2021 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTRESS (December)
With five critics groups announcing winners last week (and two on tap for Monday but after this will have posted), only two contenders have earned wins so far: Youn Yuh-jung (Minari) and Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm). They both move up this month.
Frontrunner Amanda Seyfried (Mank) has showed up on some nomination lists and even landed a runner-up mention from Los Angeles, but has yet to claim a win herself. Olivia Colman (The Father) has oddly found herself left off nearly all nomination lists that have heartily welcomed her film and co-star Anthony Hopkins. What to make of that…
Making her debut on the chart this month, at #9, is Candice Bergen in Let Them All Talk from HBO Max. A previous Oscar nominee and multi-Emmy winner, Bergen is a classic supporting scene-stealer in the Steven Soderbergh-directed comedy and has earned some of the best notices of her career.
Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Supporting Actress for December.
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – new entry this month
1. Amanda Seyfried – Mank (Netflix)
2. Olivia Colman – The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
3. Youn Yuh-jung – Minari (A24)
4. Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix)
5. Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman (Netflix)
6. Maria Bakalova – Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Studios)
7. Saoirse Ronan – Ammonite (Neon)
8. Helena Zengel – News of the World (Universal Pictures)
9. Candice Bergen – Let Them All Talk (HBO Max)
10. Jodie Foster – The Mauritanian (STX Entertainment)
Other Contenders: Toni Collette – I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix), Olivia Cooke – Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios), Dominique Fishback – Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros), Priyanka Chopra Jones – The White Tiger (Netflix), Natasha Lyonne – The United States vs Billie Holiday (Paramount), Lesley Manville – Let Him Go (Focus Features), Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount Pictures), Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features), Charlene Swankie – Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures), Marisa Tomei – The King of Staten Island (Universal Pictures)
Image of Candice Bergen courtesy of HBO Max
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.
- 2026 Tribeca Festival Celebrates 25th Anniversary with World Premieres of ‘Hadestown: The Musical,’ ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ Doc - April 16, 2026
- ‘Beef’ Season 2 Review: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton Sink Their Teeth Into Lee Sung Jin’s Meaty Morality Tale [A-] - April 16, 2026
- George Clooney to be Honored at 51st Chaplin Award Gala by Stephen Colbert, Sam Rockwell and More - April 15, 2026
2026 Tonys: Laurie Metcalf (‘Little Bear Ridge Road,’ ‘Death of a Salesman’) May Join Elite Group of Double-Nominated Performers 
2026 Tribeca Festival Celebrates 25th Anniversary with World Premieres of ‘Hadestown: The Musical,’ ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ Doc 
Director Watch Podcast Ep. 149 – ‘Killer of Sheep’ (Charles Burnett, 1978) 
‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Review: Careful the Spell You Cast, Children Will Listen (and Sometimes Kill) [C]