3 BRIAN AUSTIN GREEN
Age 32 Role/Show Chris on ABC's Freddie You might remember him from Beverly Hills, 90210; Resurrection Blvd. He's a scene-stealer because As Freddie's daft, shallow, immensely likable best buddy, Green could give the sitcom's headliner (Freddie Prinze Jr.) a lesson or two on how to commit to a joke. True, moneyed playboy Chris does get to break out more often — check out his Halloween getup as Rocky Horror's sweet transvestite — but Green doesn't need leather and lace to get to us. Best moment After the Frank-N-Furter outing in the Halloween episode, Chris and Freddie rankle a homophobe by pretending to be husbands, with Chris staying in the moment (but never overplaying it) long after the guy leaves.
4 SOFIA VERGARA
Age 33 Role/Show Lola Hernandez on ABC's just-canceled Hot Properties You might remember her from Soul Plane; being briefly linked to Tom Cruise She's a scene-stealer because Vergara may be the newest pledge in the Hot Funny-Chick sorority headed by Pamela Anderson and Jaime Pressly — but the native Colombian is already a major star in the Latin world, best known as the host of the travel show Fuera de Serie. As real estate agent Lola, she gets plenty of female sympathy thanks to her character's tendency to fall for gay men. Best moment When Lola posed as a gay man on an online dating site so that she could (inexplicably) reunite with her out-and-proud ex-husband.
5 TJ THYNE
Age 29 Role/Show Dr. Jack Hodgins on Fox's Bones You might remember him from How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Erin Brockovich He's a scene-stealer because He's perhaps the most socially disaffected of TV's ''squints'' (and that's saying a lot). Hodgins seems to have picked up his conversation skills — and his bug love — at the feet of CSI's Gil Grissom. But Jack is Grissom before Grissom was cool: Awkward and ill-tempered, he just wants to be left alone to nurse his slugs and his conspiracy theories. On a continuum of paranoia, he's somewhere between Fox Mulder and Oliver Stone. Best moment Jack's priceless spaz attack when it got out that he's so rich his family kind of owns the Jeffersonian — the institute where they all work.
6 AUNJANUE ELLIS
Age 36 Role/Show Master Sgt. Jocelyn Pierce on NBC's E-Ring You might remember her from Ray; Undercover Brother She's a scene-stealer because We didn't know what to think of Pierce at first. Her severe bun and clipped manner screamed ''wound too tight,'' as she informed Benjamin Bratt's Maj. Jim Tisnewski, her superior at the Pentagon, that she wasn't his ''Stepin Fetchit.'' But this master sergeant is a still water running deep, her smile hiding a hundred D.C. secrets, her brow furrowing only when it's really important — like when she's pressing the higher-ups to stop an impending African genocide. Best moment Slyly confirming to her boss, Colonel McNulty (Dennis Hopper), that she saved his hide when yet another employee accused him of sexual harassment.
7 TERRY CREWS
Age 37 Role/Show Julius on UPN's Everybody Hates Chris You might remember him from White Chicks He's a scene-stealer because Crews makes you sympathize with the dad — a very rare feat for a sitcom pop. As Julius, ''one of three fathers on the block,'' according to adult Chris' voice-over, Crews stumbles bleary-eyed from job to job, trying to keep his family above the poverty line. You can understand, then, why he's a preternatural penny-pincher who knows the cost of that tablespoon of oatmeal you didn't eat. Best moment The former Washington Redskin made us weepy when Julius, after finding a book of food stamps, told wife Rochelle (Tichina Arnold) that he might ''splurge'' by sleeping an extra hour and taking his kids to a movie.
