Excitement for Academy Awards season is all year for movie fans! While the leading actor categories are buzzy, I’d argue that Best Supporting Actress wins have sometimes been more controversial. Nominations in this category contain some of the best performances over the past decade and I intend to not only explore the past in my monthly Best Supporting Actress articles, but mix in predictions for the coming year. Let’s take a quick look at some of my favorite nominations in recent years and how impactful their performances were in movies over the past decade as a preview of what’s to come.
Emily Blunt: Oppenheimer
Emily Blunt is a fantastic actress. She has a wide acting range from Mary Poppins to A Quiet Place and we’ve seen the fiery passion she brings to even her shorter performances. Blunt’s turn as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer was layered and approachable. Sure, she could’ve churned out an over-the-top performance as the alcoholic wife of the Atomic Bomb’s creator, but the realistic calmer demeanor she portrayed allowed for one of the realest performances of depression and alcoholism possible and allowed Blunt to captivate even further during passionate moments when her character rises to the occasion. Seriously, her scenes opposite Jason Clarke as Roger Robb are among my favorites in the past few years.
Stephanie Hsu: Everything Everywhere All at Once
I was one of many who didn’t have Stephanie Hsu’s standout performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once on their 2022 bingo board. The movie itself is still worthy of dialogue, but the layered performance of Hsu caught my full attention. No slight to Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis for their well-deserved and…deserved wins, but Everything Everywhere All at Once doesn’t work without Hsu’s emotional portrayal as Ellen Yang’s (Michelle Yeoh) queer daughter who’s depressed at least in part due to her strained relationship with her mother because of cultural differences and not being able to live free from judgment while somehow being the no-so-secret villain of a multidimensional plot to free herself from a world that she sees as a moot point. People watched this movie and not only felt seen (for various reasons including her queerness and ties to ADHD) but moved. I left the movie excited to follow Hsu’s career seeing how much emotional lifting she could do in even the wackiest of plots.
Scarlett Johansson: Jojo Rabbit
I’m a giant comic book movie fan so I won’t slander them by saying I forgot that Scarlett Johansson had serious acting chops in her. I will say after watching her acting in Marvel films for over a decade by the time Jojo Rabbit came out and looking back in time, I am beyond excited that her character’s storyline in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to a close to give her more time for projects like this and Asteroid City. Johansson’s portrayal of supportive mother Rosie Betzler who has views she shields from the world and her young son Jojo in support of his radicalized views is nuanced and heartbreaking. Even non-parents know how much sacrifice comes with being a parent and while the movie has an all-important plot and lesson to convey, her character’s arc in this movie is a short film in itself and continues to stick with me.
Best Supporting Actress performances sometimes make or break a movie with how emotionally powerful and shocking they can be. I’m excited to engage with a legacy of winners, nominees, and the occasional miss while we explore performances of the past, present, and potential winners of the future!
