Every Best Actress Oscar Winner Of 21st Century, Ranked Worst To Best
25. Sandra Bullock – ‘The Blind Side’ (2009)
The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions. Sandra Bullock’s Oscar win is the Academy at its most misguided. Why? This is just a feel-good fantasy that flattened complex racial realities into something palatable. Bullock, though always charming, was handed a role soaked in white savior tropes. Worse, she won over Gabourey Sidibe’s soul-searing performance in ‘Precious.’ In hindsight, this win feels less like celebration and more like cinematic penance for the Academy’s blind spots. It wasn’t just a mistake, it was a misreading of the moment.
24. Nicole Kidman – ‘The Hours’ (2002)
Nicole Kidman wore a prosthetic nose and the weight of literary genius in ‘The Hours.’ But while her Virginia Woolf was haunted and technically immaculate, it lacked the pulse of her other roles. In a decade where Kidman shattered herself into unforgettable characters, it’s tragic that this was the one deemed “worthy.” She deserved the Oscar, just not for this.
23. Mikey Madison – ‘Anora’ (2024)
It’s early days, and Mikey Madison is still carving her legend. But her turn in ‘Anora’ is a jolt of electricity—raw, daring, heartbreaking. Madison dances through absurdity and anguish like someone born to perform. This isn’t a masterwork, and her Oscar sparked controversy, but let’s not forget her thrilling promise.
22. Meryl Streep – ‘The Iron Lady’ (2011)
This was not Meryl Streep’s fault. She is one of the greatest Hollywood actresses, but the film and maybe the Academy failed her. Streep delivered Margaret Thatcher with uncanny precision, but ‘The Iron Lady’ buried her brilliance in muddled politics and sentimental schmaltz. It remains a master class, wasted on a muddle.
21. Kate Winslet – ‘The Reader’ (2008)
This role felt like an Oscar checklist: Holocaust guilt, illicit love, and long-suffering stares. Kate Winslet gave it her all (as she always does), but ‘The Reader’ was more calculation than catharsis. Her best work, oddly enough, remains unrewarded (‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,’ anyone?).
20. Jessica Chastain – ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye' (2021)
Jessica Chastain might’ve lost her star power when putting on Tammy Faye’s lashes and pain, but the film never quite caught up. It marveled at its subject, sure, but failed at truly understanding her. Yet, Chastain is radiant, maybe too much so for the thin script surrounding her.
19. Reese Witherspoon – ‘Walk the Line’ (2005)
We all know Reese Witherspoon can do Southern charm in her sleep. But in ‘Walk the Line,’ she added steel and fear and trembling hope. Still, the role was more supporting than central, and one suspects the win was as much for her career’s promise as for this one performance.
18. Renée Zellweger – ‘Judy’ (2019)
A comeback, a resurrection, a swan song. Renée Zellweger sangJudy Garland’s blues with trembling vulnerability. The film, however, often mistook imitation for insight. The voice was Judy’s, but the soul remained just out of reach in this biopic.
17. Frances McDormand – ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ (2017)
Frances McDormand lit this film like a flare in the night…you know, bright, hot, and impossible to ignore. But the movie’s tonal whiplash left her character spinning in contradiction. Still, she gave pain a voice. And it screamed in ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.’
16. Emma Stone – 'La La Land’ (2016)
She dreamed a dream, and we believed her. Emma Stone turned a Hollywood archetype into something intimate and trembling in ‘La La Land.’ Her eyes carried a thousand rejections, and when she sang ‘The Fools Who Dream,’ she sang it for all of us.
15. Jennifer Lawrence – 'Silver Linings Playbook’ (2012)
At just 22, Jennifer Lawrence held her own against titans and made volatility magnetic. Her Tiffany in 'Silver Linings Playbook’ wasn’t merely a diagnosis, she was a beating heart. Lawrence’s chaos was utterly human in the garb of clinical. A revelation of talent, even if the film didn’t deserve her.
14. Olivia Colman – ‘The Favourite' (2018)
She wheezed, waddled, sobbed, shrieked. And somehow, she made us love her for it. Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne was grotesque and glorious, tragic and hilarious. In ‘The Favourite.’ It wasn’t just acting, it was magic.
10. Frances McDormand – ‘Nomadland’ (2021)
This performance by Frances McDormand was about presence. The actress embodied the soul of everyone who’s ever lost something, yet kept going in the well-deserved Academy Awards darling, ’Nomadland.’
13. Hilary Swank – ‘Million Dollar Baby’ (2004)
You felt every punch, every hope, and very betrayal of the body in ‘Million Dollar Baby.’ Hillary Swank fought her way to the top, and then fell harder than we could bear. She was brave, broken, and blazingly alive.
12. Halle Berry – ‘Monster’s Ball’ (2001)
The only Black woman to ever win Best Actress, and what a golden win. Halle Berry gave us pain so real it blistered. Leticia’s grief was ugly, trembling, and true. The moment may have been historic, but the performance in ‘Monster’s Ball’ was timeless.
11. Brie Larson – ‘Room’ (2015)
In a role that could’ve been overplayed or melodramatic, Brie Larson found quiet heroism. She was a mother, a prisoner, a survivor in ‘Room’ based on Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel. And when Larson screamed into that truck, she broke something in all of us.
9. Marion Cotillard – ‘La Vie en Rose’ (2007)
Marion Cotillard didn’t just play the charming French musician Édith Piaf, she summoned her. Watching the metamorphosis was breathtaking, and the actress’ breakdowns operatic. Cotillard more than acted the music, it seemed as if she was bleeding it.
7. Julia Roberts – ‘Erin Brockovich’ (2000)
There’s a reason behind this true movie star performance. Julia Roberts didn’t just embrace whistleblower Erin Brockovich, she dominated the role. She turned the real-life woman into a force of nature against the powers that be, and converted the audience into believers.
6. Cate Blanchett – ‘Blue Jasmine' (2013)
You wanted to look away, and couldn’t. Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine unraveled like fine silk slashed by a blade. Of course, her descent was brutal. But we can’t deny that the acting was absolutely sublime.
5. Helen Mirren – 'The Queen’ (2006)
Helen Mirren showed us a monarch in mourning in this period drama. The grief was not just for Princess Diana, but for a world slipping away. With restraint and razor-sharp poise, the legendary actress made stillness sing.
4. Charlize Theron – ‘Monster' (2003)
This wasn’t transformation, it was transcendence. The ever-gorgeous Charlize Theron disappeared behind the role of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, and what emerged was humanity’s ugliest, loneliest cry for love.
3. Emma Stone – ‘Poor Things’ (2023)
She walked like a toddler, spoke like a scholar, and danced like the gods. Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter is a miracle of contradiction based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, and perhaps the character is the bravest performance ever put on film.
2. Natalie Portman – ‘Black Swan' (2010)
Natalie Portman transformed herself into the White Swan, then shattered her peace to become the Black Swan, every terrified inch in between. Art demanded sacrifice, and she gave it everything in this career-definining performance.
1. Julianne Moore – ‘Still Alice’ (2014)
At the summit, there is mostly silence, in this brilliant adaptation of Lisa Genova’s 2007 book. Julianne Moore’s Alice isn’t loud, she doesn’t wail or rage. If you look closely, you understand she simply fades—with dignity, terror, and grace. Watching her go, we feel a thousand tiny deaths. And yet, in the soft murmur of her voice, in the quiet collapse of a brilliant mind, we witness the most human thing of all: the courage to say goodbye to yourself.
