Heroic actor of the week (3/9): Courtney Ford

In this week’s edition of Heroic Actor of the Week, we look at how Courtney Ford stole the show with her powerhouse performance in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Following some radio silence due to a one-week hiatus from almost all of The CW’s Arrowverse shows, we’re back with another edition of Heroic Actor Of The Week.

With Batwoman, Supergirl, The Flash and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow returning to our screens this week, the season finale of Black Lightning, The Walking Dead being as edge-of-seat as ever and Riverdale producing one of its all-time best episodes, it’s safe to say that comic book-inspired TV was of a very high standard this week.

That high standard brought with it a lot of high quality performances, and indeed we saw some excellent offerings from The Flash‘s Grant Gustin, Michelle Harrison and Keiynan Lonsdale, Riverdale‘s Cole Sprouse and Batwoman‘s Meagan Tandy among others. However, there was one person who stood out this week because of how she thrived when carrying an entire episode of television.

Courtney Ford – DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow

Ever since making her presence felt as Nora Darhk in the third season of DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow, Courtney Ford has remained the show’s best-kept secret – quietly impressing fans with both her powerful and subtle performances. But in this week’s episode “Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac”, she had some long overdue spotlight and she did nothing short of shine.

More from Arrowverse

• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 27 best fighters in the Arrowverse, ranked
• All 8 Black Canary actresses ranked from worst to best
• 11 things nobody wants to admit about the Arrowverse
• The 7 best (and 6 worst) Arrowverse villains

With Nora finding herself at the center of a storyline that involved her boyfriend Ray’s planned proposal and the resurrection of her dead evil mystic father Damien Darhk, Ford essentially had to carry the majority of the episode. And that meant she got the opportunity to deliver every kind of performance you could ever imagine one having to deliver on a show as outlandish and versatile as Legends of Tomorrow.

Her slapstick approach towards Nora’s desperate attempts to pull the wool over her father’s eyes provided fans with some of the season’s funniest moments, while her emotional offering in the final act showcased how far the once-villainous woman had come, making it impossible to do anything but champion her.

Yes, Ford’s multi-layered performance throughout this episode served as the perfect microcosm of Nora’s exceptionally-storylined character development, and she accomplished it in the most Legends of ways. If we learned anything from it, it’s that she is still such a great fit for the show – providing it with so much of the humour and the heart that its built on – and it’s a terrible, terrible mistake to write her and husband Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer) out of the show.

Ford has delivered some of her finest work this season – her performance in “The Prom Night Slasher” was so incredibly endearing while her turn as Marie Antoinette is one of the funniest things Legends has ever done – but this one right here, this may have been her greatest.

It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch her showcase her talents, and Legends of Tomorrow will be so much worse-off without her.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW on Tuesday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET. Come back next Sunday to find out who the next Heroic Actor of The Week will be. You can also check out previous winners here.