Monica Barbero, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez *WINNER*
A frustrating lineup, with the winner and presumed runner-up taking nearly all the oxygen in the race despite being the co-leads (or outright leads) of their films. As with 2015’s Mara vs Vikander tragedy, the wildly unpersuasive turn from the gaudy trans drama beats out the far superior star of a lesbian situationship – if Oscar’s gonna embrace category fraud, they should at least pick the good performance. Meanwhile, the three actual supporting players offer solid-to-strong work, contributing prickly tones from tight corners and expanding the emotional canvas of their films in ways I appreciate the most when I’m watching them. As a collective, I find their performances somewhat thin and their nominations unimaginative. Oscar pulling its Supporting Actress lineup from the five most nominated films of 2024 suggests voters weren’t working very hard when looking for actressing on the edges, retroactively sapping a lot of suspense from this race despite Rossellini, Jones, and especially Barbero missing key precursors along the way. There’s not even much allure in the potential sixth spots, as the most noteworthy contenders are mainly co-leads (Danielle Deadwyler, Margaret Qualley) or actively abysmal (Selena Gomez). I’ll stick to fuming about Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor getting left out for such generous, emotive work in Nickel Boys, and how folks like Joan Chen in Didi and Michele Austin in Hard Truths never really took off even with critics groups. Not a bad portfolio, but the smell of passive, unimaginative groupthink makes everyone come off a little worse for wear.
My Vote:
Ariana Grande, Wicked ★★★★
Monica Barbero, A Complete Unknown ★★★
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist – ★★★
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave – ★★
Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez – ★
It's Just Like The Movies 