By channeling humanity into a tech-dystopian villain and then mastering TikTok-era dance crazes as a comedic sensation, Julianne Nicholson is proving once again that she’s one of TV’s most versatile and underappreciated powerhouses.

The kind of career pivot that only Julianne Nicholson can pull off with this much grace

If you caught Julianne Nicholson in Hulu’s mind-bending sci-fi thriller Paradise, you’ve likely still got flashbacks to her icy, complex portrayal of Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond — a character who teetered between loving mother, manipulative power broker, and possibly unhinged architect of societal collapse. Now, fast-forward to her recent guest arc on HBO’s Hacks, and you’ll find Nicholson shattering tone and genre once again as Dance Mom, a hyper-energetic, over-the-top TikTok celebrity who’s wildly out of her depth in late-night TV chaos.

It’s a wild genre whiplash that only an actor of Nicholson’s caliber could make feel seamless. One moment she’s digging into the moral gray areas of a futuristic utopia built on class exploitation. The next, she’s pulling off a fully choreographed, breathless dance routine live on a studio set — and doing it three times in a row, just for the take.

From villainous tech queen to viral dance diva — and she actually used to dance

Nicholson’s Dance Mom may seem like comedic candy thrown into the sharp wit of Hacks creators’ Aniello, Downs, and Statsky, but as Nicholson herself reveals, she approached the role with the same intensity she brought to Sinatra’s dark world in Paradise. “No one ever asks me to do comedy,” she said in a recent interview. “So it’s so fun when you can do different things and flesh out different colors.”

And flesh out colors she did. Working with choreographer Corey Baker — her self-described “new bestie” — Nicholson learned the language of TikTok dance evangelists. She drilled the routines twice a week, turning what could have been a parody into a fully embodied character. One that even managed to coax the usually stoic Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) into a last-minute dance move during a “Late Night” performance.

“Dancing is really hard, by the way!” Nicholson exclaims. It’s a fact that hits harder when you’re repeating energetic 2½-minute routines multiple times for different camera angles. But having spent five years in her youth at Bill Fowler’s Dance Academy in Massachusetts, she wasn’t entirely out of her element — just a bit out of practice.

Sinatra and Dance Mom: two roles that reveal different sides of Nicholson’s storytelling genius

What makes Nicholson’s recent TV work so compelling is not just the tonal difference between roles like Sinatra and Dance Mom, but how deeply human she makes even the most extreme characters. Dan Fogelman, creator of Paradise, has said he wanted Sinatra to have “real humanity” — a living, breathing woman beneath the villainy. And Nicholson delivered that in spades, using flashbacks and emotional beats to turn a potentially one-dimensional antagonist into a character audiences could understand, if not always sympathize with.

“They wanted her to be more than just a villain,” Nicholson explained. “To have a life. To have softness. And then to have that crack and that fierceness.”

In Hacks, the same grounding strategy was applied to Dance Mom. Though she’s a caricature of social media fame, Nicholson found the human core — the ambition, the naivety, the desperate urge to be seen. It’s a testament to her ability to turn even the most “ridiculous,” as she put it, roles into something relatable and real.

Filming under unique conditions, with a crew eager to simply be back at work

Nicholson’s three-episode arc on Hacks was filmed in a grueling single week, a schedule that mirrored the intensity of the roles she’s been taking on lately. She spoke fondly of the atmosphere on the Paramount lot, describing it as “a ghost town” turned into a “love bomb” by the sheer joy of working again after strike furloughs.

“Everyone was just so happy just to be working,” she said. “It feels like history when you walk under that arch.”

That sense of coming full circle — from a young actor auditioning on the lot to a seasoned Emmy winner — adds another layer to Nicholson’s current career momentum. She’s not just taking on diverse roles; she’s doing it with energy, passion, and a clear love for the craft.

Returning to her own version of paradise — and looking toward the future without fear

One of the most poignant threads in Nicholson’s recent interviews is her connection to the rural Massachusetts of her youth — a place she describes as her personal “paradise.” Filming Janet Planet, the indie drama that earned her some of the best reviews of her career, brought her back after 30 years. And she felt it — that peaceful contentment she hadn't felt elsewhere.

“I think I might end up there someday,” she said.

It’s fitting that a show like Paradise — with its themes of utopia, collapse, and human nature — would intersect with her own journey. And with no attachment to being “safe” in her roles (she even welcomed the idea of being killed off if the story calls for it), Julianne Nicholson is standing squarely in the middle of her creative prime.

Why Nicholson’s late-career creative peak is a hero story in itself

Nicholson’s trajectory isn’t about blockbuster lead roles or superhero fame. It’s about mastery. It’s about turning every character — whether it’s a dystopian mogul, a wistful single mom, or a dance-fueled internet star — into a memorable human experience.

In a media landscape obsessed with youth and typecasting, Julianne Nicholson is quietly, brilliantly defying both. And that’s the kind of powerful, grounded performance that doesn’t just win Emmys — it changes the game.