2017 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTRESS (May)

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Viola Davis (Fences) hold onto the #1 spot this month and even increases her lead over Loving‘s Ruth Negga from last month. The one-two punch of Davis and Negga aim to be hard to topple this year as their point totals are more than double their nearest competitors. Amy Adams (Story of Your Life) manages to move up to 3rd, passing Annette Bening in 20th Century Women. But it’s Oscar favorite Meryl Streep who makes a big splash this month, all the way into the top 5, with Florence Foster Jenkins. It’s never safe to bet against Streep, whose 19 nominations and three wins are a simply immovable force. Her notices have been very strong (the film currently sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the Paramount film’s August release could prove a healthy box office bounty.

Elsewhere, Jessica Chastain holds onto two spots on the list with Miss Sloane and The Zookeeper’s Wife. Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence enters this month’s chart at #9 with her space drama Passengers and Rooney Mara, who had two spots last month (Lion and Una), falls off with both.

OTHER CONTENDERS
Amy Adams – Nocturnal Animals
Emily Blunt – The Girl on the Train
Lily Collins – Untitled Howard Hughes Film
Rebecca Hall – Christine
Taraji P. Henson – Hidden Figures
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Rooney Mara – Lion
Rooney Mara – The Secret Scripture
Rooney Mara – Una
Cynthia Nixon – A Quiet Passion
Ellen Page – Tallulah
Rosamund Pike – A United Kingdom
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Kristen Stewart – Personal Shopper
Kristen Stewart – Café Society
Alicia Vikander – The Light Between Oceans
Alicia Vikander – Tulip Fever
Naomi Watts – The Book of Henry
Renee Zellweger – Bridget Jones’s Baby

Follow the updated Gold Rush Gang predictions in other Oscar categories here:

BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTOR
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BEST FILM EDITING
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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