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Get Ready for the Oscars! A Closer Look at This Year’s Best Actress Nominees
The 98th Academy Awards are just around the corner, set to dazzle us on Sunday, March 15th! Before the big night, let’s take a moment to shine a spotlight on the incredible talent vying for the coveted Best Actress Oscar. We’ve got a fantastic lineup of performances that have captivated audiences and critics alike.
From gripping dramas to darkly comedic turns, these five women have truly delivered. Get ready to dive into their nominated roles and hear a bit about their journeys to the silver screen!
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Jessie Buckley delivers a powerful and deeply moving performance as Agnes, William Shakespeare’s wife, in “Hamnet.” This adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel explores the fictionalized story of the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, and how it might have inspired his timeless play, “Hamlet.” Buckley’s emotional depth grounds the narrative, transforming a historical tragedy into a universal tale of pain, grief, and ultimately, acceptance.
This isn’t Buckley’s first brush with Oscar buzz, having previously been nominated for “The Lost Daughter.” Her career trajectory is fascinating, starting on the British talent show “I’d Do Anything,” where Andrew Lloyd Webber famously praised her “sacred flame of star quality.” From there, she conquered the stage, including Shakespearean roles, and has graced our screens in films like “Wild Rose” and “Women Talking,” as well as the TV series “Fargo.”
Buckley shared with “Sunday Morning” how Shakespeare’s words transformed her artistic expression, providing a powerful outlet beyond music. For “Hamnet,” she embraced an immersive approach, retreating to London’s Hampstead Heath to swim daily before filming difficult scenes like her character’s child’s death.
The result? A performance that radiates both fierce intensity and tender vulnerability.
Director Chloé Zhao (an Oscar-winner herself for “Nomadland”) reminded Buckley that cinema is more than just escapism. As Buckley puts it, “Our jobs as actors and the storytellers are to touch the most heightened expressions that are too hard to hold on our own.”
“Hamnet” is a strong contender this year, racking up 8 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
While many know Rose Byrne for her hilarious turns in comedies like “Bridesmaids” and “Spy,” she completely transforms in writer-director Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” delivering a devastating dramatic performance as a woman pushed to her absolute limit.
Byrne plays Linda, a working mother whose life spirals with one hardship after another: a severely ill child requiring a feeding tube, a plumbing disaster that forces her into a questionable motel, all while her husband is out of town. Even her therapist (played by a surprisingly serious Conan O’Brien) offers little solace.
In a candid chat with “Sunday Morning,” Byrne described Bronstein’s script as unlike anything she’d ever read. “My gut reaction, I still remember, like, what I read really reflected the film you see in that it’s, like, disorienting.
You’re like, where am I? What’s happening?
Who’s this character? And slowly more information comes in and so it’s compelling.
I was intrigued. And then there was a lot of horror in there too, but then there was very dark comedy – like I could find places to laugh.”
Byrne and Bronstein spent weeks meticulously dissecting the screenplay, with Bronstein openly sharing her own experiences to help shape Linda’s complex character. Byrne found the process “fun,” exploring Linda’s deep-seated hostility and how it differed from her own reactions to crisis.
This powerful portrayal has earned Byrne her first Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe win. Despite the accolades, Byrne remains grounded: “All I can control is what I did between action and cut.
And I can put effort into other stuff, but that’s what I love, and that’s the moment that I love the most. And it’s mine, you know?”
Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”
Could a “CBS Sunday Morning” profile be the secret ingredient to an Oscar nomination? For Kate Hudson, it just might be! She’s earned a nod for her role in the musical biopic “Song Sung Blue,” which tells the true story of Mike and Claire Sardina, a husband-and-wife duo who found fame as the Neil Diamond tribute act, Lightning & Thunder.
Back in April 2024, “Sunday Morning” featured Hudson and her blossoming music career, including her album “Glorious.” Hugh Jackman, who was developing “Song Sung Blue” with writer-director Craig Brewer, saw the segment and immediately texted Brewer: “Kate Hudson is Claire.
Claire is Kate.” Brewer’s response?
“Oh my God, perfect.”
Hudson gushed about the script for “Song Sung Blue” in an extended “Sunday Morning” interview, calling it an “epic” reminiscent of beloved films. “It had so many themes about love.
Great love story, but it’s also a love story to family, and to music, and to fandom. And then, inside of this big love story is just, like, these people who have so much resilience and grit.
And I was like, I don’t get to see these very often.”
Hudson, previously nominated for “Almost Famous” (where she played a “band aide,” not a groupie!), acknowledged the challenge of breaking free from the rom-com mold. “I think that the second I became famous as the Andie Anderson ‘How to…’ girl and rom-com kind of success, getting out of how people want to see you in that light – especially as a woman – is really hard, is very challenging.”
When it comes to her singing, both as Claire and the artists Claire impersonates, Hudson shared, “I don’t see my voice as like the greatest technical instrument, but in terms of performance, I can change my voice. I can change it to what the character is demanding of my voice…
The hardest thing for me was finding my own voice.” She clearly enjoys stepping into other musical shoes, though: “I love singing as Patsy.
I wish I had, like, two more Patsy Cline songs!”
Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”
Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve became an international sensation in 2021 with her captivating performance in Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World.” Now, she’s garnered her first Academy Award nomination for her role in “Sentimental Value.”
Reinsve, who describes herself as a “nerdy girl” from rural Norway, initially struggled to find film work despite a strong theater career after studying at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. A decade after her film debut in Trier’s “Oslo, August 31st,” she was ready to give up on acting altogether. Then, Trier called with a part he’d written just for her – a stroke of fate that led to her Cannes Film Festival Best Actress win for “The Worst Person in the World.”
She now reunites with Trier for “Sentimental Value,” playing Nora, an emotionally fragile actress estranged from her father, Gustav (who also earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Stellan Skarsgård). Their reunion after Nora’s mother’s death unravels a complicated family history. Trier praises his 38-year-old star, saying, “The camera can read her mind.”
Reinsve told “CBS Saturday Morning” that allowing that level of vulnerability for the camera is “a lot of work.” She relishes the challenge of layering emotions: “I have all these layers that I want to play up against each other, and for me it’s like a puzzle.
It’s always fun. Even though I’m playing grief or something, I try to find as many layers.”
At the New York Film Festival premiere, Reinsve distinguished Nora from her previous character, Julie, in “The Worst Person in the World”: “Julie was very naive and open and free and in an environment that that was a lot freer. This is more contained, and Nora carries a lot more emotional weight.”
She particularly enjoyed exploring Nora’s extreme self-doubt and stage fright, drawing inspiration from seeing others experience panic. “I personally love playing panic scenes. And finally, to get to do something that had humor in it was really great.”
“Sentimental Value” is a major contender, with nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best International Feature Film.
Emma Stone, “Bugonia”
For Emma Stone, Greek writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos has become a steadfast creative partner. Following their collaborations on “The Favourite” (2018), “Poor Things” (which earned Stone her second Academy Award), “Kinds of Kindness,” and other projects, their latest venture is “Bugonia.” This black comedy plunges Stone into a battle of wits with two rather dim-witted kidnappers.
Stone plays Michelle Fuller, a high-flying Big Pharma executive who becomes the target of conspiracy theorists Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis. They’re convinced her company is destroying the Earth and that Michelle herself is an alien orchestrating a global plot to end the world.
At a Venice Film Festival press conference, Stone expressed her deep appreciation for their working relationship: “It’s clear that I love working with Yorgos and I love the material he’s drawn to and the characters he explores.” The familiar team on “Bugonia” also created a “comforting and safe environment to explore and feel as free as possible,” she added.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight alongside co-star Jesse Plemons, Stone detailed Michelle’s self-perception as a hero. “I think that Michelle’s modus operandi is to improve upon civilization through science.
So obviously, in the pharmaceutical world, in many ways, in our real world, this has been done, and also can be incredibly challenging, tricky, and have negative effects. But I think that her belief is that she is contributing to the greater good of humanity, and helping, or at least attempting, to help save lives.”
Stone also discussed with The Associated Press the fascinating challenge of portraying a ruthless corporate executive who uses corporate jargon to feign humanity. She found it “really fascinating, to learn how to sort of give the illusion of humanity and connection, but done in a way that’s obviously allowed through HR.”
“Bugonia” has secured four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.