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Emmys: Here's Our Dream Ballot for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

What is it gonna take for Matt Czuchry to get some love?

joyce-eng.jpg
Joyce Eng

Emmy season is upon us! Voters have until June 26 to fill out their nomination ballots before the big announcement on July 16. We have a few selections in mind ourselves. Up next: our wish list for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Banks' work on Better Call Saul Season 1 begins and ends with "Five-O." Filling in Mike's backstory of how the Philly cop ended up in Albuquerque, the episode allowed Banks to show his range and offered rare glimpses of emotion underneath our favorite grumpy grandpa's stoic, laconic exterior. When Banks' voice cracks uttering, "I broke my boy," so do our hearts. Fun fact: Banks, the only person to be nominated in this category for two shows (Wiseguy and Breaking Bad), would be the first to be nominated for three different ones.

Matt Czuchry, The Good Wife
Season 6 will probably be remembered for the Kalicia clusterf---, which is a shame because it overshadows the stellar work Czuchry did in the first half of the season. The ultimate Sixth Man on The Good Wife, Czuchry delivered when he was finally called off the bench for a juicy prison arc, as Cary, defeated but dogged, tried his damndest to regain control of his life. Czuchry is the only Good Wife original who's never been nominated anywhere and it's high time that changed.

Emmys: Here's our dream ballot for supporting actress in a drama series

Vincent D'Onofrio, Daredevil
D'Onofrio can chew scenery like no one's business, so he easily could've played Wilson Fisk at full-throttled terror like your run-of-the-mill cartoonish comic-book villain. Instead, he deploys his veritable gifts to build a nuanced, menacing and wounded human being who is a bundle of nerves around a beautiful woman and, like the titular hero, so wholeheartedly believes in his own ideology to make Hell's Kitchen a better place that you're thisclose to coming on board too. It's a mesmerizing performance of fury, grace and ambiguity that only D'Onofrio could bring to the table. He also makes amazing omelettes.

Walton Goggins, Justified
Rarely do we ever want a villain to live when it's all said and done, but Boyd Crowder was not your average bad guy. Armed with a flinty scowl and swagger for days, Goggins made Boyd a complex chameleon of a hero, outlaw, murderer and lover who toyed with our emotions and loyalties as much as he did with Ava's and Raylan's. His final exchange with Raylan -- "We dug coal together" -- is a bittersweet capstone to a complicated relationship.

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Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Mendelsohn is a co-lead on Bloodline, but we'll ignore the category fraud because he's just that good. The poster boy for "characters you love to hate," black sheep Danny is a shifty, rakish rascal whose whole aura rests on Mendelsohn's sleazily charismatic performance. He's frustrating and fascinating, abhorrent and sympathetic all at once -- and just like the Rayburns, we could never forget about him.

Ari Millen, Orphan Black
As the Clone Club expanded with the male Castor clones, Millen gave Tatiana Maslany a serious run for her money. While Maslany gets the benefit of playing a variety of characters, Millen has the tougher task of playing militarized clones with basically the same personality and finding a way to make each his own person. Somehow he's awesomely managed the feat, shading each with careful subtlety that they're distinct in their sameness. It's not as flashy as Maslany's work, but just as enormously impressive.

Who would you nominate?