Laura Linney

Laura Linney has been in some prominent movies, but has managed to fall through the cracks of stardom. Still, her body of work bears the mark of a truly gifted actress. Her greatest performance came in the movie You can Count on Me as the frazzled sister, Sammy, of a prodigal brother (Mark Ruffalo). She is given the task of showing every imaginable emotion in the span of the film, and she does so without any visible flaws. She has the knack for believeability, and it comes in handy because she's required to play an ordinary person in the real world. There's a scene where she's having an argument with her brother about the way he's letting down her son and she says, "You suck!" It's hilarious and very real. She also breaks down near the end when her son (Rory Culkin) is not speaking with her. She breaks down just like any real emotionally woman would, only she had to do it on cue. She also is featured in The Truman Show as the actress playing Truman's (Jim Carrey) wife in a larger than life reality series. She gets to go for broke and go over the top as a prototype for a 40's-50's era wife. She's always smiling and shows hilarious terror when the "husband" she can't stand starts to act out of character and question his life. In Primal Fear, she plays the tough as nails D.A. trying to convict an altar boy (Edward Norton) accused of murdering his priest. She's also an extremely confident woman out to trump her former lover (Richard Gere) who happens to be the defense attorney for the case. Her best scene comes...!!!!SPOILER!!!!...after she is attacked by the altar boy from the witness stand. Her whole facade of confidence is dropped in an instant and she becomes more of a victim who will be haunted by the attack long after the case gets officially closed. She's one great actress that is sure to be great for a long time.