LAURA LINNEY
Past Gem: The Truman Show (1998)

Linney seems to specialize in brittle women trapped in miserable domestic situations, like her Academy Award-nominated role in The Savages as an aspiring playwright stuck caring for her deteriorating father. In The Truman Show, she's Hannah Gill, the actress playing Meryl, the chirpy wife of unwitting reality show subject Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey). As her husband grows increasingly manic in his effort to determine the truth behind his existence, her anxiety grows palpable until she's forced, in terror, to break character.