Competition is heating up for the Best Actress Academy Award at the Oscars 2024, with several great performances vaulting women into the awards race. A year removed from Michelle Yeoh’s breakthrough win for Everything Everywhere All At Once, the 2023 movies released have once again provided some memorable roles for actresses to dive into. As it pertains to awards season, there are some perennial contenders once again in the mix, while some lesser-known stars are also attempting to break into the race in a meaningful way. That has left a wide-open race for Best Actress in 2024 after Yeoh was viewed as the frontrunner the year before for some time.
Just as the Oscars 2024 Best Actor race is filled with worthy performances to be nominated, the group of qualifying actresses is equally impressive. Some of this comes from the pool of expected contenders, which includes previous Oscar winners and recent nominees. However, the unexpected surprise of Lily Gladstone campaigning for Best Actress, not Best Supporting Actress, for Killers of the Flower Moon significantly shakes up the race. That has a direct result on this list of the 2024 Oscars’ Best Actress nominations and predicted winner, which will be updated as the January 2024 nominations announcement date approaches. Screen Rant’s predicted Best Actress nominees are:
Actress | Movie | |
|---|---|---|
1 | Emma Stone | Poor Things |
2 | Lily Gladstone | Killers of the Flower Moon |
3 | Sandra Hüller | Anatomy of a Fall |
4 | Margot Robbie | Barbie |
5 | Natalie Portman | May December |
The five predicted nominations above are far from locks when it comes to the 2024 Oscars nominations. There are performances from movies released earlier in 2023 that were once viewed as strong contenders that now need a second wind to regain momentum. Meanwhile, some major unseen or not-widely-released movies also leave room for the standings to change. That is why it is important to keep these additional contenders’ names and performances in mind for potential Oscar nominations.
Actress | Movie |
|---|---|
Carey Mulligan | Maestro |
Cailee Spaeny | Priscilla |
Greta Lee | Past Lives |
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor | Origin |
Annette Bening | Nyad |
Fantasia Barrino | The Color Purple |
Jessica Chastain | Memory |
Eve Hewson | Flora and Son |
Teyana Taylor | A Thousand and One |
Vanessa Kirby | Napoleon |
5 Natalie Portman in May December
Role: Elizabeth Berry
Natalie Portman looks to be on a strong path towards a potential Oscar nomination in 2024 thanks to her work in May December. The new movie from director Todd Haynes premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to great critical acclaim. Portman’s performance in particular has been noted as a strength of the movie, as she plays an actress researching an upcoming role. She pulls off the meta-movie aspect of the performance and the more difficult character work. Todd Haynes’ movies have a history of landing the leads with Best Actress nominations, as Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven and Cate Blanchett in Carol both received the honor, but neither won.
Building on the praiseworthiness of her performance in May December and Haynes’ history with the Academy, Natalie Portman is also no stranger to the Oscars. She won Best Actress in 2011 for Black Swan. Portman was previously nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for Closer. Her most recent Best Actress nomination came in 2017 for Jackie. If Natalie Portman does secure her third Best Actress Oscar nomination for May December, she could go on to become the 15th actress to ever win the award multiple times.
4 Margot Robbie in Barbie
Role: Barbie
Barbie‘s Oscars campaign is expected to pull in an Oscar nomination for star and producer Margot Robbie one way or another. Not only is it among Screen Rant’s 2024 Oscars Best Picture predictions, but Robbie’s performance as Barbie is also likely to be recognized. She is the shining star of the movie, perfectly capturing Barbie’s toy-like looks and evolving her performance to fit with the movie’s exploration of Barbie’s empowering arc. The partnership with Greta Gerwig only strengthens her case too, as Saoirse Ronan received Oscar nominations in the category for Gerwig’s previous two movies, Little Women and Lady Bird.
Furthermore, Margot Robbie has her own history of the Academy Awards rewarding her performances. She received her lone Best Actress nomination in 2018 for I, Tonya. Robbie has since secured a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Bombshell in 2020 as well. The tendency for the voting body to nominate one of Margot Robbie’s performances makes the Barbie nod all the more likely. If the movie’s message and what its success represents for Hollywood become factors in the campaigning, there is a chance that Robbie could walk away with her first Oscar win in 2024.
3 Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall
Role: Sandra Voyter
Sandra Hüller could make Oscar history in 2024 depending on how the nomination process shakes out. She is the star of two international Oscar contenders, with Anatomy of a Fall the expected one to secure her a Best Actress nomination. She stars as Sandra Voyter, a writer who attempts to prove she is not responsible for her husband’s death in this courtroom drama from director Justine Triet. There are many reasons why Anatomy of a Fall‘s reviews are so glowing, and Hüller is among the most common. She carries the film on her shoulders and delivers an exceptional performance.
This would be Sandra Hüller’s first-ever Oscar nomination if she gets one for Anatomy of a Fall. It would also mark a rather rare nomination for a non-English-speaking performance. There have only been four such nominations in this category in the last decade, and none of them have won. This makes Sandra Hüller’s chances of winning the Best Actress Oscar in 2024 a bit lower unless she manages to be the one to break through in that regard as the voting body becomes more diverse and favorable to non-English-speaking movies.
2 Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon
Role: Mollie Burkhart
Lily Gladstone was previously thought to be the frontrunner for the Best Support Actress Oscar in 2024, and she’s now right near the top of predictions for possibly winning Best Actress instead. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is expected to be a massive hit with the Academy voting body. Gladstone’s role as Mollie Burkhart is at the heart of the movie, and she is in many ways essential to the emotional core. Her ability to draw viewers in with minimal dialogue at times and command the screen opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro is impressive and worth recognizing for the Academy.
A Best Actress Oscar nomination for Lily Gladstone would be the first of her career. She would be the fourth person from indigenous descent nominated for Best Actress, but the first from Native American descent. No indigenous performer has ever won an acting Oscar, which would make Lily Gladstone’s potential victory for her Killers of the Flower Moon performance a historic achievement. There is certainly momentum on her side, and it will not be a surprise if her name is called during the actual ceremony.
1 Emma Stone in Poor Things (Winner)
Role: Bella Baxter
The expected winner of the Best Actress 2024 Oscar at this point is Emma Stone for her work in Poor Things. The fantasy comedy movie from director Yorgos Lanthimos brings out a completely different side of Emma Stone as a performer, one that has already been heralded by critics ahead of its wide theatrical release in December 2023. Her decision to reteam with Lanthimos means an opportunity for them to repeat the Oscars success of their prior collaboration, The Favourite, which received 10 Oscar nominations overall. While Stone was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, it was her co-star Olivia Colman who won Best Actress in 2019.
With some recent Oscars history on her side, Emma Stone’s case to get nominated and likely win the Best Actress award in 2024 is strong. She is already an Oscar winner thanks to playing Mia in La La Land. Her win in 2017 came two years after her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). It’s already been four years since Emma Stone’s last Oscar nomination, so her being recognized for Poor Things would come at the right time. Meanwhile, a second win in the category for the Oscars 2024 would help cement her status as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
