TV's Busiest Actors Of 2016

It was her turn as The People v. O.J. Simpson's Marcia Clark that garnered Paulson all sorts of acclaim and actual awards. But bookending the FX miniseries, she managed two bits of "double duty," appearing in American Horror Story: Hotel as both Hypodermic Sally and Murder House's Billie Dean Howard, and then playing Shelby/Audrey as well as Asylum's Lana Winters on AHS: Roanoke.

Before Grandfathered was even cold, Stamos snagged a starring role on Season 2 of Scream Queens, where he romanced Emma Roberts' Chanel as the brilliant Dr. Brock Holt. He also returned as the exquisitely named Jean Hamm during Galavant's second — and final — season. But best of all was seeing him reprise his iconic role as Uncle Jesse on Netflix's Fuller House.

The Artist Formerly Known as Dr. Gregory House on House now stars as Dr. Eldon Chance on Chance. In addition to the critically acclaimed Hulu drama, Laurie reprised his role as Tom James during Season 5 of Veep. He also earned an Emmy nomination for his work as the menacing Richard Onslow Roper in the AMC limited series The Night Manager.

In addition to concluding her run as Amantha, the best sister anyone could ever hope to have their back, in Sundance's terrific-to-the-end Rectify, Spencer found herself aboard no less than a time machine, as history prof-turned-time traveler Lucy in NBC's freshman drama Timeless.

Before the world had a chance to mourn the demise of his brilliant one-and-done showcase The Grinder, Lowe landed the part of Army colonel-turned-Angels Memorial doc Ethan Willis on CBS' rejiggered Code Black. He was also the butt of many jokes on his very own Comedy Central roast.

Dana Scully made her long-awaited return in 2016, but Anderson didn't just rest on those laurels. Not only did she reprise her most famous role alongside David Duchovny on Fox's revival of The X-Files, but she also continued her role as detective Stella Gibson on the UK drama The Fall. If that weren't enough, she found time to play Anna Pavlovna Scherer in A&E's lavish adaptation of War & Peace.

Seriously, did anyone have a better year than this guy? First, he played prosecutor Christopher Darden in FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson and won an Emmy for his efforts. And he followed that up by starring in NBC's hit freshman drama This Is Us as adopted son Randall. The Screen Actors Guild must think he had a pretty good year, too; they nominated him for both roles this month.

After wrapping up a five-season run as Jeannie van der Hooven on Showtime's House of Lies, Bell relocated to the afterlife on NBC's The Good Place, where she's charming audiences every Thursday as the flawed but lovable Eleanor Shellstrop.

Over the course of 12 months, JDM went from Good to very, very bad. After wrapping his stint as Jason Crouse, the charismatic investigator and love interest for Alicia on The Good Wife, the actor transformed into Negan, The Walking Dead's biggest bad yet. Thanks to Morgan, we can never look at a baseball bat (or Glenn! Or Abraham!) the same way again.

Wiley's work as ill-fated inmate Poussey on Season 4 of Orange Is the New Black was so intense (and ultimately heartbreaking), you'd forgive her if she took the rest of the year off. But lucky for us, she didn't, because she also provided a capable sparring partner for Gretchen as her therapist Justina on You're the Worst.

Hartley found himself on the payroll at CBS, NBC and ABC in 2016, landing a Daytime Emmy nomination as The Young and the Restless' Adam Newman, then reprising his role as romantically ill-fated Scott on ABC's summer sudser Mistresses. This fall, however, found the actor finally breaking through to the mainstream by deftly inhabiting the role of frustrated Hollywood It Boy Kevin Pearson on network TV's hottest freshman series This Is Us. Yes, America, this is Justin Hartley — and it turns out he's pretty freakin' spectacular.

Fox had barely laid the freshman comedy Grandfathered to rest when CBS' Criminal Minds invited Brewster back to reprise her role as former BAU agent Emily Prentiss. That multi-episode arc would blossom into a full-time gig — and one in which Prentiss would inherit the Unit Chief position! And amid all the above, she also found time to put in several appearances as Another Period matriarch Dodo Bellacourt.

Tyler's already mighty workload got that much bigger when the Talk cohost, Whose Line host and Archer voice cast member got promoted to series regular on Criminal Minds.

Once America's favorite TV dad/bagel enthusiast Sandy Cohen on The O.C., Gallagher slipped into a pair of roles this year notable for how difficult even the idea of fatherhood proved to be. He first finished up an arc on Togetherness, portraying the boyfriend unwilling to start a family with Amanda Peet's Tina, and later began a recurring role as Schmidt's deadbeat dad Gavin on New Girl. He also continued to put in appearances as Deputy Chief William Dodds on Law & Order: SVU.

He might wind up as an Oscar winner (for indie smash Moonlight) come February, but Ali also had a huge year on the small screen – or more specifically, Netflix. Ali not only returned to the role of House of Cards' slick lobbyist Remy Danton, he also terrorized underlings and pulverized faces (before getting more than a little karmic payback) as Luke Cage's big-ish bad Cottonmouth.

Crawford played both sides of the artistic spectrum this year: He continued his stint as the wildly insecure Ted Talbot Jr. in the final season of Sundance's Rectify while starting a new adventure as the devil-may-care Det. Martin Riggs in Fox's Lethal Weapon series. Though he's likely to get more critical acclaim for Rectify, we'd like to take this opportunity to point out Crawford's performance of the snarky-yet-sad Riggs is a huge reason why Lethal Weapon is so very watchable.

Winstead kicked off the year as Mary Phinney, a Civil War nurse in the PBS drama Mercy Street. But it wasn't until the summer that things got real weird: In the CBS horror-comedy BrainDead (which, sadly, won't be back), she played Laurel, a documentary filmmaker-turned-Capitol Hill staffer who attempted to save humanity from brain-eating alien bugs.

While Nash's sublime HBO showcase Getting On wrapped in December 2015, she hardly slowed down in the subsequent 12 months. Not only did she earn a second straight Emmy nod for her work on the aforementioned comedy, she also starred in the final season of TV Land's The Soul Man, spiced up Showtime's acclaimed period drama Masters of Sex as AA advocate Louise Bell, guest-starred as Andre Braugher's sister on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and brought all-too-brief hilarity to the disappointing sophomore season of Scream Queens. Whew!

Let's hope Eichner spends the holidays calmly sipping some herbal tea, because he yelled a lot this year. He not only resumed his tradition of shouting pop-culture questions in the faces of strangers on Billy on the Street, but he also joined Julie Klausner as bitter comedian Billy on Season 2 of Difficult People. Plus, Eichner popped up on NBC's Hairspray Live! as newscaster Rob Barker and as himself on an episode of Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Tough-edged career women were Gummer's TV niche in 2016. She chased fsociety as FBI agent Dom DiPierro on Season 2 of Mr. Robot, then stood up for women's rights as a young Nora Ephron on Amazon's Good Girls Revolt. Plus, she appeared in HBO's Anita Hill biopic Conviction as Ricki Seidman, an aide to Treat Williams' Ted Kennedy.

In addition to his excellent work on the Hulu dramedy Casual, Dewey scrubbed in on Code Black in the recurring role of Dr. Mike Leighton. He also returned for the 100th episode of The Mindy Project, and made a pit stop in the Hamptons to guest on Royal Pains.

If SAG cards got stamped like passports, Regan's would be smothered in ink. Heading into 2016, she continued runs on both Jane the Virgin (playing the slippery Sin Rostro) and Agent Carter (as lethal Dottie Underwood). Above and beyond that, she joined The Last Ship's ranks (as badass Sasha) and for good measure put in a meaningful Grey's Anatomy appearance, as Owen's dead (?) sister Megan.

It's a good thing Brewster's role on Fox's Lethal Weapon — Dr. Maureen Cahill — is a therapist: Girlfriend's been working everywhere this year, and she needs a nice comfy couch to rest on! In addition to playing the Riggs-wrangling Lethal doc, Brewster also gave her tear ducts a workout as Denise Brown (aka sister of the deceased) in FX's The People v O.J. Simpson and as doomed wife Kate Warner on ABC's Secrets and Lies.

The Boardwalk Empire alum spent 2016 playing men who played with fire... and occasionally got burned. On House of Cards, he continued his role as author Thomas Yates, whose relationship with First Lady Claire Underwood got physical (with Frank's apparent blessing). On The Girlfriend Experience, he played lawyer David Tellis, whose affair with intern Christine led to dire consequences for both of them. And on The Night Of, he played Don Taylor, who fell under suspicion when his stepdaughter Andrea Cornish was brutally murdered.

Captain Gregson's lady love on Elementary was a sweet outlier of a role for Virginia Madsen in 2016. As the cunning and opportunistic Designated Survivor of the Republican party on ABC's freshman drama, the actress gave Kiefer Sutherland a run for his seat as POTUS. But that was nothing compared to her turn as a duplicitous, murderous matriarch on CBS' summer series American Gothic.