off this list), Schilling is a terrific and capable anchor, as well as the show’s beating heart.
What’s Next: Sometime early next year, Schilling will star in the drama Stay, about a young woman rocked by an unexpected pregnancy during her romance with a disgraced professor (Aidan Quinn). She’ll also return for the second season of Orange is the New Black, which is set to premiere on Netflix in the first half of 2014.