American Horror Story has been charming viewers with its blend of horror tropes and camp since 2011 and, with a new season in development, it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Although the seasons of this anthology show vary in quality (Coven was brilliant, Double Feature was abysmal), they can always be counted on to serve up some delectable acting. Indeed, showrunner Ryan Murphy is great at handing his casts juicy roles to sink their teeth into.
As a result, AHS is jam-packed with great performances, whether it's from series veterans or guest stars. These range from the dark humor of Kathy Bates to the gonzo intensity of Evan Peters, the vulnerability of Sarah Paulson to the power of Jessica Lange. At their best, these actors take recycled tropes and references and weave them into vivid characters, elevating the material in the process. It's impossible to fit them all in, but here are ten that stand out the most.
American Horror Story
TV-MA
Drama
Horror
Where to Watch
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
*Availability in US
- Release Date
- October 5, 2011
- Cast
- Sarah Paulson , Lily Rabe , Angela Bassett , Evan Peters , Denis O'Hare , Jessica Lange
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Seasons
- 12
- Studio
- FX
10 Zachary Quinto
Dr. Thredson - Asylum
"Normally, by now, I would've removed the skin and head." Dr. Oliver Thredson (Zachary Quinto) is the psychiatrist at Briarcliff Manor, serving as the modern and scientific yin to Sister Jude's religious yang. The actor turns in a great performance as the seemingly compassionate doctor, who initially appears to be a beacon of hope in the grim institution. However, as the season progresses, his true nature is revealed, and he is unmasked as the serial killer known as Bloody Face (the first one).
Obviously, movies and shows are by now littered with sociopathic psychiatric characters (Hannibal Lecter chief among them) but Quinto succeeds in putting his own stamp on the archetype. In the early episodes, he's somehow both cool and likable, aloof and seemingly trustworthy. Then, by contrast, his alter ego is truly unhinged, a monster with mommy issues a la Norman Bates. He's thus a formidable mixture of cunning and cruelty, making him one of the series's most challenging antagonists.
9 Frances Conroy
Moira O'Hara - Murder House, Asylum
"I don't want to be here anymore! I'm frightened!" Series regular Frances Conroy has turned in various performances across the seasons: the witch Myrtle Snow in Coven, the Angel of Death in Asylum, the wealthy Gloria Mott in Freakshow, and cult leader Bebe Babbitt in Cult. That said, her best performance is her Emmy-nominated turn in the first season as Moira O'Hara, the long-serving maid-turned-ghost.
She's the closest thing that season has to a genuine heroine. Unlike most of the other spirits, she actively resists the house's corrupting influence. She not only helps and protects the Harmon family but later fights to keep new families out of the haunted house. This is as a result of her own tragic, violent backstory. Conroy portrays these aspects of Mora realistically, imbuing her with an air of melancholy and wisdom, pain and resilience. This makes her one of the season's most complicated and intriguing characters.
8 Denis O'Hare
Larry Harvey - Murder House
"You're going to have to do the honorable thing to save your family." Another complex figure from the first season, Larry Harvey (Denis O'Hare) is an earlier owner of the murder house who harasses the Harmon. He's covered in burn scars which he says resulted from him dousing his family's beds in gasoline and then lighting it. He's a craven and dishonest figure, and at first seems like a straight villain, but he reveals himself to be capable of love, heroism, and self-sacrifice.
For instance, as a form of atonement, Larry takes the fall for a murder committed by another character. He also provides the Harmons with genuine help and advice in understanding their twisted new home. He could easily have been a stock character, but O'Hare and the writers flesh him out into a more realistic and far more intriguing figure, one who is still loathsome but not a cartoon.
7 Evan Peters
Kai Anderson - Cult
-12.jpg "10 Best Performances in 'American Horror Story,' Ranked (9)")
"To what do we give our highest value? Is it family, friends, our homes, money, notoriety? No. Above all, humans love fear." Evan Peters is a consistent highlight of the show, clearly delighting the coterie of macabre and eccentric characters he gets to play. Cult, the season that focused on American politics, was one of the weaker installments, but Peters was terrific as charismatic and dangerous cult leader Kai.
He starts off as a disgruntled citizen but quickly metastasizes into a ruthless leader who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Again, it's the kind of character that could come off as totally ludicrous, but Peters instead makes him over-the-top but plausible. It's not a stretch to say that Peters carried that whole season (he appeared as several other characters as well), compensating for the heavy-handed themes and inconsistent writing. In particular, he absolutely nails the character's toxic rage and frustration.
6 Lady Gaga
The Countess - Hotel
"Oh, honey. Goddesses don't speak in whispers. They scream." Lady Gaga has managed a fantastic pivot from music to acting, with Joker: Folie à Deux set to add another great performance to her roster. She unleashed these talents in the Season as the glamorous vampire owner of the Hotel Cortez. She's more than a century old, and her life has been defined by passion and loss.
On the surface, the Countess looks like the arch-manipulator: cool, calculating, unflappable. But she's not wholly evil, and her emotions are more layered than she lets on. She's also got a soft spot for those who have been abandoned and discarded, as she views herself the same way. Gaga brings a larger-than-life energy to the role, to the point that she often overshadows the characters around her (indeed, Gaga is the clear highlight in an otherwise unsteady season). Here, she plays nicely on her own pop star image as a flamboyant fashionista and boundary-pushing creative. Equal parts alluring and terrifying, Gaga won a Golden Globe for her efforts.
5 Angela Bassett
Marie Laveau - Coven
"When the gods see this willingness to suffer, to sacrifice, they pay attention." Coven is all-around one of the strongest seasons, including the caliber of its acting. Angela Bassett charms and unnerves as Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, a charmer of snakes and caster of curses. She's a memorable mix of strength, mystique, and thirst for vengeance. She also has an intriguing backstory, having inadvertently lost her daughter after trading her soul for immortality.
In the present, Laveau manages a hair salon (Cornrow City), and wages an underground war against the witches. She has many trappings of a villain but, although she has a powerful dark side, she's also animated by a sense of justice, and looks out for her allies. Unlike most of the other characters, she has a keen sense of the terrible price that power sometimes demands. Bassett plays the part with gusto, imbuing Laveau with humor and swagger, rightfully earning an Emmy nod.
4 Kathy Bates
Delphine LaLaurie - Coven
"I don't care what kind of monster anybody says I am. I loved my girls... in my own way." The always wonderful Kathy Bates won an Emmy for her work in Coven as the witch Delphine LaLaurie. Inspired by a real historical figure, Delphine is a sad*stic socialite from 19th-century New Orleans who commits horrific acts of torture on her slaves. Her character is resurrected in the present day, where she is forced to confront the consequences of her past actions. Bates turns in a committed performance, capturing Delphine's casual cruelty and twisted sense of superiority with Annie Wilkes-esque energy.
Bates's performance is playful, too, and she looks like she was having fun on set. "It’s been delightful," she has said of her time on the show. "Seriously, you don’t always feel that way when you open scripts, and I must say every single script I’ve opened for this series so far has just really thrilled me."
3 Emma Roberts
Madison Montgomery - Coven
"Either I'm Supreme, or I'm not. And, obviously, I am." Though Coven is chock-full of great acting, it's Emma Roberts who is the most notable. It's impressive how well she holds her own, even when she's sharing the screen with legitimate legends. Her performance as the young Madison Montgomery represented a significant step up from her earlier roles. She's an arrogant movie star with a penchant for using her witchcraft powers for personal gain.
Her character arc is marked by dramatic twists, including her murder, resurrection, and eventual quest for power within the coven. Roberts brings a sharp edge to the character, portraying Madison's ruthless ambition and disdain for authority with aplomb. Similar to Lady Gag in Hotel, Roberts playfully invokes and subverts her own image as a teen star, all the while coming across as effortlessly cool. Madison is Regina George, if she'd gone to Hogwarts and been sorted into Slytherin.
2 Evan Peters
Tate Langdon - Murder House
-9.jpg "10 Best Performances in 'American Horror Story,' Ranked (14)")
"The world is a filthy place." Evan Peters's performances in AHS run the gamut from meek and mild to murderous and unstable. He evidently delights in being loathsome and unsettling, but he can also be sympathetic, as he is in the first season. Here, he is Tate Langdon, a troubled and enigmatic teenager who forms a close relationship with Violet Harmon (Taissa Farmiga). The definition of a tortured soul, Tate oscillates between tender moments and violent outbursts, and it's eventually revealed that he is a ghost and former school shooter.
On paper, Tate is far more likable, but Peters makes the audience feel a least a little sorry for him, which is no small feat. At times, he even comes across like a sad-boy undead Romeo to Violet's Juliet, in total denial of the crimes he committed while he was alive. Peters has credited Ryan Murphy for helping him turn in such strong performances. "He gives you the freedom to explore and take risks and do your work, do your process, all the while being there to help and give his input," he explains.
1 Jessica Lange
Sister Jude - Asylum
"If you look in the face of evil, evil's gonna look right back at you." When it comes to American Horror Story's defining performer, no one can top Jessica Lange, who shines in several seasons but steals the show most in Asylum. In this one, she is Sister Jude, the stern and troubled head nun of Briarcliff Manor. She's multifaceted; authoritarian and austere on the surface, but concealing vulnerability and remorse. As the season progresses, Jude's past sins and personal demons come to light, revealing a woman haunted by guilt and seeking redemption.
This was a challenging role, but Lange pulls it off gracefully, especially when portraying Jude's descent into madness. Her character undergoes a significant transformation over the course of the show, morphing from villain to victim to eventual sympathetic figure, whose death is genuinely sad. This is bravura work, and Lange significantly elevates the career above what the script calls for. It's the quintessential AHS performance.
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