this is a great thread.
i had to give this alot of thought and found myself surprised by some of my picks.keep in mind i haven't seen the whole show so some of the characters these actors played i haven't seen yet.
1.joan bennett as elizabeth,naomi and judith collins.icy and secretive as early liz i liked her when she developed a bit more complexity during the laura collins story.she was amazing during the jason mcquire storyline when she revealed strength and also great sadness and vulnerability(although liz really irritated me during the buried alive storyline).besides barnabas naomi brought the most pathos to the 1795 storyline and again brought a touching sadness to the role.i just started to watch 1897 but i'm greatly enjoying her portrayal of judith.she's feisty and has great chemistry with david selby.
2.grayson hall as dr.julia hoffman and countess natalie dupres.grayson can bring a great hautuer to a character as well as sense of drive and ambition.but there can also be a sense of lonliness,resign and,of course,unrequited love.
as magda the jury is till out.to tell you the truth i find her to be sort of cartoonish and not very subtle.
3.lara parker as angelique and cassandra collins.i really wanted not to like her at first but she totally grew on me.
i loved cassandra but ultimately feel as if her storyline was taken away from her by adam and nicholas.i wanted more of her and less of those two.
4.nancy barrett as carolyn stoddard.great early on as snotty and petulant.she also showed strength and resolve when her family(especially her mother)needed her.i loved her rebelliousness when liz was with jason and also her strange,zombie-like attitude when she was under barnabas' control.she was a great "flawed" but ultimatly decent character.
5.marie wallace as eve and jenny collins.her eve was the only part of the detestable adam plot that i enjoyed.
i'm watching the jenny storyline now and she really takes it to new heights of insanity.completely nuts but there is something there you can care about.she's not a throw-away psycho killer.great performance!
i also really like kathryn leigh scott as early maggie evans.less so once she replaces vicki as collinwood governess.she loses alot of her "maggieness".i loved josette but don't think the character was as fleshed-out as she could have been.rachel drummond isn't that interesting to me.
ironically my favorite character from the show(as if you guys don't know)is alexandra moltke as vicki but she's actually not what i'd consider to be one of the show's best actors.she doesn't have a huge amount of range and can turn in a performance this side of bland.but she projects extreme sweetness,naivety and vulnerability.that combined with extrordinairy beauty was a winning combination for me.
honorable mention also needs to be given to clarice blackburn as mrs.johnson and abigail collins and to diana millay as laura collins.