Amy Acker- Most importantly, she played Winifred Burkle ("Fred") on Angel. Just a brainy Texan girl who got sucked into a vortex to another world, went a little crazy, and then joined Angel's demon-fighting crew. She holds the honor of making me cry more than any character I've ever seen. Her death in the Season 5 episode, "A Hole in the World," absolutely broke my heart. Wesley was destroyed, and so was I. Luckily, Amy got to stay on the show as the ancient god Illyria, who pretty much just used the characters as her playthings, but when she changed her appearance to look like Fred in order to comfort Wesley as he was dying, I wept all over again. After Angel, Amy showed off her bad side as Kelly Peyton in Season 5 of Alias. Ooooohh, she was mean. Then she made an appearance in an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Currently, she is playing the quiet, damaged Dr. Saunders on Dollhouse. Looking at her body of work, Amy Acker is clearly someone with amazing range. (P.S.- her first acting credit: 3 episodes of Wishbone. That is so cool.)
Adam Baldwin- I fell in love with him as Jayne on Firefly. Then I saw him on Day Break, the short-lived, Groundhog Day-meets-cop mystery show starring Taye Diggs. Then Chuck came on, with Baldwin playing John Casey the Ronald Reagan-lovin', tough guy who, along with Sarah, protects Chuck and the government secrets in his head. Last year, when I watched the entire series of Angel, he had a recurring role in Season 5 as the Senior Partner liaison at Wolfram & Hart. And, finally, several months ago as I was watching Bones, he guest-starred in one of my favorite episodes, "Two Bodies in the Lab." The man is definitely an MVP in my book.
Greg Grunberg- It's almost not fair to include him because, as the best friend of JJ Abrams since childhood, he has appeared in every JJ project. So that means I have liked him since Felicity as Sean, the lovable guy with very bad inventions. Then he played Vaughn's best friend, Agent Weiss, on Alias. They started using him a lot more in Season 3 when Sydney came back from her missing 2 years. She and Weiss became friends and went on missions together. Then he started dating her half-sister Nadia in Season 4 which was very cute. Grunberg then had a small role as the pilot of Oceanic 815 in LOST. He died a very gruesome death in about 20 seconds. Finally, he stepped outside of JJ's world as the telepathic Matt Parkman on Heroes. He is one of the only characters on that show who I have always seen as good. He doesn't always make the best decisions, but he always tries to do the right thing. That's more than I can say for anyone else.
Tricia Helfer- Besides an episode of CSI in 2002 and a couple of obscure independent movies, Tricia Helfer's first credit was Battlestar Galactica as the Cylon vixen, Number Six. Not too shabby, if you ask me. What puts her on this list is her stint as Michael's manipulative boss, Carla, in Season 2 of Burn Notice (although, we won't be seeing her anymore since Fiona used a sniper rifle on her in the finale), as well as her guest-starring role on tonight's episode of Chuck as an agent who tries to move in on Sarah's territory.
Zeljko Ivanek- This guy's IMDb page looks like it could be as long as Jack Nicholson's. His television credits include major roles in 24, Oz, Damages (for which he won an Emmy in 2008), and the current season of Heroes. That's not even getting into shows I like in which he appeared in 1 or 2 episodes: the John Adams miniseries, LOST, Bones, True Blood, House, Big Love, Crossing Jordan, and The West Wing. He is definitely doing something right.
Anne Dudek- In addition to her recurring roles on Mad Men (as Betty's gossiping friend, Francine), Big Love, and House (as Cutthroat B.), she was also a memorable guest-star on How I Met Your Mother as Ted's former girlfriend with whom he reconnects. When he breaks up with her on her birthday for the second time, she pummels him with her Krav Maga skillz. She appeared in several other shows, such as Bones, Judging Amy, Six Feet Under, Desperate Housewives, Charmed, and Psych.
Michelle Forbes- She had a big role in Season 2 of 24 (and she didn't even die! The recurring characters always die! Nobody is safe except for Jack and Chloe). Then she was in an episode of Alias, followed by a short but important role in Battlestar Galactica as the horrible Admiral Cain of the Pegasus. She has also had parts on Prison Break and In Treatment (neither of which I watch yet, but I plan on getting to them soon), and most recently I saw her in an episode of LOST and as the mysterious Maryann in True Blood, who I have read will play prominently into Season 2. She brings a certain intensity to every single thing I've seen her in. Very talented.
Dean Winters- I came to know him as the not-very-nice brother, Johnny, of the not-very-nice Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) on Rescue Me. Johnny was the cop to Tommy's firefighter. He became a bigger character in Season 3 when he started sleeping with Tommy's estranged wife, Janet, causing an understandable rift between the brothers. In addition, Winters was a series regular on Oz and has had a recurring role on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He also played Jason O'Mara's crook father in Life on Mars. And he was in one episode of Sex and the City as Carrie's "buddy."
Patrick Fischler- I had seen him in random things before I actually noticed him as the total jackass comedian, Jimmy Barrett, on Mad Men. He is also currently on LOST as Phil, one of Sawyer's security underlings- though I'm not sure how much longer he'll be around because Sawyer has taken him prisoner because he knows about Sawyer and Kate taking Young Ben to the Hostiles! He has also guest-starred in Pushing Daisies, Burn Notice, Bones, Angel (in one of my favorite episodes no less, "The Magic Bullet") , Veronica Mars, Drive, Monk, The West Wing, and Charmed.
Tony Hale- Not only is he an alumnus of Samford University from my hometown of Birmingham, AL, but he steals every scene he's in, whether it's as Buster, the "special" member of the Bluth family; Emmett, the no-nonsense Assistant Manager at the Buy More on Chuck; or the brain doctor hitting on amnesiac Christina Applegate on Samantha Who?
Mark Pellegrino- Abusive, drug-addicted ex-husband to Rita on Dexter. Thug on Burn Notice. Thug on Chuck. A couple episodes on Prison Break- probably a thug there, as well. But a couple of days ago, the surprising news that he would have an important part to play at the end of this season of LOST. Maybe he will be playing a thug, but I don't know. Something tells me we will see a new layer to this guy.
Swoosie Kurtz- She was Chuck's grumbling, one-eyed Aunt Lily on the whimsical Pushing Daisies. That was sadly (and wrongly) cancelled after only 2 seasons, so when creator Bryan Fuller returned to the producing staff of Heroes, he brought her in to do the episode that he was writing. She also guest-starred in an episode of Desperate Housewives recently, and she played John Locke's less than ideal mother on LOST a couple years ago.
********Ok, so I have tried to highlight some of the lesser-known actors who have made an impression on me. But this list would not be complete without a mention of these all-stars:
Alyson Hannigan- First and foremost, she stands out as Willow in Buffy. She's right up there with Wesley (a.k.a., Alexis Densiof, who in real life be her baby daddy!) and Cordelia in terms of character growth. Then, she had her recurring role on Veronica Mars as the attention-hungry Trina Echolls, followed by a starring role on How I Met Your Mother as Lily--kindergarden teacher and half of one of the cutest relationships ever, along with Jason Segel as Marshall. I heart Lilypad and Marshmallow. Those are three very different shows, and Hannigan plays them all wonderfully.
Mary McDonnell- Also from BSG, her Laura Roslin was one of the most complicated television characters I have ever seen. She evoked a lot of different emotions in me throughout the 4 seasons--love, hatred, frustration, pity, admiration--but my favorite thing about her will always be the care with which she kept the survival count on the whiteboard in her office of Colonial One. Before the Cylon attack, she was the Secretary of Education, and then suddenly, she had to step up and become Madam President. The lives of the human race were in her hands. I didn't always agree with her decisions, but the point is that she was making them, that she was handling the situation. Since filming the finale, McDonnell has already had a recurring role in Grey's Anatomy as a cardio surgeon with Asperger's Syndrome, and she is set to play a police captain who clashes with Brenda in The Closer.
Kyle Chandler- I adore this man. It's a freakin' crime that he hasn't gotten any awards for playing Coach Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights. I mean, I'm neither a boy nor a football player and even I'm inspired by his locker room speeches and the way he guides those kids. He also had 4 very memorable episodes as "Bomb Squad Guy" on Grey's Anatomy. And way back in the days of PAXtv, I remember watching him on the show Early Edition. He starred as a guy who gets the next day's newspaper delivered to his door by an orange cat, and he becomes a begrudging hero who tries to help people by preventing bad things from happening.
Nathan Fillion- I adore this man, too. He was Captain Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly. The thing that I love most about Mal is how protective he is of his crew. It is so endearing. Nathan also came in at the end of Season 7 of Buffy as the wicked preacher Caleb who worked for the First. Then he had a show called Drive that was cancelled after only a few episodes. I've actually heard good things about it- not that I'm surprised, given that it was created by Tim Minear- so I plan on watching/enjoying this show at some point. And that brings us to now, with him starring as the childish but still endearing and intelligent novelist on Castle. I am happy to say that after 4 episodes, I am very pleased and liking it quite a bit. I don't think I'm just saying that because Nathan is in it. It's probably too early to tell, but so far I think Castle is very entertaining and interesting.
Note: Almost every single one of these people has appeared in episodes of ER, Law & Order, and CSI. Frankly, all actors have appeared in them. I wonder if there's some sort of obligation in the acting community to help those shows cast for the thousands of episodes they do.
Amy Acker, scene from Angel
2 finale of 
