Best Of: ‘Boroughs’ Actor Alfre Woodard / Rose Byrne

Alfre Woodard and Rose Byrne deliver powerhouse performances in two very different roles that challenge how we see aging, motherhood, and the emotional toll of caregiving. Woodard, in Netflix’s 'The Burroughs,' redefines senior life not as decline but as vibrant, defiant, and sexually alive—her character Judy openly flirts, demands to be seen as a woman beyond her years, and refuses to be reduced to a stereotype. She reveals how the cast’s chaotic Zoom HR meeting—where veteran actors acted like mischievous teens—was a deliberate act of reclaiming agency in a world that often infantilizes older people. Meanwhile, Rose Byrne’s performance in the Oscar-nominated 'If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You' is a harrowing, darkly comic descent into the mind of a mother unraveling under the weight of her daughter’s illness. The film’s sound design—amplified beeping machines, ticking clocks—mirrors the relentless anxiety of caregiving, while the decision to never show the daughter’s face forces viewers to confront the mother’s psychological collapse instead of the child’s vulnerability. Both performances, in their own ways, expose the hidden monsters within: societal expectations, grief, and the terrifying isolation of being responsible for someone else’s survival.