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But Jones has yet to get a huge starring role, something that will be as worthy as that of Betty Draper. It is so often bemoaned that Hollywood can't write for women, and that women can't get hired in solid roles. Here is an incredible young actress with a lengthy career ahead of her; there must be writers as smart and savvy as Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, right? Can she only hope to ascend to stardom with the help of only a few waters? I can hope that it's not the case; unlike some of the other actors on this list, Jones has a lot of time to become a star, and her weekly performance on Mad Men proves that, despite being in an admittedly impressive ensemble, she is a standout.

Michael Emerson

Talk about standouts. Here is an actor who, before 2006, was best-known to eagle-eyed TV viewers as a creep on "The Practice" or a guest spot on "Law and Order: Criminal Intent". His most recent major film role was in the first Saw film, and he has just over 30 credits on the Internet Movie Database. Even more, one-fifth of those credits are all tied to the show that just got him an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: "Lost". As Ben Linus, the enigmatic mystery man who's got his hands in everyone's business, Emerson is easily the show's MVP. All this is quite shocking for an actor who, per his own acceptance speech, was signed on for a two-episode guest spot on the show. It was solely based on Emerson's immense creepiness as Ben, first introduced as a lost balloonist named Henry Gale, that got him a permanent spot in the show.

Much could be said, and much has been said, about how frequently awesome Emerson is as Ben. What makes the performance so impressive is that Emerson, specifically in the most recent season, has been called on by the show's writers to lack power. Considering that Ben's always been used to power, to see Emerson play the character as weak and helpless is fascinating; his success at the role is almost scary. Despite his humility, Emerson is an incredible actor; true, he may be typecast as a creep, thanks to his bug eyes and sometimes hypnotically slow delivery, but the man needs some work on the big screen. Even if it's in character roles, Michael Emerson will need some work a year from now, so I hope some movies can fit in a spot for him.

Katee Sackhoff

In the recently ended "Battlestar Galactica," which aired on the Sci Fi Channel (seeing as the idiotic network name change came after the show ended, I refuse to use its new moniker), Katee Sackhoff played one of the iconic roles from this remake of the 1970s sci-fi show, Starbuck. As a prickly hotshot pilot dealing with being one of the survivors of a mass attack against the human race, Sackhoff plays a frequently unlikable character fantastically. One minute, she's falling into bed with her fellow pilot, Apollo Adama; the next, she's pushing him away to deal with her family, or even sleep with someone else. Starbuck, at times, seems to be a character made solely of raging id; other times, the amount of emotion she feels is so crushing it threatens to loom over us.

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