Peter Dinklage

Peter Dinklage plays Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones. The wit is an obvious pleasure, but the performance works because Tyrion's intelligence does not make him immune to humiliation, vanity or bad judgment. Dinklage lets the joke and the hurt occupy the same exchange.

He won four acting Emmys for the role. Before the series, The Station Agent had given him a much quieter breakthrough as Finbar McBride, a man whose reserve is gradually challenged by unexpected company.

His film work also includes Living in Oblivion, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and the title role in Cyrano. Tyrion's verbal agility is only one part of that range. Dinklage is just as capable of making a pause reveal what a character would rather keep to himself.