Will Rachel Weisz (‘Dead Ringers’) be the latest to win Emmy for playing multiple roles?

Created by Alice Birch and inspired by the 1988 film by David Cronenberg, “Dead Ringers” gives us two main characters for the price of one. Rachel Weisz plays Beverly Mantle and Elliot Mantle, a pair of identical twin gynecologists with an unhealthy attachment to each other. But while they may be on a path of self-destruction, their dysfunction could pay off at the Emmys, which love actors playing multiple roles.

Sally Field (“Sybil”) and Toni Collette (“United States of Tara”) both won for playing characters with dissociative identity disorder — colloquially known as multiple personality disorder. More recently Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much is True”) took home a trophy for playing troubled twins. And in daytime, Erika Slezak (“One Life to Live”) famously won six Emmys, including prizes for playing her character’s alternate personalities.

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SEE‘Dead Ringers’ reviews: Rachel Weisz and Jennifer Ehle are highlights of ‘unhinged,’ ‘handsomely mounted’ limited series

Playing twins is an especially impressive feat, since it requires a single actor to play both halves of a scene in a way that’s believable. And if those twins have markedly different personalities, it gives actors opportunities to show their dramatic range as they work to distinguish characters who look the same. Indeed, Weisz plays two markedly different women in “Dead Ringers”: Beverly is level-headed and practical, Elliot is brash and reckless.

As of this writing the Emmy front-runner in our odds is Jessica Chastain for playing just one role, country music legend Tammy Wynette in “George and Tammy.” Weisz is an underdog with 50/1 odds. Are we underestimating her? Remember that Ruffalo’s dual roles were so powerful that he managed to win lead acting honors despite no other nominations for that limited series. That was quite a feat. We could be in for another.

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