2025 Oscar Predictions: Best Supporting Actress
While the Best Supporting Actress Oscar is often awarded to an ingenue, like the 2022 winner Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”), it can also be a way to reward a more seasoned performer. In 2024, Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Leftovers”) won on her first nomination A year earlier Jamie Lee Curtis had reaped her first Oscar bid at age 64 and prevailed for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” In 2021 Youn Yuh-jung, who is renowned in her native South Korea, won at age 73 for her first English film, “Minari.” And in 2020, the academy honored past nominee Laura Dern who finally took home an Oscar for her scene-stealing performance in “Marriage Story.” (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Supporting Actress.)
While Dern was clearly a featured player in her picture, two of her rival nominees, Florence Pugh and Margot Robbie, could easily have submitted themselves in lead for their roles in “Little Women” and “Bombshell” respectively. But the studios decided to campaign only their co-stars, Saoirse Ronan and Charlize Theron, in the top race and this proved to be a winning strategy as all four reaped bids.
More from GoldDerby
The two leading contenders in this category this year are just that: leads in their respective films. That could give them the edge over their competitors.
Zoe Saldana, who has starred in four of the highest grossing films of all time, should finally break through at the Oscars for Jacques Audiard‘s audacious “Emilia Perez.” Her character, a legal eagle, helps the title character fake her death. Three dozen films have featured at least women who competed in this category. That stat bodes well for Selena Gomez, who plays the one-time wife of Emilia. And Danielle Deadwyler, who came close to reaping a Best Actress bid two years ago for “Till,” is the focal point of Malcolm Washington‘s screen version of the August Wilson play “The Piano Lesson.”
Three years ago, veteran actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor contended in this category for her sensational work opposite Oscar winner Will Smith in “King Richard.” This year she is the heart and soul of RaMell Ross‘s adaptation of “Nickel Boys.”
A decade ago, Felicity Jones competed up in lead for her role as Jane Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”; that biopic won Eddie Redmayne the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of scientist Stephen Hawking. In Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” she is the wife of another genius, this time an architect, played by Oscar champ Adrien Brody.
Isabella Rossellini is hoping to follow Jamie Lee Curtis’s path and become the next second generation star to win an Oscar. This daughter of three-time Oscar champ Ingrid Bergman plays a nun at the center of papal intrigue in Edward Berger’s “Conclave.”
Saoirse Ronan could become the lucky 13th performer to reap both lead and supporting bids in the same year. Up in lead, she is a strong contender for the addiction drama “The Outrun.” She also has a strong featured role in Steve McQueen‘s “Blitz” as a mother in search of her missing son in war-torn London.
Looking to return to this race after a quarter-century is Toni Collette. Back then she contended as a bewildered mother in “The Sixth Sense”; now she is a savvy DA in Clint Eastwood‘s courtroom drama “Juror No. 2.”
Another screen veteran, Joan Chen, is hoping for her first nomination for Sean Wang‘s coming-of-age film “Didi,” in which she shines as an unfulfilled mother dealing with a rebellious teen.
Please note: To read full descriptions of each film, check out our 2025 Oscars Best Picture predictions. Category placement remains in question for several of these contenders who could be positioned in Best Actress.
UPDATED: October 7, 2024
LEADING CONTENDERS (ordered by odds)
Zoe Salda?a, “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix)
Danielle Deadwyler, “The Piano Lesson” (Netflix)
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, “Nickel Boys” (Amazon MGM Studios)
Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist” (A24)
Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave” (Focus Features)
STRONG CONTENDERS (ordered by odds)
Saoirse Ronan, “Blitz” (Apple TV+)
Selena Gomez, “Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
Toni Collette, “Juror #2” (Warner Bros.)
Joan Chen, “Didi” (Focus Features)
POSSIBLE CONTENDERS (alphabetical order)
Zoe Chao, “Nightbitch” (Searchlight)
Carrie Coon, “His Three Daughters” (Netflix)
Elle Fanning, “A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight)
Rebecca Ferguson, “Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.)
Ariana Grande, “Wicked” (Universal)
Jennifer Lopez, “Unstoppable” (Amazon MGM Studios)
Connie Nielsen, “Gladiator II” (Paramount Pictures)
Elizabeth Olsen, “His Three Daughters” (Netflix)
Margaret Qualley, “Kinds of Kindness” (Searchlight)
Margaret Qualley, “The Substance” (Mubi)
Kelly Reilly, “Here” (Sony Pictures)
Renate Reinsve, “A Different Man” (A24)
Cailee Spaeny, “Civil War” (A24)
Emily Watson, “Small Things Like These” (Lionsgate)
Michelle Yeoh, “Wicked” (Universal)
Zendaya, “Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.)
SIGN UP for Gold Derby newsletters and updates
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
