2011 Emmy Nominees: Meet the Scene Stealers

From Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig to Melissa McCarthy, TV's most talented stars show off their big-screen talents

JON HAMM & KRISTEN WIIG

Kevin Winter/Getty

BRIDESMAIDS
Dramatic actor nominee Hamm took a break from Mad Men to show off his comedic side in Bridesmaids as Wiig's self-absorbed "f–k buddy" Ted. While Wiig's comedic turn is more subtle than the SNL fare that earned her a supporting comedic actress nod, Hamm is raunchy, pig-headed and definitely not as smooth as Don Draper.

KYLE CHANDLER

Paramount

SUPER 8
Chandler has been nominated twice in the dramatic actor category for his role as football coach Eric Taylor on NBC's Friday Night Lights. He's since wielded his signature small-town charm in his highest-profile film role to date – as sheriff Jack Lamb in J.J. Abram's sci-fi blockbuster Super 8.

JULIE BOWEN

Warner Bros./Everett

HORRIBLE BOSSES
Playing perfectionist mom Claire Dunphy earned Bowen her second nod for supporting comedic actress – and helped hone her improv skills, which came in handy for her seductive turn in Horrible Bosses. Bowen played house with bad boss Kevin Spacey, who kept the Modern Family star on her toes during filming. "I was terrified," she said of working with the two-time Oscar winner.

MELISSA MCCARTHY

Universal Studios

BRIDESMAIDS
The funny lady's brash turn as Meghan in Bridesmaids was quite the departure from her Emmy-nominated role as bubbly and down-to-earth Molly in CBS's Mike and Molly. Regardless, the Gilmore Girls vet brought major LOLs as summer's blockbuster leading lady – one who wears ill-fitting Dockers.

JOHN SLATTERY

Bauer-Griffin

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU
The Mad Men star, who's racked up four consecutive supporting dramatic actor nods for his portrayal of womanizing ad exec Roger Sterling, took on the big screen in 2011 as a terrorizing agent of fate in the Matt Damon action-thriller The Adjustment Bureau.

SOFIA VERGARA

K.C. Bailey/Columbia Pictures/Everett

SMURFS
Nominated for her second supporting comedic actress Emmy, the Modern Family star left good-natured Gloria behind for a villainous U-turn as the demanding cosmetic executive Odile in summer's family comedy, The Smurfs. Vergara is a natural at playing funny, but who knew she could reign supreme as the queen of mean?

IDRIS ELBA

Paramount; Inset: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage

THOR
Elba's raw passion and intensity earned him two Emmy nods in a single year: as the titular detective in BBC's Luther (actor in a miniseries or movie) and as Laura Linney's lover Lenny in The Big C (best guest actor). No surprise then that the British actor combines the fierceness of Luther and the sex appeal of Lenny to play swoon-worthy Norse deity Heimdall in Thor.

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS

Fame

I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT
After bringing the '60s bombshell back in vogue, the twice-nominated Mad Men star fast-forwards to the new millennium to play Sarah Jessica Parker's bestie in the working-mom comedy, I Don't Know How She Does It, and rev her engines opposite Ryan Gosling in the action flick Drive.