It's easy to single out outstanding acting in the show/film.

Ray Wise, Michael Parks, Grace Zabriskie, Richard Beymer, Piper Laurie, Don Davis, Jack Nance.

I'd also nominate Dana Ashbrook and Sherilyn Fenn.

But who are the absolute worst? Many hate Lara Flynn Boyle, but that usually opens a debate. Ditto Wendy Robie. Nadine turned lame faster than you can say corkscrew, but Robie never missed a screwy beat.

The kid who plays Little Nicky is a big duh. Whose friend's kid was that to get him that job?

But who are the other most obvious bad performances?

Heather Graham? James Marshall? Billy Zane?

Heather Graham - bad, just not the right gal for Coop , also  cooking with her sis norma! she just didn't fit for some reason. She was just a bit ya know spacey, who would want a gal that tried hm suicide at a cafe if ever happened with that trippy one???

Billy Zane - his acting annoyed me to no end.

Heather Graham - I'm not sure if it was her character I didnt like, or if it was her acting.  In fact theres a few people who I dont care for, but not sure if it's them as an actor, or their characters just annoyed me: James Marshall, Joan Chen , and the guy who played Harold Smith.

Sheryl Lee - nice to look at, but not much of an actress!

*Unlike most people on here, I never really had a problem with Lara Flynn Boyle.

I hate some acting moments rather than general performances from particular actors... Marshall's badly acted temper tantrum when he finds out Evelyn is setting him up ("It's wrong!"), some of Michael Horse's awfully delivered lines (like "Andy, are you crazy?") and yes, Heather Graham in that infamous and terrible trees/love/huge bra scene...

Waldo

you know, I'm going to be honest -I think the casting and acting is flawless in the first season- right down to the minutest characters.  It's pitch perfect.  All the way from Cooper to Battis to Hebba all the way down to Harriet Hayward.

If I had to pick one I would actually say Lee as Maddy.  But there's something off that works. And then in the second season, the character finally started to click.  Her scene in the diner destroying her glasses and talking to James by the lake elevate her from a plot device.

James is a hard character and doubtful some of the scenes marshall could pull off at the time, but so much is also due to the writing and corner painted into with that type of character.

Wendy is outstanding and probably one of the strongest trained actors in the whole ensemble- again, it would be the writing.

I think Lara Flynn Boyle is pretty damn good for being 19 at the start of this series and so sure of herself.  If I had a problem it would be in the second season when most likely Boyle is more self conscious and jocking for position on a hit show.  And I do want to stab my eardrums when she sobs, "You're my Daddy, you're my Daddy!"

I'm racking my brain trying to think of a trully bad performance and not just a bad character. 

I'm not going to pick on a young boy who played Nicky because what can you say.  Does Billy Zane give a bad performance?  I don't know.  His wardrobe and lines doesn't help, and his Prince Charming kinda oozes slime and cheese.  And Heather Graham is so wooden she might as well be Pinnochio.  This might have to do with her age and the directing... she's terrific in Boogie Nights (but that could easily be the directing) and wooden again when she has to do broad comedy like Austin Powers.  But let's face it, the character of Annie was on my shit list no matter what and could have been played by Meryl Streep or God himself and I would have complained.

So kudos to Peaks for really having uniformly great performances.

*I also have to say, rewatch Ben and Audrey's first scene together.  "Bidets in a Bulgarian convent!" scene.  It's all one take and Beymer and Fenn nail it.  it's difficult stuff to do.

The actors who played Ronette's parents were really bad, specially him and they were in season 1... I'm not contradicting you, Audrey, in fact I completely agree that season 1 was pretty much perfect regarding the acting, but that made me remember the horrible Pulaskis...I forgot about them...

The vacuum cleaner chick is pretty bad too, but I think she's a crew member and not an actress so...

I like Michael Ontkean's acting overall, but one of the most badly-acted scenes in TP is Harry's drunken rant at Cooper after Josie has died.

eh, that's true.  but I'll let the Palaskis slide.  they're just there to provide information and not be characters, and if they were too effective we'd be concerned about Ronnette who's just plot device.

The real person who bugs me is the extra with the long ponytail when Leland's crying in the middle of the dance floor.  She's slow dancing and mugging away.

And agreed with Otkean in that episode.  However, at that point, MacLachlan and even Fenn would make me cringe.

I was too young to appreciate how horrific Billy Zane's acting was when Twin Peaks was first shown. I was also too young to understand why his 'hair' looks the way it does. Maybe I was just too distracted by the fullness of his hairline to realise the man can't act.

I've always felt sorry for James Marshall because his awkwardness suits his character regardless of whether it's intentional or not, ditto Heather Graham. I often behave exactly like Annie and I'm not acting, I just feel awkward!  

And I like Michael Park in Grindhouse and Kill Bill but find his French-Canadian accent in Twin Peaks distracting, which is a shame.       

I still think Annie is underrated. Ok, the thing between Audrey and Dale is interesting because there's a man who so clearly finds Audrey attractive and clearly desires her. He even admits it by saying it straight. It's interesting because there's this "forbidden fruit" thing going on between them on both sides.

But really, if one character should be with Dale it's Annie. All that seems to be bad acting is, to me, basically a portrayal of a female version of Dale. Troubled but the appearance is just like Dale's. The way she talks, the way she stands. Imagine if Dale would've lost his self-confidence and wouldn't be talking with that much pride, he would be just like Annie. The intonation is there. The talking rhythm is there. I see them as two quite identical souls finally coming back together.

The thing between Dale and Audrey is mostly sexual but with Annie it's more than that.

To me, Annie isn't really a developed character and understandably so.  They needed a love interest (or someone with stakes for Cooper) and production was running out of time so excelerated the romance.

But I like that idea that if they needed a new replacement because of MacLachlan and Boyle's pressure, that the take for the character is like a mirrored Cooper.  But for story, it's hard to get mileage in the long run with the romantic interests being similar.  You need conflict.  And Audrey's impatience to Cooper's calmness always give the scenes a dynamic and a tension.

I don't think Cooper's arc with Audrey is caught up in the sexual attraction.  I think that was just the surface level, and like the best of Twin Peaks, acts as a layer to be peeled away.  it is certainly a plot point to make their relationship stronger than flirtation in the hotel room/naked in his bed scene.  And production hits home that the two have a "special connection" per Ben Horne.  I always saw her as a seer, someone who had power and insight she hadn't yet tapped into -much like Cooper.  I think Lynch played with this too when he directed the character -the praying scene and the Giant linking Audrey's note.  And with keeping the Audrey character in the Cooper plot, it continues to strenghten the Audrey/Laura twinning, the ying and yang aspects.  Cooper does not prevent Laura from being killed but perhaps can prevent Audrey from the same fate.

And I like Michael Park in Grindhouse and Kill Bill but find his French-Canadian accent in Twin Peaks distracting, which is a shame.       

 Really?  I thought Michael Parks had one of the most believable characters in the show!

I agree though, it is too easy and unfair to pick on Little Nicky.

How about that chick that played Louie at the Great Northern?  How awful was she?

Parks was pretty good with the accent, though.  Walter was kind of on and off, but wasn't terrible.  I don't know where the Bernard character was supposed to be from...

Agreed that Wendy Robie worked harder with weaker material than pretty much any other major character on the show.

And I like James Marshall's performance more every time I see it, since he's about the only one of the "teen" actors consistently trying to play his age.

Um, yeah, but this is supposed to be Worst Performance.

Okay... for small characters, Blackie's sister Nancy, hands down, is one of the most unenjoyable performances in anything I've seen.  For the majors, I don't think there's anyone I dislike, but it seems to me Tamblyn's kinda hit-or-miss.

I think we are all missing the point. David obviously has an eye for good and for bad. 'Invitation To Love' was a reminder and a warning that mega-cheesiness is going to take a role in TP. So all these 'bad performances' IMO were designed to be such....Even the ones he wasnt directly involved in, like that affair James had with that woman...Lynch still had his feet dipped in the project, so he would have said something.

 Like for me, I take offense to grotesque obscene ludeness in movies EXCEPT when it is in there deliberately to be ironic or make a statement, showing off how offensive it is. The movie 'Idiocracy' comes to mind, ie: the most popular movie in the future is "ASS" which is just 90 minutes of a guy farting.

That is so blatantly offensive, its hilarious and genius. Because the movie is a scathing satire on our life and society.

I like Russ Tamblyn during all the show, but oh man, he was terrible in that ending with him crying and holding the necklace, very fake and unbelievable...

Heather Graham is amazingly bad in Twin Peaks, much like everythign else she's ever been in. No sense of timing or honesty.

Annie may be underdeveloped as a character, but so is Audrey-- and, as I was discussing with a friend recently, what could a good actress have done with that part?

The Polaski parents are as terrible as Emily Stofle in Inland Empire (I also don't believe Phoebe's reaction in the last episode.)

And Little Nicky's age is no excuse for his crap performance. He had waaaay too much screen time.

I liked Harold. Certainly he wasn't the worst.

Whoever said James does seem like a teenager, thanks. I never considered that before...

Maddy-- really, Audrey Horne? Surely ep 14 would disqualify her from the Worst Performance category. (Ditto Harold. His seizure and last monologue were incredible, IMO.)

I think I said Maddy in the first season -but it works since there seems something off about her -and most of us were hypothosizing she was Laura Palmer back in 1990.  I think they finally found something to do with her from the kickoff of the second season, and it works like gangbusters.  And Lee is terrific in the diner scene with Donna (these two had good tension together), the reverie scene ("all I did was come to a funeral...") and the dock by the lake scene ("sure ya can...")

There's really no performance that bothers me from pilot to 2.08.

I will nominate Evelyn's brother/lover or whatever he was.  I can't remember his name.  He was such a lame villian.  Not sinister at all.

I will nominate Evelyn's brother/lover or whatever he was.  I can't remember his name.  He was such a lame villian.  Not sinister at all.

 Malcolm,  Yep he was bad and so was Jeffrey Marsh. 

I would like to nominate Dick Trumane, I might be in the minority on this one but I like his character. The whole little Nicky spin...... Ack!!!!!

Strangely, though I hated Malcolm (as I hated everything in that godawful subplot) there was something about him really creepy and the actor managed to give some, not many, but some good moments... His introduction, what he says to James about burning the master and later when he swears he'll kill Jeffrey, that wasn't bad...it was an interesting way to introduce the character, very sinister... Later it all went down the toilet, but I like those first Malcolm scenes...

Of course I would have loved him enter James' room in a wheelchair, go "Same fuckin' thing happened to me last year", madly shake his arm and spill his drink everywhere in that first scene...

The Polaski parents are as terrible as Emily Stofle in Inland Empire

 I only realised last week that La Stofle isn't a very good actress.

And Bernard Renault is IMHO the single worst thing about Twin Peaks. Little Nicky and Evelyn Marsh pale in comparison to the horror that is that accent.

Heather Grahams stillborn eyes in the arms of Kenneth Walsh.. she plays dead, she looks eh.. I just never bought it.

The Polaski parents. Very funny, I tend to think this must be a parody-scene.. or else they just took some people from the street.

I always thought that Russ Tamblyn was meant to seem awkward at the end of that episode... I thought it was meant to be murky, like we shouldn't be able to tell if he's laughing or crying.  Remember, at that point in the series, he was arguably the lead suspect, and I bet the director told him to cry/laugh like that deliberately.

Worst performance for me was Eckhard's Asian assistant, Mr. Lee or whatever his real name was.  The guy who took Josie to Seattle.  "Next time blood brother, I take off your head"... and then he slowly raises that flashlight like he's doing yoga.  Man, that sucked.

But as for the worst series regular, it's gotta be James Marshall.  He should have been shirtless more... maybe then he wouldn't have been written out.