Best Supporting Actress Rankings 1993-2017
Article by Paul Douglas Moomjean
Supporting actress roles have by far the greatest variety in scope and age. Some actresses appeared for about 5-10 minutes, while others should have won best actress. Plus, there have been child winners and veterans taking their first awards. Plus, there was a time that Woody Allen in the ’90s was writing the award winner every other year.
Here are my rankings for the Best Supporting Actress Winners of the past 25 years.
1. 2016: Viola Davis (Fences)
Maybe the best performance of any actor or actress of the past 25 years.
2. 2014: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
She was the heart of Boyhood, and director Richard Linklater gave her the role of a lifetime, that took almost a lifetime to film.
3. 2017: Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
Was there a better comic turn in the past 25 years? Janney commanded every scene to perfection.
4. 2013: Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
The powerful performance Nyong’o gave was heartbreaking. Her journey was just as powerful as her male counterparts.
5. 1998: Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love)
Her screen presence was all she needed, and her last lines allowing Gwyneth Paltrow’s character to play the lead as a woman was acting 101.
6. 2008: Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Woody Allen writes complex and funny women, but here he created a role that tapped into Cruz’s sexuality in ways no one else could.
7. 2011: Octavia Spencer (The Help)
So much humor and warmth stems from Spencer in all her roles. Looking at her body of work, she is the greatest supporting actress on this list.
8. 1999: Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted)
The film that made her a star, Jolie oozes sexuality and teenage angst in the film that was supposed to be Winona Ryder’s breakout film.
9. 1993: Anna Paquin (The Piano)
Her performance stood toe to toe with Holly Hunter. Not an easy task.
10. 2009: Mo’Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)
If you looked up “fierce” in the dictionary, this performance would be the definition.
11. 2012: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)
Hathaway won everything that year, creating a bit of a backlash, but you can’t deny her powerful singing in the epic musical.
12. 1994: Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway)
She played a drunk, washed up star. The Oscar voters understood.
13. 2004: Cate Blanchett (The Aviator)
Martin Scorsese’s film was supposed to give Leonardo DiCaprio the Oscar, instead Blanchett stole the show.
14. 2003: Renée Zellweger (Cold Mountain)
She was the rootin’ tootin’ scene eating sidekick to Nicole Kidman, and her fiery demeanor was an easy home run hit.
15. 1995: Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite)
The hooker with the heart of gold was a Woody Allen fantasy girl. Sorvino never really found another role to match her ward winning role.
16. 2015: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
That year she gave an even better performance in Ex Machina.
17. 2002: Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago)
She sang. She danced. She was married to Hollywood royalty, Michael Douglas. How could she lose?
18. 2007: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
The intensity she brought kept the film going stronger and stronger.
19.2006: Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
She sang. She danced. She surprised the world she could act. How could she lose?
20. 2000: Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock)
Playing the romantic foil to Ed Harris, she created a round character with pain in her eyes.
21. 1996: Juliette Binoche (The English Patient)
She road the wave of a now universally unappreciated film. Looking back, do you even remember she won?
22. 2005: Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
While creating this list, I had forgotten she won, and this movie as a whole.
23. 2001: Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind)
This performance was considered somber and understated. I found it bland and underwhelming.
24. 1997: Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential)
To think they passed on Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights for this breathy sexpot cartoon.
25. 2010: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
I didn’t understand how yelling for two hours was called acting.
