Who Will Win Best Actress at the 2021 Oscars?

The 2020 Oscars were already more than a year ago, but the race for who will emerge victorious during the 2021 Oscars ceremony in April is just underway. Unlike last time around, when Renée Zellweger sailed breezily to a trophy for Judy, the Best Actress field is a toss-up. Here's who is in the running.


Carey Mulligan in 'Promising Young Woman'




The nominees
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
The frontrunner: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
When I saw Promising Young Woman back during Sundance 2020 (a million years ago), I would have thought that the divisive movie was too spiky to be an Oscar favorite, but Mulligan is charging ahead with Cassie, a tormented avenger, a role that balks the period pieces for which the actress is best known. She won the Critics' Choice Award, and if the Academy is going to give PYW a win anywhere, it will likely be here, a recognition of Mulligan's fearless work.


Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Davis, an Oscar winner for Fences, is in the running once again for a film based on the work of August Wilson. She's the legendary blues singer in the title of George C. Wolfe's adaptation, putting on prosthetics and heavy makeup while nonetheless oozing power and sex appeal.

Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Day's surprise win at the Golden Globes catapulted her into serious Oscar contention. While there is no overlap between Oscar voters and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, her victory will likely encourage more Academy members to take a look at her work, which is the best thing about a rather messy film.

Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
You only have to watch the opening scene of Pieces of a Woman to know why Kirby is in contention. In an unbroken take, her character gives birth and Kirby embodies all the terror and pain of the experience. The rest of the movie, however, is not up to the same caliber, and the fact that her co-star, Shia LaBeouf, is being sued for domestic abuse won't help.

Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Frances McDormand won her last Oscar in 2018 for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, so to get another one within four years would be quite a feat. And yet, she is also a probable winner thanks to her work in Nomadland, Chloé Zhao's film about Americans living on the margins. McDormand didn't show up at the Golden Globes, where she lost to Day, but Nomadland remains the film to beat.

Our prediction: Carey Mulligan
#BestActress #Oscar2021 #WhatsHotOnBuzz #CareyMulligan #entertainment