CarterMatt Awards 2018: Sam Heughan of Outlander wins Top Actor!
Welcome to the CarterMatt Awards results! Hundreds of thousands of you have voted over the course of the past several weeks in a number of different categories; in this piece, we’re talking all about Top Actor!
When it comes to a specific criteria for this award, there really isn’t much of one — it’s just about recognizing who readers believe to be the best overall actor of the year. They can be a lead or a supporting, on a drama series, a comedy, or a limited series. The only thing we try to limit is nominating the same person for both Underrated and Top Actor; we like to keep them separate so that more people can get a little bit of love.
Let’s now cut to the chase, since the title already gave away that Outlander star Sam Heughan is your winner for the second straight year! The Top Actor category at the CarterMatt Awards is a rather-interesting one, mostly in that over the past four years, it’s only been won by two people in Heughan and then Lee Pace of Halt and Catch Fire, who won back in 2015 and 2016. Sam this year won in an extremely commanding fashion with more than 75% of the vote. This is usually one of the more competitive categories at the Awards, but this year, it proved itself to be a runaway victory!
As to why Sam was such an overwhelming favorite among our readers, some of that obviously speaks to the passion that Outlander fans have for this show. It remains one of the most emotional, intelligent, and visually-stunning programs out there, and we are currently in the thick of the fourth season. At the core of it is great material and performances, and the fact that Heughan is so routinely snubbed by major awards shows likely fuels the fan passion and voting for him even more. He brings so much to the Jamie Fraser part, and beyond that he wears so many different hats. You see Jamie the political strategist when he deals with Governor Tryon, or Jamie the friend alongside Murtagh. We know his relationship with Claire extremely well at this point, and it was exciting to also see his relationship with William developed in one of the best episodes of this season so far. To think, there’s even more exciting stuff to come!
Heughan brings all of the necessary commitment to Jamie that you would expect; he’s commanding when it needs to be, but also still loving and vulnerable at other moments. He has a zeal for life and a loyalty towards those he cares about, and these qualities make him one of television’s most consistently-appealing characters. Sam finds a way to make him pop in just about every scene, while also making sure that his admirable qualities are balanced out by his flaws.
Congratulations to Sam on the victory, and to everyone who voted for him!
What do you think about the Top Actor results? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments, and check back soon for more results.