I reckon the actor who works the hardest out of any actor on TV has to be The Walking Dead's Andrew Lincoln. His life as Rick Grimes is so physically and emotionally demanding that I'm in awe of his ability to make it to his next pay cheque alive.
The true extent of the intensity of his role struck me during this week's episode when he got so lucky. He only had one near death experience and scored a healthy dose of sexual healing from Michonne so he had a radically different day to his usual mayhem.
The emotional places he's had to go during the seven seasons of the series are enough to drive anyone to collapse. I even thought about him during the December holidays because of it.
It was in the week between Christmas and New Year and I found myself wondering what he was doing - if he was resting a
lot, recuperating after those gut-wrenching scenes when Negan killed Glenn and Abraham.
Besides his many acting challenges, he also has to contend with an overload of sweat. When I
interviewed Sarah Wayne Callies while she was still on the show as Lori, she told me that things get so hot on set that the zombie actors are put in huge refrigerators to ensure they don't sweat their make-up off so this is an additional challenge that would seep Andrew's energy.
Add these factors to all the lines he has to learn as the lead of the show and the depth of grief and rage he's had to integrate into Rick's psyche and he wins my vote for the hardest working actor.
Who gets yours?