Who is the Best Actor in the B5 Series?

[kosh555]

Who is the Best Actor in the B5 Series?

My-Opinion: There are a lot of great actors in B5.
Some of them are: Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Peter Jurasik-Wait never mind I am just going to end up naming all of them.

[raw_bean]

That's the problem I'd have! Over the full five years, they all (well, just about) had moments of greatness, making it very hard to pick. I suppose off the top of my head, Peter Jurasik had the most fantastic scenes that stand out in my mind, but then again he was lucky in that regard because I think Londo was the best character in the show and had many of JMS's best written moments to work with.

[Joe Nazzaro]

That's about the most loaded question I've ever seen on this forum; how can you decide who is 'best,' and based on what criteria? B5 had an extraordinarily diverse cast, and I'm not sure how you could pick. And a few of them certainly had an advantage in terms of what was being written for them. There's no disputing the notion that a character like G'Kar was getting some pretty meaty scenes by seasons four and five.

That being said, I had the great pleasure of watching most of the B5 actors on set at various points in the production, and it was very interesting to see how their acting styles varied hugely. Somebody like Bruce Boxleitner or Peter Jurasik could be chatting one moment and turn their characters on the next, only to go back to what they were doing after the scene wrapped. Others like Mira or Andreas were much more intense, and when they were in makeup and costume, I think at least a small piece of them stayed in character while they were working. Neither of those techniques makes them better; they were just playing different characters, with different techniques.

One could argue that G'Kar had some of the best scenes in the series, but I remember being there when Bruce and Mira shot their final good-bye scene from 'Sleeping in Light, and there was literally not a dry eye in the house. Even hardened guys who had been in the business for decades were tearing up, and while they obviously had a great deal of emotional investment in this show after four years, there's no denying that Bruce and Mira knocked it out of the park.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth, while side-stepping the question a bit.

[Lope de Aguirre]

For me Andreas Katsulas was best in B5.

But I loved Peter Jurasik, Jerry Doyle, Ed Wasser, Tim Choate , Walter Koenig and Michael O'Hare also totally in their parts.

[kosh555]

I liked O'Hare but he wasn't to great of an actor

[byong]

In my opinion two things make or break a show..writing and acting. Special effects and sets help but won't break or make a show. The writing, for the most part, is of the charts good mostly because it's an arc but individual lines were great too. Many days I have a b5 line go through my head.

The writing can help/hurt the actors but they can still screw it up or make it better. There is no real best actors in B5. But, in my uneducated opinion Andreas, Peter and Mira were tops. I'd put Bruce next followed by Jerry, Claudia and Richard. I also liked the actors who played Welsh and Zach Allen.

I don't know and of the actors "as a person" very well but I like Jerry Doyle and his story. If there's an actor I'd like to see in the next Lost Tales it would be Peter J.

[luvB5]

Even the guest stars were great actors. I got to know Wayne Alexander (Sebastian/Jack the Ripper in "Comes the Inquisitor") pretty well. He beat out 20 or so others for the part with his oh-so-proper English accent. They were Brits, Wayne is from Fresno :-) He also played Lorian.

[*Starstuff*]

That's a hard question.

That said ... my all time favorite is Andreas Katsulas, for numerous reasons. He just transported all those emotions, all those facial expressions through the prostetics, it's amazing. And his voice! That just gets me every time he delivers his lines. To be honest, from about the middle of the first season I stopped noticing the make up on Andreas ... he plays G'Kar so convincing that sometimes I have to remind myself that there is a human beneath the black spots and red eyes.

I also like Stephen Fursts performance very much, but in the end, all the actors were great (except O'Hare, sorry). I am so looking forward to meet Peter Jurasik and Bruce Boxleitner this April; I hope they will have a panel together. I can imagine that this would result in a very entertaining performance as well

@luvB5: I didn't know Wayne Alexander wasn't British! That's amazing, faking an accent so well. But then I also couldn't say anything except "Holy Sh***" after hearing Peter Jurasik in an interview the first time. I always thought Londo's accent was HIS accent, but he too faked it all the time. I couldn't believe it at first.

[Jan]

Who is the Best Actor in the B5 Series?

I don't know about 'best' since that's a very subjective term but I can list some favorites.

In their roles:
Peter Jurasik tied for first place
Andreas Katsulas tied for first place
Mira Furlan
Wayne Alexander
Walter Koenig
Brad Dourif

As people I've encountered:
Peter Jurasik
Rick Biggs
Pat Tallman
Jason Carter
Bruce Boxleitner
W. Morgan Sheppard (as of this weekend)

Non-Actors:
JMS (of course)

Jan

[Garibaldi's Hair]

@luvB5: I didn't know Wayne Alexander wasn't British! That's amazing, faking an accent so well.

Well, to be fair, the vast majority of Brits don't sound like that. Shakespearean actors perhaps, but not the rest of us.

[Morden]

Well, to be fair, the vast majority of Brits don't sound like that. Shakespearean actors perhaps, but not the rest of us.

I thought you all sound like Marcus...!

Regarding the actors, I can only give the same answer I always give:
Katsulas, Jurasik, Boxleitner, Koenig and Wasser are my all-time-favorites.
But, as mentioned by many people before, all the actors on B5 (at least all those with main or recurring roles) are great and excellent.

[*Starstuff*]

Well, to be fair, the vast majority of Brits don't sound like that. Shakespearean actors perhaps, but not the rest of us.

And that is exactly my problem I can understand Americans fine, even people from Texas, but every time I come across a British person who has even the slightest dialect, I am completely lost. My english teacher even doubted I'd actually been to the US for one year after I asked her to repeat the audio tape we were supposed to summarize (British voice) a third time because I didn't catch anything

As for the actors: I think that some of the greatest performances were also a result of teamplay - meaning for example Londo/G'Kar scenes or Lennier/Marcus or Sheridan/Delenn or Sheridan/Garibaldi. Like I said, as a solo performer Andreas Katsulas is my favorite, but when he was on screen with Peter Jurasik, they just rocked.

[JoeD80]

No one's mentioned him yet, so I'll throw Jeff Conaway into the ring. He was always in character as Zack Allan. I am a little biased since I liked him in Taxi too!

[jonodan]

One of the great things about Babylon 5 was that all of the main actors admirably rose to the challenge during the various episodes and storylines that highlighted their character...

But it you have to pick one that stood out a little more in his efforts and portayal... I would have to hand it to Peter Jurasik...

Peter played such an enormous range of emotions and motivations... from buffoon, to conspirator and villian, to devastated lover, victim and on to emporer of an empire... All this acting with a very strange hair style on top of his head... and ALWAYS, for me, well done and believeable.

Kudos to all, but especially Peter.

[kosh555]

Well, to be fair, the vast majority of Brits don't sound like that. Shakespearean actors perhaps, but not the rest of us.

Who???????