AFT Awards: Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series

This is the eighth category of the 1st Annual AFT Television Awards to be announced. Guest category nominees must not be regular members of the cast and must be billed as guest stars. Their appearances need not be limited to any number of episodes. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order.

Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series

LIEV SCHREIBER AS MICHAEL KEPPLER, CSI
This fantastic actor gets an all-too-brief arc as Grissom's replacement on "CSI". He bests the entire supporting cast with a subtle, great performance as the mysterious but effective new agent with more than a few secrets of his own.

CHRISTIAN CAMARGO AS RUDY, DEXTER
Without discussing his role too much for the sake of avoiding spoilers, Camargo provides a nice supporting character in Rudy, the doctor who helps an Ice Truck Killer victim recover and begins his own interactions with some of the Miami Police staff. The performance is pitch-perfect and a pleasure to watch, supplementing the lead talents of Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Jennifer Carpenter (Debra), and Julie Benz (Rita).

DAVID MARCIANO AS STEVE BILLINGS, THE SHIELD
In a recurring role throughout the enitre season, Marciano portrays the perfect pain-in-the-ass cop who is not necessarily terrible at his job but rather makes life more annoying for every one of his co-workers, especially Dutch. The latter half of the season reveals his truly horrible nature after a vicious prank played on Dutch. The perfect line to sum up his role, delivered so well by Marciano, after a minor blow to the head, "I think I'm going to take the rest of the day off", to which captain Claudette responds, "we'll see if we can find someone to replace the manpower."

ALEX O'LOUGHLIN AS HIATT, THE SHIELD
Finding a respectable candidate to replace both Michael Chiklis and his character Vic Mackey as a great leader of the Strike Team is a tough choice. But O'Loughlin was a great choice, with Hiatt coming in immediately set to put together his own team, ready to send Mackey packing. But his realization that perhaps Vic is not that bad was great. Bonus points for his reaction to seeing Dutch looking in the window while he was having sex with Tina.

FOREST WHITAKER AS KAVANAUGH, THE SHIELD
Unfortunately, Whitaker's appearance in this season is limited to only two episodes, but he is nonetheless excellent. His drive to convict Vic becomes so strong and personal that he goes over the edge. His confession to Claudette in "Baptism by Fire" is a marvel to watch.

ALEXANDER SIDDIG AS HAMRI AL-ASSAD, 24
After a fantastic but too-short appearance in the film "Syriana", Siddig has also great venue that is again over too soon. As Assad, a reformed terrorist trying to help the United States make peace with enemies abroad, Siddig gives a tremendous performance. His interaction with Kiefer Sutherland is probably the most fascinating, and he also had the fortune to appear on the show before its quality was reduced to its present state.

And the winner is...
CHRISTIAN CAMARGO, DEXTER

Next: Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series