Awardswatch’s Best Actress Nominee Rankings – 2000s Edition

Erik Anderson May 9, 2014

Fun facts and stats and answers to the hints at the beginning:

1. Two performances received no votes.
Helen Mirren (The Last Station, 2009) and Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents, 2005)

2. One actress has two of her nominated performances in the bottom five.
Judi Dench (Iris, 2001 and Mrs. Henderson Presents, 2005)

3. Only two times did Oscar and AW agree on the winning performance of each year.
Charlize Theron (Monster, 2003) and Marion Cotillard (La vie en Rose, 2007)

4. Two years have four of the five performances in the upper half while two years also have four of the five performances in the lower half.
2004: Winslet (4), Staunton (11), Bening (23) and Moreno (24) were all in the upper half.
2006: Cruz (5), Dench (7), Streep (13) and Mirren (14) were all in the upper half.
2003: Morton (27), Watts (29), Hughes (38) and Keaton (39) were all in the lower half.
2005: Huffman (33), Witherspoon (40), Theron (46) and Dench (49) were all in the lower half.

5. 19 different performances ranked first on all ballots.
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose – 13 mentions
Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven – 7 mentions
Charlize Theron, Monster – 6 mentions
Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – 5 mentions
Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake – 5 mentions
Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream – 4 mentions
Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge! – 3 mentions
Penelope Cruz, Volver – 3 mentions
Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom – 2 mentions
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married – 2 mentions
Annette Bening, Being Julia – 1 mention
Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice – 1 mention
Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me – 1 mention
Diane Lane, Unfaithful – 1 mention
Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace – 1 mention
Renee Zellwegger, Bridget Jones’s Diary – 1 mention
Helen Mirren, The Queen – 1 mention
Meryl Streep, Doubt – 1 mention
Juliette Binoche, Chocolat – 1 mention

Full list:

1 Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
2 Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven
3 Charlize Theron, Monster
4 Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5 Penelope Cruz, Volver
6 Laura Linney, You Can Count On Me
7 Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
8 Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge!
9 Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom
10 Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream
11 Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake
12 Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
13 Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
14 Helen Mirren, The Queen
15 Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice
16 Diane Lane, Unfaithful
17 Renee Zellweger, Bridget Jones’s Diary
18 Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich
19 Julie Christie, Away from Her
20 Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
21 Melissa Leo, Frozen River
22 Carey Mulligan, An Education
23 Annette Bening, Being Julia
24 Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace
25 Laura Linney, The Savages
26 Nicole Kidman, The Hours
27 Samantha Morton, In America
28 Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
29 Naomi Watts, 21 Grams
30 Joan Allen, The Contender
31 Halle Berry, Monster’s Ball
32 Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
33 Renee Zellweger, Chicago
34 Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
35 Kate Winslet, Little Children
36 Ellen Page, Juno
37 Meryl Streep, Doubt
38 Keisha Castle Hughes, Whale Rider
39 Diane Keaton, Something’s Gotta Give
40 Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
41 Kate Winslet, The Reader
42 Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
43 Juliette Binoche, Chocolat
44 Salma Hayek, Frida
45 Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
46 Charlize Theron, North Country
47 Angelina Jolie, Changeling
48 Judi Dench, Iris
49 Helen Mirren, The Last Station
49 Judi Dench, Mrs. Henderson Presents

Here’s how the actresses ranked alongside their co-nominees for a given year.

2000
Linney (6)
Burstyn (10)
Roberts (18) –> won the Oscar
Allen (30)
Binoche (43)

2001
Kidman (8)
Spacek (9)
Zellweger (17)
Berry (31) –> won the Oscar
Dench (47)

2002
Moore (2)
Lane (16)
Kidman (26) –> won the Oscar
Zellweger (35)
Hayek (44)

2003
Theron (3) –> won the Oscar
Morton (27)
Watts (29)
Hughes (38)
Keaton (39)

2004
Winslet (4)
Staunton (11)
Bening (23)
Moreno (24)
Swank (28) –> won the Oscar

2005
Knightley (15)
Huffman (33)
Witherspoon (40) –> won the Oscar
Theron (46)
Dench (49)

2006
Cruz (5)
Dench (7)
Streep (13)
Mirren (14) –> won the Oscar
Winslet (34)

2007
Cotillard (1) –> won the Oscar
Christie (19)
Linney (25)
Page (35)
Blanchett (41)

2008
Hathaway (12)
Leo (21)
Streep (36)
Winslet (41) –> won the Oscar
Jolie (47)

2009
Sidibe (20)
Mulligan (22)
Streep (32)
Bullock (45) –> won the Oscar
Mirren (49)

If AW gave the Oscars in the 2000s:

2000: Laura Linney, You Can Count On Me
2001: Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge!
2002: Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven
2003: Charlize Theron, Monster
2004: Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice
2006: Penelope Cruz, Volver
2007: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
2008: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
2009: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

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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), 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.