2019 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTRESS (May) – Ro mah ro-mah-mah Gaga oh-la-la!

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Yep, Lady Gaga has entered the Best Actress race.

Like her director and co-star, Lady Gaga is enjoying great word of mouth for her lead feature film debut in A Star Is Born. The pop superstar has enjoyed success in the music industry as one of the most popular artists of the 21st century and even her first foray into television acting netted her a Golden Globe for Best Actress (for American Horror Story: Hotel). Some may gawk at that win as the HFPA being populist and loving to award singer-turned-actors (like Madonna in Evita beating Frances McDormand in Fargo) but this feels different; like a true performance from a real performer (all vocals in the film were recorded live). Gaga enters the chart this month at #7 but could find herself top 5 very soon.

Elsewhere it’s much of the same, with the top 6 of Oscar winner and three-time nominee Viola Davis (Widows), three-time nominee Saoirse Ronan (Mary Queen of Scots), Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Oscar winner and four-time nominee Nicole Kidman (Destroyer) and SIX-time nominee Glenn Close (The Wife).

Renée Zellweger drops a bit for Judy (that could change if a strong indie studio picks it up) but there would be some fun meta irony if Zellweger, playing Judy Garland, misses out in favor of Lady Gaga, playing one of Judy Garland’s most revered roles.

I still have bumped Toni Collette up to the Next Up section for her June horror film Hereditary and I hope I’m not sleeping on her there. I know her performance is being given ‘best of career’ notices and that A24 is going to push hard for her but I’m still a bit hesitant to pop her in the top 10.

Here are my predictions for Best Actress as of May 23, 2018.

Green – moves up
Red – moves down
Blue – chart debut

1. Viola Davis – Widows
2. Saoirse Ronan – Mary Queen of Scots
3. Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
4. Nicole Kidman – Destroyer
5. Glenn Close – The Wife
6. Felicity Jones – On the Basis of Sex
7. Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born
8. Renée Zellweger – Judy
9. Cate Blanchett – Where’d You Go, Bernadette
10. Kiki Layne – If Beale Street Could Talk

 

NEXT UP
Toni Collette – Hereditary
Poorna Jagannathan – Untitled Pippa Bianco aka Share
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Fast Color
Julianne Moore – Gloria Bell
Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

 

OTHER CONTENDERS
Amy Adams – Backseat
Gemma Atherton – Vita and Virginia
Emily Blunt – Mary Poppins Returns
Jessica Chastain – Woman Walks Ahead
Kiersey Clemons – Hearts Beat Loud
Olivia Colman – The Favourite
Penélope Cruz – Everybody Knows
Elizabeth Debicki – Vita and Virginia
Judi Dench – Red Joan
Elsie Fisher – Eighth Grade
Salma Hayek – The Hummingbird Project
Taraji P. Henson – The Best of Enemies
Isabelle Huppert – The Widow
Juli Jakab – Sunset
Dakota Johnson – Suspiria
Keira Knightley – The Aftermath
Keira Knightley – Colette
Kelly Macdonald – Puzzle
Danielle Macdonald – Dumplin’
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie – Leave No Trace
Carey Mulligan – Wildlife
Michelle Pfeiffer – Where Is Kyra?
Rosamund Pike – A Private War
Florence Pugh – Fighting with My Family
Gina Rodríguez – Miss Bala
Kristen Stewart – JT Leroy
Emma Stone – The Favourite
Hilary Swank – What They Had
Charlize Theron – Tully
Rachel Weisz – Disobedience
Constance Wu – Crazy Rich Asians

2019 Oscar Predictions: BEST PICTURE (May)

2019 Oscar Predictions: BEST DIRECTOR (May)

2019 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTOR (May)

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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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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