Edie Falco

The New York independent film scene of the mid-nineties is where Falco came up. She is Jean in The Addiction, a union speaker in The Funeral, Berta in Cop Land, all inside three years, and the first substantial regular role was Officer Diane Whittlesey on Oz from 1997.

Then Carmela Soprano. The performance is the whole argument for her: Carmela lives inside a life she has decided not to look at directly, and Falco plays the complicity and the objection simultaneously without ever telling you which one she means. She also plays anger as complete stillness, which almost nobody does. The tally is four Primetime Emmys, three for lead actress in a drama and one in comedy, two Golden Globes for a drama series, and a Tony nomination for the stage.

The other long job is Jackie Peyton in Nurse Jackie from 2009, a comedy by category and something considerably darker in practice, and the register changes there scene by scene.

Since, she has worked steadily and chosen well: Leslie Abramson in Law & Order True Crime, Hillary Clinton in American Crime Story, Sylvia in Horace and Pete, Warden Nina Hobbs in Mayor of Kingstown. Film keeps her in support, Jackie Leavey in Megan Leavey, Marly Temple in Sunshine State, Karen Collucci in Freedomland, Helene in The Land of Steady Habits. She is General Ardmore in both Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is the biggest film work she has ever done and a long way from the best.