Emmys 2017: 15 movie stars who stole the small screen this year

SEATTLE, WA – JUNE 07: Anjelica Huston arrives to receive the Seattle International Film Festival Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award before the world premiere of the film ‘Trouble’ at Egyptian Theater, Seattle on June 7, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images for Seattle International Film Festival)

11. Anjelica Huston

The project: Amazon’s Transparent

The character: Vicki, girlfriend of Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) and one of the show’s few voices of reason.

How she stole the small screen: Remember Huston’s role in The Royal Tenenbaums? She played Etheline, the family’s extremely restrained, level-headed matriarch. In a weird way, Vicki reminds me of Etheline. Vicki is Transparent‘s audience surrogate in a lot of ways (like Etheline) — she probably speaks for many viewers when she finally snaps at Maura in the season 3 ep “Life Sucks and Then You Die.”

“Why does it always have to be about Maura all of the time?” she points out. “Maura’s transition, Maura’s surgery! Maura, Maura, Maura, all of the time!” (Side note: By the way, it’s not that Maura’s feelings aren’t valid; it’s just that she’s so wrapped up in them that there’s no room for anything else, much less a significant other.)

Huston is like a cooler, much more outspoken Etheline in this scene — you know her Tenenbaums character would have loved to make a similar speech to Gene Hackman. Sure, going all Jan Brady is a smidge childish, but it was only a matter of time before a secondary character finally called out a Pfefferman.

Her past TV experience: Huston provided vocals for the children’s Netflix series All Hail King Julien but the alpha and the omega of her non-Transparent television career is Smash, that trainwreck of an NBC musical. Huston played producer and martini-thrower Eileen Rand on the series’ two seasons.

Awards recognition: No Emmy love but Huston did receive a Critics’ Choice nod for her Transparent work in 2016.