1.
Keira Knightley for Anna Karenina
Born: March 26, 1985 - Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2006 - Best Leading Actress for Pride & Prejudice (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 2007 - Atonement; 2008 - The Duchess
Oscar chances comment: It seems that everytime Keira Knightley and Joe Wright work together, the young actress delivers a Oscar-caliber performance, like what happened in Pride & Prejudice (she got an Oscar nod) and in Atonement (she got an Oscar snub). So it is no surprise to see people expecting her to be great in Wright's adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, where Keira plays the title role of the married aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina who has an affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. There are some people who are getting tired of seeing her in period pieces... you know, Knightley is the queen of period films, so she must be completely mesmerizing in order to not be just one more Anna Karenina in the cinema history or one more period role in her filmography, but since she has great dramatic acting chops, I believe Knightley will get an Oscar nomination this year.
2.
Viola Davis for Won't Back Down
Born: August 11, 1965 - Saint Matthews, South Carolina, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2009 - Best Supporting Actress for Doubt (nom); 2012 - Best Leading Actress for The Help (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
Oscar chances comment: To be honest, I don't know what to think about Viola's Oscar chances this year... Won't Back Down sounds a bit like a "BlindSidish" material and it also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Holly Hunter, so people will be paying attention to the movie and since sharing the screen with talented movie stars is no big problem for Davis, I believe that she may get her third Oscar nomination and second one in a row. The AMPAS doesn't use to recognize black actors/actresses that often, mostly because black actors/actresses don't get Oscary roles, but it seems that Davis is an exception. She will play a mother who, alongside Gyllenhaal's character, help take over her children's failing school - doesn't it sound like a sympathetic character? Plus, Daniel Barnz directs Davis in this one and I can't forget the beautiful performances I watched in his Phoebe In Wonderland...
3.
Laura Linney for Hyde Park On Hudson
Born: February 5, 1964 - New York City, New York, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2001 - Best Leading Actress for You Can Count on Me (nom); 2005 - Best Supporting Actress for Kinsey (nom); 2008 - Best Leading Actress for Savages (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 2003 - Mystic River; 2005 - The Squid and the Whale
Oscar chances comment: In my opinion, Linney is one of the most capable actresses nowadays, in spite of not being a super-hot-big-movie-star. She's well-known in the independent cinema industry and in Oscar-nominated productions. She plays Margaret Stuckley, the distant cousin of the president Roosevelt with whom he has a love affair, which sounds like a meaty role that Linney's talent can turn into a Oscar-worthy performance easily, putting her in the front of the Best Leading Actress Oscar race. The big question here is if Linney will be promoted as leading actress or a supporting one... But "promoting politics" apart, I bet that if Hyde Park On Hudson gets s strong critical support and if Linney shines, she will get her fourth Oscar nomination.
4.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead for Smashed
Born: November 28, 1984 - Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
Oscar chances comment: Reviews from Sundance call her performance in Smashed "a tour de force" and the story of a couple of drunk people may call some awards attentions, specially in the independent cinema circuit and make Winstead a major contender for a Best Leading Actress Oscar nomination. She has no previous juicy/meaty/Oscary roles and no mesmerizing performances, but the "surprise" factor always benefits female breakthrough performances in front of the Academy members. "The girl from Scott Pilgrim Vs the World" impressed critics, she looks like a lovely person and she may be the best contender for the Breakthrough Performance from a Young Beauty spot in the Best Leading Actress nominees shortlist. But, she may be this year's Felicity Jones/Elizabeth Olsen, a Sundance babe that promised a lot before the awards season began but that did not take anything big home in spite of her incredible acting work.
5.
Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Born: ?? - ?? - 200?
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
Oscar chances comment: I don't know how old is Wallis, but let me say that this little girl must be SO YOUNG! Alongside Winstead (Smashed), Quvenzhané Wallis is the most praised actress from Sundance, but unlike Winstead, she stars a movie that may be contending for a Best Picture nomination after taking home Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize - Beasts of the Southern Wild. Some people say that she is too young in order to get nominated in the Best Leading Actress category and that she would only be running for a Oscar nod if she was a supporting actress, but there are two facts: 1 - Wallis is no way a supporting actress (she's the clear leading performer of the movie according reviews); 2 - the AMPAS is far more interested in nominating young FEMALE actors than young MALE actors and, this way, if the boy from Kramer Vs Kramer got a Best Supporting Actor nomination, why wouldn't Wallis be contending for a Best Leading Actress nomination? She got raves, she's young and she looks adorable - I bet she will melt some Oscar voters hearts.
6.
Marion Cotillard for Un goût de rouille et d'os
Born: September 30, 1975 - Paris, France
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2008 - Best Leading Actress for La vie en rose (win)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 2009 - Nine
Oscar chances comment: Cotillard plays a woman packed in a wheelchair who lost both her legs and falls in love for a poor single dad. She's a great actress, the part smells Oscar-baity and she's directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet) in this "mysterious" French production. Audiard can always pull great performances from his movies' cast members and Cotillard is having such a brilliant post-La vie en rose career... she deserves some recognition from the Academy for her success.
Oscar chances comment: Cotillard plays a woman packed in a wheelchair who lost both her legs and falls in love for a poor single dad. She's a great actress, the part smells Oscar-baity and she's directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet) in this "mysterious" French production. Audiard can always pull great performances from his movies' cast members and Cotillard is having such a brilliant post-La vie en rose career... she deserves some recognition from the Academy for her success.
7.
Carey Mulligan for The Great Gatsby
Born: May 28, 1985 - Westminster, London, England, UK
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2010 - Best Leading Actress for An Education (nom)
Oscar snubed performance(s): 2011 - Shame
Oscar chances comment: The Great Gatsby promising to be a bit cheesy, but I believe Mulligan will be as great as she always is. Daisy is an extremely complex character, but she is extremely talented, she has the beauty and the grace the character requires and she shares the screen with a big couple of talented performers, so, if the critics fall in love for her performance and the movie gets mostly positive reviews, I can see Mulligan getting her second Oscar nod.
Oscar chances comment: The Great Gatsby promising to be a bit cheesy, but I believe Mulligan will be as great as she always is. Daisy is an extremely complex character, but she is extremely talented, she has the beauty and the grace the character requires and she shares the screen with a big couple of talented performers, so, if the critics fall in love for her performance and the movie gets mostly positive reviews, I can see Mulligan getting her second Oscar nod.
Born: August 22, 1973 - Canandaigua, New York, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
Oscar chances comment: Wiig's career is on-fire after Bridesmaids' success and she emmerged as a true leading lady and maybe she will find some Oscar love for her acting work for her performance in Imogene. She plays a playwright who stages her own suicide in an attempt to get her ex- back, but she ends under her trashy mom's cares, which sounds like an interesting and Oscary role: sometimes, the AMPAS just love an indie comedy about a bitchy woman.
9.
Scarlett Johansson for Under the Skin
Born: November 22, 1984 - New York City, New York, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performance(s): 2003 - Lost In Translation; 2003 - Girl With Pearl Earring; 2005 - Match Point
Oscar chances comment: She's young, beautiful, talented and she has an enviable body of work, but Scarlett has no Oscar nomination under her belt (her snub for Lost In Translation was atrocious!). This year, she has a salacious role in a science-fiction film, where she plays an alien sexual-predator, which may sound like a B-movie, but Jonathan Glazer is directing it and he's the gifted director who pulled Oscar-caliber performances from Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast and Nicole Kidman in Birth... Scarlett is overdue for her first Academy Award nomination.
Oscar chances comment: She's young, beautiful, talented and she has an enviable body of work, but Scarlett has no Oscar nomination under her belt (her snub for Lost In Translation was atrocious!). This year, she has a salacious role in a science-fiction film, where she plays an alien sexual-predator, which may sound like a B-movie, but Jonathan Glazer is directing it and he's the gifted director who pulled Oscar-caliber performances from Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast and Nicole Kidman in Birth... Scarlett is overdue for her first Academy Award nomination.
10.
Sandra Bullock for Gravity
Born: July 26, 1964 - Arlington, Virginia, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2010 - Best Leading Actress for The Blind Side (win)
Oscar snubed performance(s): none
Oscar chances comment: I believe Gravity will work more as a directing and technical showcase than an acting one,, but the fact of having Sandra carrying the whole movie generates instant Oscar buzz. She may not be one of the most talented actresses working in the business, but everybody loves her, everybody loves working with her and people pay to see her movies, so Gravity may spread some Bullock magic! She plays a lone survivor of a space mission who tries to return to Earth, where she has a daughter: sounds moving and dramatic, right? Maybe Bullock is a stronger Oscar contender than I think...
Oscar chances comment: I believe Gravity will work more as a directing and technical showcase than an acting one,, but the fact of having Sandra carrying the whole movie generates instant Oscar buzz. She may not be one of the most talented actresses working in the business, but everybody loves her, everybody loves working with her and people pay to see her movies, so Gravity may spread some Bullock magic! She plays a lone survivor of a space mission who tries to return to Earth, where she has a daughter: sounds moving and dramatic, right? Maybe Bullock is a stronger Oscar contender than I think...
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