In Character: the Cast of 12 Years a Slave

Part of what makes Steve McQueen’s new film, 12 Years a Slave, so great is its eclectic cast. Throughout the film, familiar faces pop in and out of scenes for brief periods of time, proving that it isn’t the amount of screentime that matters to an actor, but rather, what they do with the time they’re given. From superstars to virtual unknowns, here’s a breakdown of the talented people who help make 12 Years a Slave one of the very best films of the year.

Bryan Batt

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Judge Turner

Notable Roles: Funny People, Ugly Betty, Parkland

Best Role: Who can forget Batt’s heartbreaking turn as Mad Men’s Sal? Ever since his untimely departure, I’ve always secretly hoped Sal would make it back to Madison Ave. Sadly, I think Sal is gone baby gone.

Liza J. Bennett

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Mistress Ford

Notable Roles: Royal Pains, Common Law, Person of Interest

Best Role: Bennett is responsible for one of the most gut wrenching moments of 12 Years a Slave, when she tells a traumatized worker that her “children will soon be forgotten.” I’ve never seen Bennett in anything else, but given her work in McQueen’s film, she deserves to be a big, big star.

Marcus Lyle Brown

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Jasper

Notable Roles: Eve’s Bayou, The Shield, Stolen, Treme, Drop Dead Diva, The Host

Best Role: Brown has popped up memorably in a number of things over the years, but I’ll never forget him saying “Yes sir!” to Billy Bob Thornton after Thornton calls him a racial slur in Monster’s Ball. There’s so much patronizing defiance in those two words. It’s actually quite jarring.

Bill Camp

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Radburn

Notable Roles: Public Enemies, Lawless, Damages, Lincoln

Best Role: Easy, as Van in Compliance. A dim witted man tricked into doing a very, very bad thing.

Chris Chalk

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Clemens

Notable Roles: Then She Found Me, Homeland, Being Flynn, The Newsroom

Best Role: I enjoy what Chalk does with his underwritten character, Gary Cooper, on The Newsroom, but his brief arc on a slave ship in 12 Years a Slave was fascinating. From quiet leader to ecstatic “Massa, Massa” house slave, it made for one of the film’s most disheartening moments.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Ford

Notable Roles: The Whistleblower, Sherlock, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, The Fifth Estate

Best Role: Cumberbatch’s die-hard fans, which have aptly titled themselves “Cumberbitches,” would be better at choosing the actor’s best role, as I haven’t seen them all (including Sherlock). So, as it stands now, I suppose I’m most taken with his beyond-creepy turn in Atonement. He played that part with utter conviction. Props for his flawless American accent in 12 Years a Slave, though. Dude has a killer voice.

Paul Dano

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Tibeats

Notable Roles: L.I.E., The Girl Next Door, Taking Lives, Little Miss Sunshine, Meek’s Cutoff

Best Role: “I AM A FALSE PROPHET, GOD IS A SUPERSTITION!”

Garret Dillahunt

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Armsby

Notable Roles: The Road, No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James…, Winter’s Bone

Best Role: Dillahunt is a master of slimy deception, my favorite incarnation of which was as Francis Wolcott (and/or Jack McCall…) in HBO’s Deadwood.

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Solomon Northup

Notable Roles: Dirty Pretty Things, Kinky Boots, Children of Men, Talk to Me, Redbelt

Best Role: That would be Solomon Northup. Give the man an Oscar. Period.

Michael Fassbender

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Edwin Epps

Notable Roles: Hunger, Fish Tank, Inglourious Basterds, Jane Eyre, Prometheus, The Counselor

Best Role: Michael Fassbender is the finest actor of his generation. I love him in everything, but his performance in Shame is one of the best film acting performances I have ever seen.

Paul Giamatti

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Freeman

Notable Roles: American Splendor, Cinderella Man, The Illusionist, John Adams, Win Win

Best Role: Tough, tough call. But I suppose I most drawn to his desperation in Sideways.

Anwan Glover

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Cape

Notable Roles: Treme, LUV

Best Role: Gotta be as Slim Charles on The Wire. Remember when he took out Cheese? Wow.

Dwight Henry

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Uncle Abram

Notable Roles: None, other than…

Best Role: Wink in Beasts of the Southern Wild, his only other screen credit. What amazing work that was.

Taran Killam

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Hamilton

Notable Roles: MADtv, Just Married, Scrubs, The Heat

Best Role: His impersonations on Saturday Night Live are currently some of the best things that show has going for it.

Marc Macaulay

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Captain

Notable Roles: Passenger 57, Bad Boys, Wild Things, Burn Notice, Conviction

Best Role: Macaulay has been in the game for a long time, and it’s damn near impossible to pick a favorite performance. Though his delivery of the line, “I’m just gonna have the boys here kick the shit out of you,” made for one of Killer Joe’s more darkly humorous moments.

John McConnell

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Jonus Ray

Notable Roles: Interview with the Vampire, Roseanne, Monster’s Ball, The Ladykillers

Best Role: I love McConnell’s work as DJ Jeffy Jeff on HBO’s Treme. This dude is New Orleans.

Scoot McNairy

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Brown

Notable Roles: In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Monsters, The Off Hours, Argo, Promised Land

Best Role: Another tough call, but I’ll go with McNairy’s in-over-his-head turn in Killing Them Softly. Poor bastard.

Lupita Nyong’o

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Patsey

Notable Roles: None

Best Role: Perhaps 12 Years a Slave’s biggest shock was the power of mostly unknown actress Lupita Nyong’o. Her devastating work as Patsey is justly earning Oscar talk. That would be one damn well deserved award.

Adepero Oduye

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Eliza

Notable Roles: Half Nelson, The Coolest White Boy Ever

Best Role: If you thought Oduye was great as Eliza (which, of course, she was) then you’ll be floored by her work in Pariah. It’s a perfect performance.

Sarah Paulson

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Mrs. Epps

Notable Roles: Deadwood, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Game Change, Mud

Best Role: Paulson is one of those actresses who keeps getting better and better. Her work as Mrs. Epps is the best film performance I’ve seen from her yet, but overall, Lana Winters from American Horror Story: Asylum has to be her finest.

Brad Pitt

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Bass

Notable Roles: Se7en, Fight Club, Ocean’s Eleven, Babel, Burn After Reading, The Tree of Life

Best Role: My favorite Brad Pitt performance...? Tough call. I’ll go with his quietly unnerving work in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He’s utterly flawless in that film.

Quvenzhané Wallis

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Margaret Northup

Notable Roles: None, other than…

Best Role: Beasts of the Southern Wild, a role that made her the youngest Best Actress nominee ever.

Michael K. Williams

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Robert

Notable Roles: Gone Baby Gone, The Road, Life During Wartime, Boardwalk Empire

Best Role: “The farmer in the dell/The farmer in the dell/Heigh-ho, the derry-o/The farmer in the dell.”

Alfre Woodard

Role in 12 Years a Slave: Mistress Shaw

Notable Roles: Cross Creek, St. Elsewhere, Down in the Delta, Passion Fish, Primal Fear

Best Role: She’s so good in everything, but her stern mother in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn might be her best.