4GAASF: Wait. What?

[Woo! Back from Spain! I've spent the last 48 hours traveling in one form or the other trying to get back to the States. More on Spain later]

That's right. This category is for the puzzling, the strange, the indescribable oddity that makes some actors and actresses entirely unforgettable - as well as incredibly difficult to explain to your friends. The mannerisms, the quirks, the perfect delivery of gibberish makes them pure on screen gold.

Winners:
Summer Glau
and
David Tennant

(Check out the Honorable Mentions though, there's some good ones)

Summer Glau


SciFy: First off, the girl is a classically trained dancer, which helped her land her first role on TV as a trapped ballerina in a very good episode of Angel called "Waiting in the Wings." From there, having met the wonderful Joss Whedon, she rocketed to nerdy fame and adoration for her role as River Tam in Firefly and Serenity. On top of that, she as Cameron in The Sarah Connor Chroniclers, Bennett Halverson in Dollhouse, and now plays Orwell in The Cape. She even puts in some hilarious guest appearances in The Big Bang Theory (cameo as herself) and Chuck. 

What makes her truly stunning is how totally...odd all her characters are. From the slight daddy issues of Orwell to the cold cruelty of Bennett and the psychotic confusion that was River Tam, she crafts characters so unusual that you will never forget. Add in her incredibly striking looks and the fact that she's supposedly an incredibly sweet person ever in real life, and I'm sure she'll be around in the SciFy world for a very, very long time.

...is for Lovers: "Is it hot in here or is it Summer?" Did I mention her incredibly striking looks? Summer Glau is probably the actress with the most fanboy shrines and dreams, as well as creepy fanfiction/slash fiction/straight up porn written about her. But for those of us who appreciate her on a non-disturbing level, she actually hasn't had much in the way of normal on screen relationships. We all remember what happened to her when she finally kissed Topher in Dollhouse....damn you, Amy Acker. I'd love to see her play out a genuine relationship on screen because I absolutely believe she's capable of it. But she has all the time in the world, and for now, the world just wants to see her dolled up and off kilter. And I'm ok with that.

David Tennant

SciFy: He's the Doctor. The 10th Doctor to be more accurate. "Doctor who?" you might ask. Precisely.

Yeah, he's done other stuff, including playing Casanova in a British miniseries, Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter 4, and now spends his time doing Shakespeare, but he's here because of his spectacular job at playing the leading role of Doctor Who for three years (pre-Smith, post-Eccleston). His take on the Doctor was always charming, brilliant, whimsical, hilarious, and absolutely unpredictable. Who else could make "wibbly-wobbly timey whimey stuff" sound so sensible (and adorable)? He has a crazy loyal fan base, and he's totally earned it.


...is for Lovers: He's marrying the daughter of the actor who played the 5th Doctor, who also inspired Tennant to become an actor, leading to Tennant's role as the 10th Doctor. He met his fiancée when they were working together in the episode "The Doctor's Daughter," where she played his character's daughter Jenny. And the two Doctors have starred opposite each other in a Doctor Who minisode for charity. Only in scify, folks, can a story that weird happen and yet be adorable and romantic instead of incredibly squicky.

As for his Doctor, he had three companions, the first two (Rose and Martha) who were absolutely head over heels for him. And it was during his portrayal of the Doctor that the omni-sexual character Jack Harkness was introduced. But what was really impressive was his relationship with Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate). A running gag throughout the season was people mistaking them for a couple, but beyond a recurring joke, these two became incredibly close without a hint of romantic or sexual inclinations. The season finale is heart wrenching, possible even more so than when the Doctor lost Rose, as they become the Doctor-Donna, only for him to have to strip her of all her memories, returning her to the average person she once was. Rose may have been trapped in a parallel world, but Donna is still very much in the same one. It's not that he can't see her, but that doing so would cause her too much pain (the overload to her brain). It's the loss of Donna that drives the Doctor to avoid finding a new companion and take a more active role in changing time, leading to his death. And it's the portrayal of such a powerful friendship is what makes that season so unique, and his final demise so powerful.


Honorable Mentions


Male: Alan Tudyk (Firefly/Serenity/Dollhouse), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Zachary Quinto (Heroes)

Female: Juliet Landau (Buffy/Angel/Bioshock*)

* Yep, this one's a little obscure, but definitely earned. She played Drusilla and also voices the Little Sisters.

Images are from here, here and here