Best Supporting Actress
Nominees: Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine, Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle, Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave, Julia Roberts for August: Osage County, and June Squibb for Nebraska
Notable precursor wins: Lawrence wins BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards, while Nyong’o wins Broadcast Film Critics and Screen Actors Guild Awards
Current frontrunner: Jennifer Lawrence (by a hair)
Next in line: Lupita Nyong’o (super close behind)
Dark horse: June Squibb (way behind)
Wrapping up my “Get to know” series, we now have the final piece of the puzzle as we focus today on the Best Supporting Actress race. As you can see in the vital statistics above, the gentlemen making up this category are Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine, Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle, Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave, Julia Roberts for August: Osage County, and June Squibb for Nebraska. Two of these ladies are way out in front, with predictions split between them. One’s got to emerge victorious though, so which one will it be?
From the very first of the precursors, it’s been a back and forth between Lawrence and Nyong’o. They’ve split the important precursors evenly, while both also picked up critics group attention in a big way. They’re all but tied, which means that something’s gotta give. Will Academy voters go full steam ahead in making Lawrence their new Oscar darling or will they crown Nyong’o instead, embracing a new face? It could go either way folks, though the late momentum has ever so slightly favored Lawrence.
Now then, one of them has to win, right? By a slim majority, my colleagues seem to be predicting Nyong’o, but my gut feeling is that Lawrence pulls it out in the end. An absolute shock would have Squibb sneaking in at the last minute, but I wouldn’t count on that. A Nyong’o win wouldn’t surprise me in the least, but I’m seeing a Lawrence victory at this current juncture. We’ll know for a sure in just a few days though…
That’s it for these categories, so stay tuned for the Academy Awards on Sunday night to see what actually happens!
