2025 Oscar Predictions: Best Makeup and Hairstyling

The Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling is particularly tough to predict early on because of the complicated system by which the nominees are determined in two stages. First, upwards of 15 members of the branch who attend special screenings cast preferential ballots with the top 10 vote-getters moving on to the second stage (it was a lucky seven till 2021). Those members from the first stage and any other members who either attend screenings of excerpts from these semi-finalists or attest that they have seen them cast preferential ballots and the top five films are nominated; that is up from three in years past. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.)

The award for Best Makeup was introduced in 1981, following an outcry over the lack of recognition for Christopher Tucker‘s groundbreaking work on “The Elephant Man” (1980). Hairstylists began sharing the award with makeup artists in 1993 when “Mrs. Doubtfire” won. However, the category didn’t change its name to reflect this until 2013.

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Reviewing the list of recent winners reveals the various types of makeup and hairstyling that appeal to academy voters: prosthetics (“The Wolfman” in 2011, “Star Trek” in 2010); dirt and grime (“Mad Max: Fury Road” in 2016, “Les Misérables” in 2014); and wigs (“Poor Things” in 2024, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2015).

Prior to 2023, when the team that turned Brendan Fraser into “The Whale” prevailed, there had been five winners in a row that showcased the skills of artisans who transformed well-known movie stars into famous real-life folks: “Darkest Hour” (2018) – Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill; “Vice” (2019) – Christian Bale into Dick Cheney; “Bombshell” (2020) – Charlize Theron into Megyn Kelly; “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (2021) – Viola Davis into Gertrude “Ma” Rainey; and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” (2022) – Jessica Chastain into Tammy Faye Bakker.

Please note: To read full descriptions of each film, check out our 2025 Oscars Best Picture predictions.

UPDATED: October 16, 2024

LEADING CONTENDERS (ordered by odds)
“Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.)
“The Substance” (Mubi)
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (Warner Bros.)
“Wicked” (Universal)
“Nosferatu” (Focus Features/Universal)

STRONG CONTENDERS (ordered by odds)
“A Different Man” (A24)
“The Apprentice” (Briarcliff)
“Emilia Pérez” (Netflix)
“Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.)
“Gladiator II” (Paramount Pictures)

POSSIBLE CONTENDERS (alphabetical order)
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Warner Bros./Universal)
“Here” (Sony Pictures)
“Maria” (Netflix)
“Megalopolis” (Lionsgate)
“Nickel Boys” (Amazon MGM Studios)
“Nightbitch” (Searchlight)
“Saturday Night” (Sony Pictures)

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