The Best Actress category for the 96th Oscars features five brilliant female thespians in five very different roles. Annette Bening (Nyad), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), and Emma Stone (Poor Things). Some are just gaining traction in the industry while others have been dazzling audiences for decades. Regardless, they all had that one outstanding performance that made audiences sit up and pay attention. Here are the 2024 Academy Award nominees for Best Actress and the roles that put them on the map.
Annette Bening | Bugsy (1991)
Nyad is the 65-year-old actress’s fifth career Oscar nomination, but it was another biopic that brought her to the forefront. From 1991, Bugsy is a stylish crime drama that focuses on gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and his vision for a desert oasis named Las Vegas. Bening is intoxicating as actress and mob moll Virginia Hill. Movie critic Eve Tushnet calls Benning’s work in Bugsy “phenomenal” and “worth watching for her alone”.
The highly combustive performance set the standard for a career full of them. It also proved her value as a strong female lead. 33 years later, Bening appears to only be improving with age.
Carey Mulligan| An Education (2009)
Carey’s breakout role occurred in 2009 with a Lone Scherfig picture titled An Education. Set in London in the early 1960s, An Education revolves around a 16-year-old girl (Mulligan) who is preparing to leave home and embark on her education at Oxford. Then the teenager suddenly meets a charming gentlemen stranger nearly twenty years her senior, which leads her to embark on an education of a different sort.
The coming-of-age film was well received, garnering three Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actress for Mulligan. This role demonstrated Mulligan’s ability to lead a cast and proved she could be of more service than just a nice piece of scenery.
Emma Stone | Easy A (2010)
Emma Stone made her screen debut in the 2007 comedy classic Superbad, however, it was her role in 2010’s Easy A that established her as a legit leading lady. Easy A, directed by Will Gluck, puts a modern spin on both 80’s teen flicks and Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Emma plays a high school girl named Olive who decides to disrupt the status quo by fabricating an impressive sex life. The only problem is that Olive has not fully considered her fictitious claims and must deal with the real-life ramifications.
Her stellar performance in the film proved that she could portray a character with genuine depth and lead a talented ensemble.
Lily Gladstone | Certain Women (2016)
Scorsese needed an actress to play Mollie in his movie Killers of the Flower Moon, someone who could could pack an emotional wallop but also possessed a forceful screen presence. Then the director remembered Gladstone’s work in a 2016 Kelly Reichardt film. Scorsese stated, “What I saw Lily do in Certain Women—how she commanded the space and the screen…that’s what I was looking for”.
Also starring Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart, Certain Women illuminates the intricacies of female single life in small-town Montana. Gladstone plays a young rancher named Jamie, a complex character who displays the emotive ambiguity that would later define Mollie Burkhart.
Sandra Hüller | Toni Erdmann (2016)
Anatomy of a Fall netted Hüller her first Oscar nomination and a second European Film Award for Best Actress. Her first win came in 2016 for her breakout performance in the film Toni Erdmann. Conceived and directed by German filmmaker Maren Ade, Toni Erdmann is a comedy/drama framed by an intriguing father/daughter relationship.
Hüller plays a character named Ines, a businesswoman who takes life way too seriously. That is until her prankish father (Peter Simonischek) decides to brighten it up with a kooky alternate persona named Toni. Ines is at first annoyed and dismayed at her dad’s antics but comes to see the value in them. It is a role that showcases both the actress’s incredible range and instincts.
READ NEXT: Magnolia (1999) | Movies to See Before You Die
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
