top five best acting performances of twin peaks

hello, blog world! this is a special post for me because… well… it’s for me. i’ve been dying to write about twin peaks, as it’s one of my favorite shows of all time. i’ve been utterly obsessed with it for years now but hesitant to talk or write about it much because i don’t know any other fans of the show, or as i would say “peakies” (nerdy, right? exactly.) however, all that said, i decided that this week i would cover a rather simple and surface-level aspect of the show to spare my readers from a long, obsessive rant about why i love this show so much. for this post, i will be simply listing what i consider to be the best acting performances of the show. oh, and you know the drill- no particular order.

ray wise as leland palmer

leland palmer is an extremely difficult character to play- possessed, grief-stricken, and still chillingly humorous and clever. no actor could have captured this character in  quite the way that ray wise did. wise plays him with this undertone of fear and rage that captures the character’s mental state perfectly. the juxtaposition between his portrayal of a tortured father and a violent entity makes him one of my frontrunners for best actors in a show that is teeming with acting talent. every time i see ray wise in another show or movie, i automatically think “leland!” and get the chills- that’s how you know this guy’s the real deal.

sherilyn fenn as audrey horne

okay, don’t even get me started on audrey horne. she is one of my comfort characters, and i love her endlessly. i sometimes feel closer to her than to the people in my own life. is that pathetic? absolutely!! but you know what- it’s the truth. and it’s a testament to the immense writing talent of mark frost and david lynch and to the amazing acting of miss sherilyn fenn. fenn is a force to be reckoned with as audrey horne, with all the charm of an old hollywood bombshell and the clever mist of a femme fatale. i believe that no other actress could have brought this beautiful character to life as well as fenn, who i think is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses of the past half-century.

miguel ferrer as albert rosenfield

albert is a fan-favorite character and certainly one of my all-time favorites. he provides an appropriate but still effective amount of comic relief to a show about dark forces, murder, and mystery. every time he appears on the screen, peakies can be found wearing the dorkiest smile imaginable. a huge part of what makes albert so iconic and loved is miguel ferrer’s unmatchable acting performance. he captures the spirit of the character so accurately and artfully with his monotone dry humor and sense of humility.

grace zabriskie as sarah palmer

now, here’s where it gets a tad controversial. people don’t often regard zabriskie as one of the better actors in the show’s cast, simply because her character is often put aside as a “hysterical mother” stereotype. personally, i’ve always had a great deal of appreciation for sarah palmer, as well as grace zabriskie’s portrayal of her. she captures grief in a realistic, if dramatic, way that fits perfectly into the lynchian narrative and tone of the show. i believe that she took the material she was given as an actress and brought the character to an entirely different level. she is particularly striking in season 3. she does such an incredible job showcasing a grieving woman 25 years after her loss, stuck in time and space. also, the general casting of the palmer family is utterly brilliant to me, as i think that the actors who play the parents genuinely look like the daughter.

kyle maclachlan as dale cooper

cooper is another character that i’m extremely attached to. i could talk about him for hours, so to spare everyone from that, i’ll stick to praising kyle maclachlan for a moment. i truly believe that kyle is one of the most underappreciated and talented actors out there. he has been in many famous roles that people don’t often recognize him for, but my personal favorite will always be his role as special agent dale cooper. cooper is a unique, brilliant character, and it’s only fitting that an actor of the same merits should play him. kyle is easily one of my favorite actors ever because he takes every character he plays and makes him into a person. anyone who loves twin peaks will tell you that dale cooper is just as real to them as the air they breathe, and we have kyle to thank for that.