Did the Oscars Get It Right? Best Supporting Actress

Ok, mixing things up here. I want to do something Oscar related, so I figured I'd answer the age-old question: Did the Oscars get it right? But it's not really the age-old question because I'm only looking at the acting categories and I'm only looking at winners since the year 2000 (the year 2000!)

I'm only going back to 2000 because I'm not a film historian, 2000 is a nice, round number, and most of these nominees are still alive and working so joking about their wins and loses feels like it is ok for some reason. 

I'm going to look at four acting awards starting with Supporting Actress. I'm going to look at the five nominees and decide if they got it right or not. Right now, the four answers to that question are Yes, Probably, Debatable, and No. What's the difference between Probably and Debatable? I don't know! One last note: I'm not going to deal with performances that got snubbed because then this turns from a fun little exercise into A Thing. And I'm not here to do A Thing.

Let's get started with the weirdest of the acting categories: Supporting Actress, a place with random winners, It Girls, Old Ladies, performers who never were this good ever again, and the dumbest urban legend in Oscar history.

2000 Winner: Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock. Nominees: Judi Dench, Chocolat; Kate Hudson, Almost Famous; Frances McDormand, Almost Famous; Julie Walters, Billy Elliot.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. See this is why there is a distinction between Probably and Debatable. A lot of people think that Kate Hudson should have an Oscar for Almost Famous, but should she? She's never really hit this level again (although there is probably a think piece about why Matthew McConaughey was able to get out of Rom-Com land, while Hudson wasn't). Harden on the other has been nominated for multiple awards across film, tv, and stage. So, yeah, this was probably a good and deserved win. Harden is currently turning in a good (maybe great?) performance in So Help Me Todd over on CBS where she gets to be zany, smart, goofy, uptight, unhinged, sexy, steely, and so much more all while solving the case of the week. It's an interesting procedural is what I'm saying.

2001 Winner: Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind. Nominees: Helen Mirren, Gosford Park; Maggie Smith, Gosford Park; Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom; Kate Winslet, Iris. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. Look, you could make a case for any woman in this field, probably most strongly for Tomei, but we all know that Connelly won this award for Requiem for a Dream, but her statue happens to say A Beautiful Mind on it. Eh, sometimes that happens.

2002 Winner: Catherine Zeta-Jones; Chicago. Nominees: Kathy Bates, About Schmidt; Julianne Moore, The Hours; Queen Latifah, Chicago; Meryl Streep, Adaptation..

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. We tend to forget just how big a star Zeta-Jones was because she hasn't released a movie since 2016(?!) but there was a time when she was at the pinnacle of Hollywood and I guess Chicago was the peak of the mountain for her. So I can see why she won, but is Velma a supporting role or a co-lead? Also, what happened to nominating two performers from the same project for the lead award? Also, Kathy Bates and Meryl Streep are right there with really good performances in good movies. See, I told you there was a difference between Probably and Debatable! 

2003 Winner: Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain. Nominees: Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog; Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April; Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River; Holly Hunter, Thirteen.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. This was almost a "Probably", but none of the other performances pop or are thought of fondly today. Zellweger was the best (or just most memorable?) part of movie that was well respected at the time, and she had lost an Oscar the year prior, so yeah, sure this feels right.

2004 Winner: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator. Nominees: Laura Linney, Kinsey; Virginia Madsen, Sideways; Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda; Natalie Portman, Closer.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. No disrespect to Blanchett, who is one of the best actors around. But Virginia Madsen should've won for Sideways.

2005 Winner: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener. Nominees: Amy Adams, Junebug; Catherine Keener, Capote; Frances McDormand, North Country; Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. Weisz was really good in this John Le Carré adaptation. But so was Keener in Capote. But so was Williams in Brokeback Mountain. You could go any of those three directions and give the award to deserving winner.

2006 Winner: Jennifer Hudson Dreamgirls; Nominees: Adriana Barraza, Babel; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal; Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. No notes on this one. Ok, fine, you can quibble that Hudson won because she nailed her songs, but that's part of acting, depending on the project. A deserved win.

2007 Winner: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton. Nominees: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There; Ruby Dee, American Gangster; Saoirse Ronan, Atonement; Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. Swinton nails this role. Some interesting nominees this year (2007: A good year for film!), but she's the clear winner.

2008 Winner: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Nominees: Amy Adams, Doubt; Viola Davis, Doubt; Taraji P Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. I love Doubt. I think the script for it is phenomenal and gives actors so much room to play and explore. It shows because all four principal cast members got Oscar nominations for their work. Tomei was also excellent in The Wrestler as an aging stripper, giving a performance that dovetailed with the work Mickey Rourke did in that film. But Cruz in VCB? She's pretty tough to go against. I could see changing the results here, but I can also see leaving things as they were.

2009 Winner: Mo'Nique, Precious. Nominees: Penélope Cruz, Nine; Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart; Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. Precious probably hasn't aged well, but it was a force and Mo'Nique was the most forceful thing in it portraying a truly monstrous mother. So, yeah, it was probably the right call. Although, I could hear an argument for either performer from Up in the Air.

2010 Winner: Melissa Leo, The Fighter. Nominees: Amy Adams, The Fighter; Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech; Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit; Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Um... Probably. Wow, this is a tough one. These are all pretty good performances, but this is maybe the weakest field of nominees in this exercise. It's certainly fighting with '01 and '03 for that title. The thing I recall most from this Oscar race was the Melissa Leo ran her own "Consider" campaign for the award and that was a controversy for some reason, which kind of sums up the silliness of awards. But I guess you could swap Leo for Adams or Steinfeld without ruffling too many feathers. 

2011 Winner: Octavia Spencer, The Help. Nominees: Berenice Bejo, The Artist; Jessica Chastain, The Help; Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids; Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. So this one comes down to Spencer and McCarthy and the question of why don't we give out awards for comedies? I think you can make a very well reasoned case for giving the Oscar to McCarthy and we should be giving more awards to comedy performances because making people laugh is hard, dammit. But if we take away Spencer's Oscar here, we're going to have to give her something for one her two upcoming nominations. A three-time nominee shouldn't go home empty handed.

2012 Winner: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables. Nominees: Amy Adams, The Master; Sally Field, Lincoln; Helen Hunt, The Sessions; Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. Hathaway has some stiff competition in this field, but I think her role as Fantine deserved the win.

2013 Winner: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave. Nominees: Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine; Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle; Julia Roberts, August: Osage County; June Squib, Nebraska.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. No question about this one, Lupita Nyong'o deserved her Oscar. I know I said I wasn't going to talk about snubs, but Nyong'o being snubbed for  Us was criminal.

2014 Winner: Patricia Arquette Boyhood. Nominees: Laura Dern, Wild; Keira Knightly, The Imitation Game; Emma Stone, Birdman; Meryl Streep, Into the Woods.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. Ok, confession time: I didn't like Boyhood. I was impressed by the ability to maintain the production over the years, but I didn't really find much to like about the actual movie itself, which seemed to take "Huh, my parents have problems and tried their best, I guess" to be some grand meaning-of-life revelation. I think Emma Stone could have and should have been the winner this year.

2015 Winner: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl. Nominees: Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight; Rooney Mara, Carol; Rachel McAdams, Spotlight; Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. Maybe this is a case of right performer, wrong performance. If this Oscar were for Ex Machina, then no one complains, but The Danish Girl is, um, not good. Vikander as Ava in Ex Machina? Mysterious, alluring, charming, unknowable, terrifying. Alas. If I have to pick a winner from among the nominated performances, I think this is a race between Mara and Leigh, although McAdams does nice understated work in Spotlight. Maybe all these other performers negated each other and that's how Vikander got the award.

2016 Winer: Viola Davis, Fences. Nominees: Naomie Harris, Moonlight; Nicole Kidman, Lion; Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures; Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. But maybe there was category fraud? This is tough because when Mary Alice originated the role on Broadway, she won the Tony for Featured Actress. Ok, it's the right category. HOWEVER, Viola Davis played the role in a revival on Broadway and won the Tony for Lead Actress. I don't know. Look, it's a game, and Davis played it to get her Oscar. The only downside is that Michelle Williams' supporting turn in Manchester by the Sea which features a scene that is guaranteed to make me cry goes unrewarded.

2017 Winner: Allison Janney, I, Tonya. Nominees: Mary J Blige, Mudbound; Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread; Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird; Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. I'm not one to begrudge Janney, I grew up on The West Wing and I am firmly on CJ Cregg's side. But... Laurie Metcalf was right there. And, honestly, Lady Bird is the better film. I vote for Metcalf.

2018 Winner: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk. Nominees: Amy Adams, Vice; Marina de Tavira, Roma; Emma Stone, The Favourite; Rachel Weisz, The Favourite. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. This was the right choice. If Beale Street Could Talk probably deserved more love than it got.

2019 Winner: Laura Dern, Marriage Story. Nominees: Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell; Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit; Florence Pugh, Little Women; Margot Robbie, Bombshell.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. Look, this one is a career achievement award, I think. There's nothing wrong with getting a career achievement Oscar. You have to do a lot of good work to get one! But I think maybe Florence Pugh as Amy March was a bit more deserving for this individual performance. Bookmark the 2019 Oscars as a ceremony where I might be eating my words about career achievement Oscars because I think you could argue all the acting winners that year were for career achievement.

2020 Winner: Yuh-jung Youn, Minari. Nominees: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy; Olivia Colman, The Father; Amanda Seyfried, Mank. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. I could understand an argument for Colman, but Minari was such a beautiful film and Youn was a big part of its success with her role as the grandmother.

2021 Winner: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story. Nominees: Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter; Jude Dench, Belfast; Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog; Aujanue Ellis-Taylor, King Richard.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. Of course, the Oscars got this right. Anita is a great role and it makes sense that two powerhouse performers have won Oscars for it. 

2022 Winner: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Nominees: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Hong Chau, The Whale; Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin; Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. This one should've gone to Angela Bassett. Wakanda Forever works as both a superhero movie and as a meditation on grief and Queen Ramonda shines in both aspects of the film.

So what did we learn? The Best Supporting Actress category has a better track record than I thought! I've got 9 yes, 5 probably, 5 debatable, and 4 no. Not bad, Academy. I also found that Debatable was more interesting  category than Probably. Cool, cool, cool. Tomorrow (or maybe Wednesday) I'll do the same thing for Best Supporting Actor.