Five Fabulous Women Vie for Best Actress

Here is an encore presentation of my tribute montages made to honor the five amazing women nominated for Best Actress this year. They are all indelibly dazzling, and in a race where four of them have each won a major prize, it is proving impossible to predict just how this will play out on April 25th. Andra Day won the Golden Globe in a Drama; Viola Davis prevailed with the Screen Actor’s Guild, Carey Mulligan was The Critics Choice, and Frances McDormand received the British Academy Award. Vanessa Kirby may not have won a major pre-cursor, but she was the only actress to be nominated for the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critics Choice on her way to this Oscar nod. Only Frances McDormand can match that feat – so the race is still wide open.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Best Leading Actress 2021 FRANCES MCDORMAND

Making her movie debut 37 years ago in the Coen Brothers classic ‘Blood Simple’, Frances McDormand is an American classic herself, a national treasure and a character actor of the highest order. With four dozen films to her credit; two Leading Actress Academy Awards and three nominations in the Supporting Actress field, Frances is acting royalty. I first noticed her impassioned turn in Sir Alan Parker’s 1988 film ‘Mississippi Burning’ for which she received her first nomination. For 5 decades this actress has shown enormous range in the styles and tones of the characters she has inhabited. Equally adept with screwball comedy or intense dramatic work. Frances brings a unique look to the screen – simply incomparable. In ‘Nomadland’ her physicality and expressive face are used to perfection and the movie sits on her strong shoulders for its narrative, for its performance and for its visual markers. The list of Frances McDormand’s filmography is breathtaking to behold, and it is easy to see why so many great filmmakers have cast her. With the BAFTA win under her belt for ‘Nomadland’, one should never underestimate her popularity, and the esteem with which Frances is held by the Academy.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Best Leading Actress 2021 ANDRA DAY

Andra Day in ‘The United States Vs Billie Holiday’. After more than 40 years of being an Oscar watcher, I know that the Academy likes their biopics — especially when they are American legends — and Billie Holiday certainly meets that criteria. Though I was previously unacquainted with this performer, it is now abundantly clear that she is a bona fide star of music and film. Now with her astonishing performance she has found her way into the final 5 for Best Lead Actress. a flawless embodiment of the iconic Jazz and Blues singer. Perhaps one of the primary reasons Day is getting plenty of traction, is that stepping into the shoes of such a legend is such a daunting challenge – especially for her first major film role! Like Jamie Foxx in ‘Ray’ and Marion Cotillard in ‘La Vie En Rose’, Andra Day may well benefit from the ‘Ingenue’ factor that is often catnip for the Academy. The combination of playing a famous person; being a successful singer herself, and having nabbed a Golden Globe for this performance makes Andra Day the one to watch on April 25th.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Best Leading Actress 2021 CAREY MULLIGAN

Carey Mulligan in ‘Promising Young Woman’. Wow! That’s the most succinct way to describe her performance in this dark twisted dramedy. The British actress has been on the scene for over 15 years but it was her BAFTA winning turn in ‘An Education’ in 2009 which catapulted her to stardom. In the dozen years since, Ms Mulligan has shown just what a versatile and fascinating artist she can be – and her artistry is undeniable. Whenever we look at her filmography or run across images of her work, it is evident what a chameleon Carey has been. She often taken the road less travelled than many of her contemporaries have  chosen. Recalling her work in ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Shame’, ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ and ‘Suffragette’ is proof positive of her range and dynamism. In Emerald Fennell’s blistering ‘Promising Young Woman’, Carey’s Cassie is a tour de force, with the emphasis on force! Carey brings such intelligence; such passion and such cogency to the role that it’s impossible to imagine any other actor inhabiting this complex and flawed figure. If the warm innocence of ‘An Education’ was her breakthrough, it’s the ice-cold cynicism of ‘Promising Young Woman’ that propels this actor into a different stratosphere. It’s destined to shift the perception of her beyond any limitation of a British ‘Rose’ or versatile character actor. Make no mistake. Carey Mulligan is a force to be reckoned with as she blazes forth into more roles like this on her horizon.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Best Leading Actress 2021 VANESSA KIRBY

Every year or two an actor comes along who doesn’t just break through – they smash through, and Brit Vanessa Kirby has done just that. Best known for her TV work as Princess Margaret on ‘The Crown’, Vanessa has been kicking around with casual brilliance for a decade, but it was with 2015’s ‘Jupiter Ascending’ that people started to sit up and truly take notice. In the half decade since, Ms Kirby has gifted us with roles in a broad array of genres, but it is her intensely intimate and traumatic characterization in ‘Pieces Of A Woman’ that has certified her as a true star. I have no doubt that we will soon see Vanessa Kirby headline a myriad of different stories and fascinating personas; thanks to her theatre background and now her bravura lead turn in this movie. There is a fierce intelligence but mesmerizing stillness which contributes to her ‘Martha’ being one of the most memorable and captivating roles not only of this year but of the past decade.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Best Leading Actress 2021 VIOLA DAVIS

If there is any contemporary actor who deserves to become only the second woman of color to win a Leading Actress Oscar it is Viola Davis. Since her small but indelible performance in ‘Doubt’ in 2008 which earned her an Academy Award nomination, Ms Davis has spread her wings and gifted the world of cinema with a panoply of fascinating women – from her Oscar winning turn as a grieving mother in Denzel Washington’s ‘Fences’ to the instigator of a heist in her BAFTA nominated turn in ‘Widows’. Viola Davis came close to matching Halle Berry’s historic Lead Actress achievement from a decade ago, when 2011’s ‘The Help’ won her accolades galore; and cemented her place at the forefront of leading ladies in the industry. Her “Ma Rainey” is a complete submersion: the actor ia quite unrecognisable thanks to her physical transformation and brilliant make up and costuming that allows her to bring her requisite intensity to a role that is so rich in attitude and posture. Often with no more than an eye roll or a gesture of imperious dismissal she’s able to convey so much more than any words ever could. ‘Ma Rainey’ was way ahead of her time and was indeed a trailblazer for future generations of vocalists. The world weariness and palpable pain that Viola Davis brings to her scenes speaks volumes about the burden of racial inequality and the struggle to be true to her gender identity. I am convinced that there is nothing that this versatile actor cannot undertake and carry off with sublime assurance whenever she steps in front of a camera.