For example, even my #22 choice on this list might've lost out on my personal vote to a different nominee even though I also very much loved her performance.
But in the end, this why these kinds of rankings are simply subjective and create their own forms of unfair competition. I would like to think that at the very least, getting to this portion of the ranking can be seen as a form of celebration for these wonderful actresses.
And with that, let us enter the top 40!
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#40 - Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
The 1950s for American cinema were pretty pulpy. When we struck gold, we truly struck it but otherwise, a lot of the big films that the Academy honored in that era have not stood the test of time.
I think The Three Faces of Eve is a prime example of a film that is just simply too much of a cheesy and greasy affair, BUT...I do think Joanne Woodward makes the film watchable.
As a woman who suffers from what is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder, Woodward imbues her part with a lot of passion and verve...and it is a shame that everyone around her doesn't seem to want to match that sense of vitality.
She also benefitted greatly from relatively weaker competition that year, too...so this is a case of a rather good performance that looked towards the future in terms of acting styles (i.e. The Actor's Studio/Strasberg) that mostly suffered due to the quality of the film. I think Woodward made for a good choice, nevertheless.
I do find it to be a very good movie and one that was highly emotional, but perhaps it was slightly overhyped for me.
I do support this win for Larson...even if I might've been more inclined to vote for Cate Blanchett in Carol. This is a truly powerful performance and was a great breakthrough for her.
I also think it is truly shameful that young Jacob Tremblay didn't get nominated for his performance as he not only worked very well with Larson, but his work is some of the best ever done by a child actor.
I do want to revisit this film and see if I want to reconsider ever moving her higher.
#38 - Frances McDormand, Fargo (1996)
#37 - Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Ellen Burstyn is another example of an actress who deserves an Oscar on her mantle and she managed to get it for a good performance...though not her best...and not the best in her category.
Burstyn managed to rebuild her legacy with younger moviegoers with her role as Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream, which might be the best performance of her career.
Her role of Alice mostly seems overshadowed these days by the fact that this story would be adapted into a sitcom starring Linda Lavin.
Not to mention that this is the infamous year in which Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage was deemed ineligible for the Oscars as it had originally been a miniseries in Sweden...which meant Liv Ullman couldn't compete.
Even without Ullman, this category still had an actress giving one of the greatest performances EVER captured on film: Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence.
Trying to put aside my massive admiration for the snubbed Ullman and the ferociously brilliant Rowlands, I can commend Burstyn's work here as being feisty and memorable...and hey, ranking her at #37 is certainly nothing to scoff at.
It is a vibrant performance, and I think had the film come out the following year, she would've been an easy sweeper.
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#36 - Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
As a kid, there were certain performers I had such a strong attraction to for their work that I would often ask my mother about them, and I can distinctly remember being very entranced by Page simply due to her voice alone.
When I got older, I discovered her work in other films. In Woody Allen's Interiors, a movie which is in a constant battle from being pretentious and intriguing, Page's Eve is a neurotic mess that becomes so compelling to watch...and I am convinced that in a lesser actress' hands, that role would've been a colossal failure.
She was also splendid in films like Summer & Smoke and in lighter fare like Pete n' Tillie.
Nowadays, we hear about actresses like Amy Adams who have yet to win an Oscar, but it took Geraldine Page until her 8th nomination to win. Many film buffs will debate whether this Oscar was deserved, especially due to the fact she beat Whoopi Goldberg in her iconic debut role as Celie in The Color Purple.
I am torn. I don't care as much for The Color Purple, but Goldberg was splendid in it. When it comes to Page, I can't say that The Trip to Bountiful is a remarkable movie, but I think she equally as splendid in other ways.
There is a scene closer to the end of the film when Page is at a bus depot, and it looks as though her journey back to see her childhood home is about to be thwarted and she starts to cry. When watching this scene for the first time, I immediately said "Okay, she deserved this win".
I think Goldberg and Page were both worthy.
As for some snubbed contenders that year:
WHERE IN GOD'S NAME WAS CHER IN MASK?!?!
Also, a quick shoutout to Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo and Norma Aleandro in The Official Story.
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#34 - Mikey Madison, Anora (2024)
After Demi Moore managed to win at Globes, CC, and SAG for her performance in the satirical body horror The Substance, it seemed like the passion was leading in her direction. However, Mikey Madison had won a ton of the critics' prizes and was the face of the film that ended up dominated Oscar night...with a key win at BAFTA that occurred right as Oscar voting was nearly closing.
The truth is for me that when it comes to this particular Best Actress category, aside from Karla Sofia Gascon, the other 4 contenders were all Oscar worthy in my eyes, but I think the fact the race came down to Madison, Moore, and Fernanda Torres was rather fitting.
Each performance was wildly different and offered something special. I could be here all day if I go into these actresses, so let me just focus on Madison.
A lot of people claim that Madison's work isn't special, and that any young actress could do it. Is there some truth to that phrase? Maybe...but I think that is selling Madison far too short.
All you have to do is watch Madison in interviews and in her acceptance speeches. This is a rather shy and timid young lady who grew up riding horses and has a vibe that is pure LA Zen.
Her work in Anora requires her to speak with a thick Brighton Beach accent, she learned how to pole dance, she lived in Brighton Beach for a month prior to shooting to immerse herself in that world, she learned Russian in order to speak it in a believable way in the film (which is more than I can say for Selena Gomez's Spanish in Emilia Perez...), and the results lead to a performance that feels very rich and lived in.
I didn't know much about Madison before seeing Anora and had only realized after the fact I had seen her on Better Things and that happened to be the same villainous gal to be burned alive not just in Scream V but also in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She has a great knack at playing dark, abrasive people but Anora shows she has what it takes to carry a film and also to play more complex characters.
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#33 - Bette Davis, Jezebel (1938)
When looking at the two Best Actress awards that Bette Davis has won, and we already covered her win for Dangerous, it may be a bit shocking to see that neither of her winning performances are that well known compared to her work in All About Eve, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Now Voyager, or The Little Foxes.
I would say Jezebel does rank as a performance of hers that was on the top tier rather than the lower, but it really does feel like it is a step above being an imitation of Scarlett O'Hara before that iconic film came out a year later.
Much has been said about Bette Davis being passed over for Scarlett O'Hara, even though I still think she was not the right fit for that role. However, Davis does do well here, and I think it is a way to toss her an easy win over a relatively meek lineup although I do love seeing a nomination for Margaret Sullavan's work in Three Comrades.
I think I would've been prone to give her an Oscar for Of Human Bondage and Jezebel, but I would strongly consider it for her in 1941 (The Little Foxes), 1942 (Now Voyager), and 1962 (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?)
The woman should've had 3 or 4 Oscars on her mantle...easily.
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#32 - Helen Mirren, The Queen (2006)
When discussing Oscar winners, people do often like to joke that those performances are probably very loud and dramatic. Did the actress scream and wail and break some plates? Then perhaps an Oscar was sent her way!
Leave it to an actress like Dame Helen Mirren to steamroll her way through award season by playing the stoic and sterling Queen Elizabeth II.
Let's just say I have my thoughts about the Monarchy...and I will leave it at that. I will state that I do find them fascinating and as a kid, I was obsessed with Princess Diana.
Her funeral is still so vividly in my mind that when I revisited clips of it online when the 25th anniversary occurred in 2022, I was shocked at how much I still actually recalled despite having not seen it for over two decades.
Considering this movie took place during that time period and focused on the backlash that the royals got for their lack of emotional outreach, it was very much up my alley.
I still think The Queen is a very good movie and I think Mirren does a splendid job playing who was arguably the most famous woman in the world.
Mirren had been one of those actresses who had been worshipped in the UK (much like Judi Dench and now a lot like Olivia Colman) but had not made a true mark on US audiences until she reached middle age. Go back and watch her as Jane Tennyson on the Prime Suspect anthology series and you will see some truly wonderful work there...or her work opposite Nigel Hawthorne in The Madness of King George.
She did face very stiff competition from Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal and Penelope Cruz in Volver, but I do feel like this was a great example of how much quiet dignity can be powerful onscreen. The stillness she often portrayed was just as strong as any actress who might've screamed and thrown a plate to the floor.
I will say that I did drop Mirren a bit as she was originally my #20 choice in the old ranking.
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#31 - Patricia Neal, Hud (1963)
#30 - Glenda Jackson, Women in Love (1970)
#29 - Liza Minnelli, Cabaret (1972)
This win by Liza Minnelli is a prime example of how something can simultaneously be both well-deserved and a mixed bag all at once.
I think Cabaret as a movie also aptly fits a similar description, because it is truly its own beast compared to its source material.
Despite the darker edges of the film, it loses a lot of its luster compared to the Tony Award winning stage production that had opened on Broadway six years prior...particularly how it handled the subtext of the relationship between Minnelli's character Sally Bowles and her lover Cliff (Michael York)…not to mention the erasure of subplots involving Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz.
So the film might be great in its own right, but it is also very different in terms of its final product. Within the world of the film, Minnelli shines and is truly wonderful.
However, a lot of the dramatic weight that is often brimming under this character is lost. This is especially apparent after you watch other interpretations by such actresses as Natasha Richardson or Jane Horrocks.
As a song, the titular number sounds cheerful and reads as cheerful but in the stage show, it comes along at a crucial moment where Sally performs it but realizes that the life she thought she wanted was a shame and that she would rather abort the baby she is pregnant with and resume a life of "pills and liquor".
In the movie, the song basically reads exactly as the lyrics suggest. Perhaps it is unfair, but this is what makes me feel like I can fully embrace the performance as my favorite of that year.
She may have been more supporting, but I did adore the nominated work of Cicely Tyson in Sounder and also Liv Ullman in The Emigrants, one of the few times she made a mark in the US not making an Ingmar Bergman film.
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#28 - Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl (1968)
Streisand's win is simply due to the fact that she, more than likely, voted for herself.
Despite Funny Girl being her feature film debut and Academy protocols normally stating otherwise, the Academy President and Oscar winner Gregory Peck had pushed strongly (and honestly wisely) for new changes in Academy membership...especially in favor of fresh new blood.
With this in place, we managed to get our first and so far ONLY legit tie in an acting race (the 1931 Best Actor race was not a true tie).
Streisand tied with Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter (spoiler alert: you won't see her til the next and final volume), who had just won the year before for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and now had 3 Oscars.
One of the things that greatly bothers me about Streisand in this film is something that Streisand herself has called out...and that is, I find her often to be a lot less engaged during songs when she is being made to lip-sync.
The vocal performance is obviously stellar, but the visual performance often feels disconnected...and THANKFULLY, she knew this so well that she insisted to William Wyler that first portion of "My Man" be done live and have that blend into a pre-recorded performance.
The results of the lip-sync in that particular case are marginally more successful with the emotion already set in place...but even then, it does slip for me slightly.
It is a performance that is hurt mostly by filming conventions, but whenever she does overcome it, she is truly exceptional. However, I do want to add that I did give her a solid bump up of 10 points as it is hard to deny the true charisma she brought to this role.
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#27 - Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
When Michelle Yeoh stepped onto the stage at the 95th Annual Academy Awards, I was thrilled...and the honest truth is that it might be one of the best examples of me being equally happy for someone even if I may have voted for one of their competitors.
In the grand scheme of things, I did prefer Cate Blanchett's performance in Tar. However, there is no denying how much passion and warmth and all-around badass energy Michelle Yeoh brought to the table.
As someone who has been a big fan and champion of Asian cinema for most of my life, I am also thrilled that we FINALLY have an Asian performer winning in Lead.
Yeoh became only the second woman of color and first Asian woman to win a Lead Oscar...and it had been 21 years since Halle Berry stood on that same stage accepting the honor. It is crazy to think it took this long considering that since then, we've had Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Will Smith all win in Lead Actor.
This was a performance that managed to feel right in line with so many compassionate Best Actress winning roles...but it also felt so unique at the same time.
I might not have been as enamored with the film as many others were, but there is also a lot to admire about the film...and I think Yeoh is MAJOR driving force behind that.
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#26 - Jane Fonda, Klute (1971)
#25 - Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry (1999)
The 72nd Annual Academy Awards were essentially viewed as the coronation ceremony for American Beauty. The amount of praise and adoration that movie received at the time still, to this day, feels as strong as any movie to have come out in my lifetime. What makes it all the more remarkable is how much that adoration has waned in recent years...and perhaps I am biased because I have never found that movie to be the masterpiece that many claimed it was.
I bring up American Beauty because going into that ceremony, many expected it would become the 4th film to sweep the Big 5 Oscars: Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress.
It got the first 4, but Annette Bening lost Actress to Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry.
At the time, this wasn't exactly an upset. It seemed very possible that it would occur, and looking back on it, the transformation angle fits squarely into the Oscar winner motif.
I actually feel Swank was the better choice and I also think Swank has never managed to find the kind of role to showcase this kind of talent again...and yes, I say that knowing full well that she won a second Oscar...and if you recall, I didn't exactly rank that win too high.
Boys Don't Cry is a brutal movie. It is not an easy watch. I recently made a comment about the movie Till and how I felt that maybe a movie dealing with a truly horrendous racial crime didn't need to be made. Did we also really need to see this trans man get brutally assaulted and murdered?
That is always going to be a major debate.
You also have the fact that they cast a cis woman to play a trans male...but looking past that, I feel like the manner in which Swank committed to the part is truly commendable.
I do want to acknowledge a major snub in this category though, because I still think that Reese Witherspoon was utter perfection in Election.
Rhyme pun not intended.
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#24 - Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Those of us who often visit various online film forums will notice that when it comes to this particular Bes Actress race, people love to debate over whether or not Sally Hawkins or Margot Robbie or Saoirse Ronan should've beaten Frances McDormand for this performance.
Frankly, I loved her in this movie, and I also loved the movie itself, which did seem to polarize some people...certainly more so than McDonagh's other films like The Banshees of Inisherin or In Bruges.
Those three other actresses I mentioned about were all great in their films, but I am choosing to celebrate McDormand here.
When Martin McDonagh wrote the film, he stated that this was a part meant for McDormand and that if she wouldn't do it, he would never have made the movie.
The part does seem tailor-made for her. It even allows her a couple of moments to go bigger as McDormand is usually an actress of subtlety. Even those big moments, like when the billboards are on fire and she screams at her son, it happens quickly but the effect of it is so powerful.
As is the case with McDonagh, his work is usually dark but dripping with wit. Considering this is a woman who is mourning the rape/death of her daughter and the fruitless search of finding the assailant(s), it is remarkable how much of that deadpan wit that McDonagh incorporates into the film and how well McDormand navigates it.
She also acts extremely well with her ensemble that includes the truly brilliant Sam Rockwell (who won a very deserved Oscar for his performance), Woody Harrelson, Lucas Hedges, and Peter Dinklage.
A truly dynamic and intriguing character and a wonderful win for one of the greatest character actresses of all time.
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#23 - Natalie Portman, Black Swan (2010)
Very few Oscar wins seemed as universally beloved or as supporting as this one...and I felt like I was in the smallest vocal minority possible for not being as wowed by Portman as the rest of the world.
Over time, my love for her and the film itself have grown considerably.
Simply put, Black Swan has aged very well and so has Portman's committed performance, which has one of the strongest final acts of any film/performance since the 2000s.
I am not sure I have much else to say about it. Due to its relative recency, I feel like many have written about it and analyzed it to the death.
Go check out the film if you haven't, because it does represent some of the best work of both Portman and Aronofsky.
Also - shout out to Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder who both gave truly wonderful performances in the film and deserved more attention than that of Mila Kunis, who got most of the nominations that year.
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#22 - Emma Stone, Poor Things (2023)
#21 - Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress (1949)
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THOUGHTS ON THE RANKING:
What a wonderful group of performances!
I stand by my statement from the beginning that these are some truly wonderful and even iconic performances. People still talk about the likes of Nurse Ratched or Marge Gunderson or Sally Bowles or the fact that people for years were even afraid to have an actress tackle the role of Fanny Brice onstage.
I am very excited to delve into my top 20, but I will admit that I am going to be shifting some of those choices around. In fact, I already have the order drafted as I type this and have moved around a few of them multiple times.
See you for the 20!
For the previous lists, please check those out here:
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