2000-2020 Best Actress Roles and Movies

Oh my God, you are so right. I never even heard of half of the films mentioned in the past 20 years. What happened?

From googling that's Edmond O’Brien with Grace Kelley in 1955. I've heard of most of the Oscar winners, but I've only see a couple of them in recent years.

I got your number, hussy. And this number is a tuxedo dress

The Hours, Blue Jasmine, The Favourite, Black Swan, La Vie en Rose, Judy....all wonderful performances. That's all.

I’ve seen them ALL you nancies. And it’s because I’m not OLD and into Grace Kelly or whatever else was hot before actors even knew how to act, before naturalism.

R5, you don't have to be old to use google image search to figure out who's in a photo.

I think the old queens hate any actress who got sexual in her winning role. You know, jealousy.

What an embarrassment.

R8 Glenn barely has breasts and looks 6 months pregnant in that photo.

Did all the truly talented American filmmakers of this generation just skip Hollywood altogether?

I’ve only seen 3 of those films from the past 20 years: The Queen (Mirren is superb. It’s a genuinely great performance), La Vie En Rose (A decent story, but by the end I really was ready to be done with the screaming and histrionics from Mme Cotillard) and The Favourite (a typically good performance from Colman whom I genuinely admire, but the role was not Oscarworthy and she wasn’t even the lead role in that film!).

R8, the gown was a mistake, but Close should have won that year, and another couple of years too. She is a sublimely good actress, but, alas, she is not always likeable in her roles. She plays difficult women, rather than Oscarbaity goodies/heroines.

Frances McDormand seemed so refreshing when she appeared in Fargo. Too bad she turned into a nasty smug cunt by the time of 3 Billboards...,HATE that shit film.

R11 Just ruined your high taste selective buzz there By saying close should have won for that half baked wife Shit.

Thanks for posting this, OP. It’s refreshing to go through an article like this so smoothly instead of it being a slideshow with an ad every other photo, slowing things down.

As much as it pains me to say it because Julia Robert’s Oscar win for Erin Brockovitch really irked me but she looked fabulous and was a real stand out fashion wise among the winners. I also loved Sandra Bullock’s gown.

So many clunky looks among the rest, oy....

R13, it wasn’t her best role (and it certainly wasn’t a great film) but I think it was the best leading female performance I saw that year.

It's ironic that OP picked a photo of Grace Kelly winning her Oscar for The Country Girl, a film no one remembers. DL's are also always complaining about Judy Garland not winning instead

R16 My mother was robbed.

R16 I didn't pick that photo, it's the pic the site automatically loads.

The article actually goes all the way back to the very first best actress, Janet Gaynor. You have to click the expanding link. The only mistake I see is the picture of Elizabeth Taylor holding her Oscar for Virginia Woolf. She wasn’t at the ceremony. I don’t know when that photo was taken.

Alas, R2, that's William Holden in the picture with Kelly (as the previous years best actor, he presented her award).

And Elizabeth Taylor didn't attend the ceremony in 1967. The picture was taken a couple of weeks later, when she was handed the Oscar in London.

And they failed to mention that during WW II, they went for modest ceremonies with no tuxedos or evening gowns, hence the rather mundane attires worn by the likes of Fontaine or Bergman.

R8, R11, I don't know why people always go on about Glenn's outfit. Yes it's gold, so what?

It's really interesting how many weren't there to accept their awards in person: Patricia Neal, Sophia Loren, Glenda Jackson(both times she won) etc.

It also begs the question as they why they gave four Oscars to Katherine Hepburn when she wouldn't even attend(she did once, but not in a year she herself was nominated). If that in itself is the reason, it's just not good enough. You either respect the integrity of the awards or you don't and if you don't, get lost. They didn't even need to give her four to set a new record; Ingrid Bergman won three but her last win was for best supporting actress, they could have just left it three best actress wins for Hepburn.

R20, thanks. I should have realized that. I couldn't place the name to the face.

R21 Because it was clear she expected to win so she became a laughing stock for making it so obvious.

M. also wore a gold dress when she won for The Iron Lady but I suppose she knew Harvey had the win all sown up for her in advance.

[quote] I’ve seen them ALL you nancies. And it’s because I’m not OLD and into Grace Kelly or whatever else was hot before actors even knew how to act, before naturalism.

Speaking of Princess Grace, get a whiff of you!

William Holden was handsome at his peak.

Strange that he's so completely forgotten these days.