1. Scarlett Johansson
Johansson is the biggest female star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and she had a pivotal starring role in the highest-grossing movie in history - Avengers: Endgame - where she also delivers her most soulful turn as Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow. It's a very fine performance and she got critical praise for her work, but Endgame's major contribution for her career was having her starring a $2 Billion grossing movie! Money and Johansson-the-star aside, it was also an amazing her for Johansson-the-actress! She starred in two Best Picture nominated films: Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story. Her performance as Rosie in the later was considered the movie's highlight by many critics and she got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award nod for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, two SAG Award nominations (Best Supporting Actress and Best Ensemble) and a Critics' Choice Award nom for Best Supporting Actress. As for her performance as Nicole, an actress who goes through a divorce, in Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story, Johansson got the best reviews of her career and she collected a big couple of critics prizes and the Robert Altman Award (she shared with her co-stars, director and casting directors), besides her 5th Golden Globe nomination, a BAFTA Award nod for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a SAG Award for Best Female Actor in a Leading Role and a Critics' Choice Award nod. This way, Johansson joined the very exclusive club of actors nominated for two Academy Awards in acting categories in the same year, being only the 12th performer to do so. A big year for Johansson: money and AMPAS recognition! It was about time for her to break the curse and get an Oscar nomination... at least she got two!
2. Florence Pugh
She was named my Breakthrough Actress of the Year (2017) and it seems she's living up to her promise. This year she delivered 3 fantastic performances: a comedic turn as Saraya "Paige" Knight in Fighting With My Family; a complex performance as a mentally damaged young woman named Dani in the folk horror film Midsonmar; and she stole the show away from Saoirse Ronan and Meryl Streep in Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women, playing Amy March. Pugh was great in Fighting With My Family and Midsonmar (and she got a couple of award recognition for this one), but it was her redefinition of Amy March character that put her in the spotlight this year. She's fine playing young Amy, but she excels when she's older Amy - her mature voice, a woman who plays the game of high society women, but a mature young woman who keeps her inner child. It's beautiful, it's complex and it was awards-worty. She became a critics' favorite and she managed to get a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and, in the end, an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Not only Little Women scored 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, but it is also a box-office success, grossing over $178 M worldwide (and it stills in theaters) - Pugh finishes 2019 with as an Academy Award nominee, three amazing acting turns and a Best Picture nominated box-office success. Not bad for a 24 years old girl!
3. Lupita Nyong'o
She swept the critics prizes in the Best Actress category for her dual performance in Jordan Peele's Us - a $255.1 Million original box-office hit! She plays Adelaide and her psycho doppelgänger Red in one of the greatest and most complex performances of the decade for sure. It's not only the way she speaks, the different voices she makes, but also the simple way each character moves. Nyong'o delivers the best performance of her career (and of the year), but she still misses what would be a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for Best Actress! Still, she managed to collect the biggest critics prizes of the season, including the NYFCC Award for Best Actress, the CFCA Award for Best Actress or the TFCA Award for Best Actress, plus a SAG Award nod for Best Female Actor in a Leading Role and a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Actress. No matter what, she's the star of a top grossing original movie! Besides Us, Nyong'o also scored some high notes with the critically acclaimed zombie comedy Little Monsters (a small movie that didn't find much of a wide audience, but it still received critical praise) and a small part as Maz Kanata in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, which missed to get the critics' praise and underperformed at the box-office, but it still grossed over $1 Billion worldwide!
4. Margot Robbie
The hit girl of the moment, Robbie has already proved she's more than a pretty face: the girl can act, for sure, and she managed to get 2 important roles in Oscar buzzy films. First, she worked with the Hollywood icon Quentin Tarantino in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where she portrayed Sharon Tate. In fact, it's a "nothing performance", since not much is asked from Margot Robbie besides walking, dancing and filling the big screen with her bright presence (and the girl does have charisma!). She might not have a lot to do in OUATIHollywood, but she still managed to get a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and a SAG Award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast... As for the movie itself, it was one of the major Oscar contenders all season and it scored 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and it grossed over $374 Million worldwide (Tarantino 2nd highest-grossing movie of his career behind Django Unchained). Then, she starred Bombshell alongside Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman: the movie underperformed with critics and at the box-office, but Robbie still did well during the awards season. In fact, Bombshell earned this Australian actress her second Academy Award nomination and she also scored Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG Award and a Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress. Bombshell also earned her another SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast. She ended the awards season winning no major award, but she has proven she's one of the most wanted actresses in Hollywood.
5. Laura Dern
The Academy Award winner Laura Dern! It sounds nice, doesn't it? Laura Dern was everywhere last year promoting her raved acting turn in Marriage Story and collecting every award meant to recognize Best Supporting Actress (thank God, Pugh stole some of her thunder with critics prizes later in the season), so she's an undeniable actress of 2019! Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG Award, Critics' Choice Award, critics prizes... she took it all! Plus, Marriage Story scored 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay! The year already looked strong enough for having her mentioned in this post, but then she's also part of Greta Gerwig's Little Women as the sweet heartbreaking Marmee - a part that wasn't able to have the same relevance as her Nora from Marriage Story, but she's also very good in this one. The movie also received 6 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and it is a box-office success which still is having its theatrical run! Congratulations for your Oscar, Miss Dern!
- Breakthrough Actress of the Year: Taylor Russell
She was Waves' biggest surprise. Taylor Russell is a revelation! Her performance shows a lot of promise as she's able to project her character's complexity and still be a magnetic on-screen presence. For me, she was a complete unknown and she more than holds herself against bigger names like Sterling K. Brown, Lucas Hedges or the "also a revelation of 2019" Kelvin Harrison Jr. An underrated performance, but I hope auteurs and casting director won't forget her and we'll have more and even better from her in a near future.
- Honorable mention: Renée Zellweger
I'm not a big fan of her Oscar win for her performance as Judy Garland in Judy, I think it's overrated, but it still is a great and showy performance! Renée Zellweger deserves an honorable mention because of her great career comeback that earned her a 2nd Oscar win! In fact, she swept the Best Actress race during awards season, which means the industry seems willing to welcome back to Hollywood and to big projects. The actress who "had us at hello" back in the 90's has now entered the very exclusive group of multiple Oscar winners for acting 23 years later.
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