1.
Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables
Born: November 12, 1982 - Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2009 - Best Leading Actress for Rachel Getting Married (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
Miss Hathaway already made a huge impression this year in her interesting turn as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in box-office and critical success The Dark Knight Rises. But it seems that all the Oscar hopes for Hathaway are around Les Misérables. She plays Fantine, a single mother, betrayed by life, who must to sell her hair and turn into a prostitute in order to survive - such a tragic character, such an Oscar-screaming role! In fact, Hathaway got one of the meatiest parts in Les Misérables musical and one of the most epic songs too ("I Dreamed a Dream"). The girl has the role, the girl has the talent, the girl has the voice... she has everything on her side! People already talk about a possible Oscar win for her and while I think it is too early to talk about this topic, I must say that her appearence in Les Misérables movie trailer is already award-worthy. Fantine is one of the most iconic roles in the movie and people will feel her absence in the two last thirds of the movie... and I can see the AMPAS feel sorry for her and give Hathaway a nod!
2.
Amy Adams for The Master
Born: August 20, 1974 - Vicenza, Veneto, Italy
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2006 - Best Supporting Actress for Junebug (nom); 2009 - Best Supporting Actress for Doubt (nom); 2011 - Best Supporting Actress for The Fighter (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
It seems that Amy Adams may have her 4th round of Oscar nominated supporting turns for her work in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. She doesn't have to do a lot in order to deliver a great performance - her acting talent is simply subtle and natural and maybe a little overrated - and reactions from movie's secret premiere screening suggest she shows her best work to date in this flick. It's difficult to me imagining Amy Adams being even better than she was in Junebug, but, for some reason, I want believe this is true. Adams seems to be the only major estrogen representative in the male-duo-focused The Master, so, I believe she can be seen as a kind of a nice appearance on screen. Divine acting is part of PT Anderson's movie's signature and Amy Adams is capable enough to more than hold herself alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Plus, everybody seems to feel sympathetic about her and critics love her... she's in the firsts places of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar race, right now.
3.
Vanessa Redgrave for A Song for Marion
Born: January 30, 1937 - Greenwich, London, England, UK
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1967 - Best Leading Actress for Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (nom); 1969 - Best Leading Actress for Isadora (nom); 1972 - Best Leading Actress for Mary, Queen of Scots (nom); 1978 - Best Supporting Actress for Julia (win); 1985 - Best Leading Actress for The Bostonians (nom); 1993 - Best Supporting Actress for Howard's End (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 1987 - Prick Up Your Ears; 2007 - Atonement; 2011 - Coriolanus
Vanessa Redgrave is back to Oscar talking this year with A Song for Marion, in which she plays a dying woman who suffers from cancer. Dying roles are always Oscar baity and Redgrave is no joke as an actress... Plus, she shares the screen with Terrence Stamp (a very capable actor) in what promises to be a crowd friendly small production directed by Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton) - do you remember Christopher Plummer in his Oscar-winning performance as a dying man in the indie Beginners? There's little information about the project and no news about it in TIFF or Venice Film Fest lineups, but maybe it will première in a smaller film festival like London's. No matter what, if A Song for Marion is well-received enough by critics, she may score an easy Oscar nod, since she's a respected name in the business and since someone has already to explain how does her performance in Coriolanus didn't win awards traction last year!
4.
Samantha Barks for Les Misérables
Born: October 2, 1990 - Isle of Man
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
One of the most well-received casting choices of Tom Hooper's adaptation of Les Misérables musical, Samantha Barks already played Éponine in the London stage version of the show and in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables (2010) and she received tons of praise for her work. This is her cinema debut, so, she's a giant contender for the Breakthrough Performance awards, which may gain her considerable individual traction and the Best Acting Ensemble awards will certainly help her too, making a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination easier to happen than most prediction folks think. The girl has the voice, one of the best characters in the whole show and a very capable director behind the cameras, so I believe she will deliver an amazing performance. Plus, Éponine performs the epic "On My Own" and lives a tragic love and has a tragic end... Miss Barks seems to have everything on her side, let's see how her acting is!
5.
Olivia Williams for Hyde Park On Hudson
Born: July 26, 1968 - Camden Town, London, England, UK
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performance(s): 2010 - The Ghost Writer
Hyde Park On Hudson has Mr. President (Murray), his cousin-friend-lover (Linney) and the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, played by Olivia Williams. Personally, I consider Williams a very underrated actress, but I believe her last incredible acting years will benefit her in this year's Best Supporting Actress Oscar race. While I believe the AMPAS would accept to nominate two portrays of different American Presidents, the same won't happen with the First Ladies: it will be Olivia Williams Vs Sally Field (Lincoln) battle for a place between the five Best Supporting Actress nominees (let's say "for the First Lady spot"), but I wouldn't be too surprised if both missed a nod. Williams has a growing reputation and if the movie doesn't give her the smiling wife treatment and explores the strong woman who suffered due Roosevelt's past love affairs, then we have a true contender for an Oscar nomination. Williams is a great performer, but she needs enough screen time in order to shine as bright as Murray and Linney promise to shine in Hyde Park On Hudson in order to not be put in their shadow.
6. Helen Hunt for The Sessions
Born: June 15, 1963 - Los Angeles, California, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1998 - Best Leading Actress for As Good as It Gets (win)
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
Excluding Cast Away, Helen Hunt only has a series of flops since she won an Oscar for As Good as It Gets (such a bad post-Oscar win career). But things seem to be getting a bit better due to her praised performance in Sundance hit The Sessions: the movie is getting good awards prospects (in the Best Picture category included) and Hunt is receiving some respectable Oscar buzz, but will the AMPAS want to nominate an actress that didn't honour the golden man she has at home until now?
7. Sally Field for Lincoln
Born: November 6, 1946 - Pasadena, California, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1980 - Best Leading Actress for Norma Rae (win); 1985 - Best Leading Actress for Places in the Heart (win)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 1989 - Steel Magnolias; 1994 - Forrest Gump
Sally Field never scored another Oscar nomination since her two wins, in spite of some good performances in movies, but things seems to be changing for her. After Forrest Gump, Field didn't delivered an Oscary work, but this year she was part of box-office success The Amazing Spider-Man and she plays Mary Todd Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln's complicated wife, in the upcoming Spielberg's Lincoln. Playing a historic notable woman is Oscar-friendly enough for itself. An Oscar nod would be the cherry in a cake named 2012 and I believe the AMPAS will have her in serious consideration this year.
8. Annette Bening for Imogene
Born: May 29, 1958 - Topeka, Kansas, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1991 - Best Supporting Actress for The Grifters (nom); 2000 - Best Leading Actress for American Beauty (nom); 2005 - Best Leading Actress for Being Julia (nom); 2011 - Best Leading Actress for The Kids Are All Right (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 1991 - Bugsy; 2009 - Mother and Child
An actress who's simply excellent in both drama and comedy, having Annette Bening playing a trashy mum in a Kristen Wiig starred indie comedy-drama sounds just delicious. Having a showy character isn't always an Oscar nod guarantee, but Bening seems to be living a good moment in her career and she has some iconic performances in her curriculum... She deserves more than "just" four Oscar nominations and if she doesn't win this year, 5 nods are always better than 4, for sure.
9. Alicia Vikander for Anna Karenina
Born: October 3, 1988
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
If there was something that got my attention during Joe Wright's Anna Karenina was Alicia Vikander (unknown to me until I googled the movie). She has a very ethereal presence and she barely appears in the movie trailer, but when she does, my eyes belong to her. Wright wanted Saoirse Ronan for the part, but it went to Vikander instead... I smell she can be the movie's big surprise, but will she able to get the major attentions in this Keira Knightley-focused-movie?
10. Michelle Pfeiffer for People Like Us
Born: April 29, 1958 - Santa Ana, California, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1989 - Best Supporting Actress for Dangerous Liaisons (nom); 1990 - Best Leading Actress for The Fabulous Baker Boys (nom); 1993 - Best Leading Actress for Love Field (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 1993 - The Age of Innocence; 2002 - White Oleander
The legendary movie beauty that never got an Oscar win, Pfeiffer comeback to acting reached an high point with her performance in People Like Us. She has a small part, but she's simply magnetic every second she appears. While the movie is an average family drama, her performance is simply gracious and heartbreaking - she's unforgettable in a forgettable movie - and people seem to want her back to her glory times, but the movie's poor box-office performance and no enthusiastic critical response may not let an Oscar nod to happen.
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