Saoirse Ronan
Ok so we looked at the Hollywood actors that could be getting their hand on the best Actor gong at the 2010 Academy awards and today it’s the turn of the ladies.
Sadly 2009 hasn’t thrown up to many outstanding leading performances from actresses so far this year however there are one or two that could be in contention, and there is plenty of British interest.
Saoirse Ronan shot to fame with Atonement back in 2007, a role that brought her a best Supporting Actress nomination.
And she could be in the Oscar spotlight once again for her role in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.
She takes on the central role of Susie Salmon who is murdered and watches over her family from heaven as they try to deal with their grief and get justice.
2009 has been a quiet year for the actress, having had no movie releases since The City of Ember but The lovely Bones is already surrounded in Oscar whispers.
With The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and The way Back Ronan remains one the most exciting young actresses currently at work in Hollywood.
Emily Blunt has seen her star really rise over the last twelve months and her first major lead role in The Young Victoria has cemented her as one of the best British talents around at the moment.
The Young Victoria sees Blunt take on the role of Queen Victoria in the early years of her reign as well ass her romance with Albert.
Well met by the critics and Blunt’s central performance praised she does have an outside chance of grabbing a nomination.
But it’s busy, busy, busy for the actress in 2010 with The Wolfman and Gulliver’s Travels all on the agenda for the next year, which should see her establish herself further.
Carey Mulligan is another British talent that has enjoyed award success already for her outstanding performance in An Education.
An Education is a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.
Last weekend Mulligan was awarded the Best Actress gong at the British Independent Film Awards she was also named as the National Board of Review’s Best Actress early last week.
With all the award attention that has been coming her way she is possibly the early front runner for the Oscar.
Meryl Streep is always there or there abouts when the Oscars roll into town and, of course, it looks like 2010 will be no different.
She was the early favourite for the Best Actress award for her roll in Julie & Julia, which was released earlier this year.
It’s hard to believe that out of her fifteen Oscar nominations she has only picked up two but she could walk away with the prize this time around.
Julia Child (Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) - both of whom wrote memoirs - find their lives intertwined. Though separated by time and space, both women are at loose ends... until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.
Finally Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe could also find herself under the Oscar spotlight for her breakthrough performance in Precious, a movie which has been raved about on the festival circuit this year.
The film picked up Audience Award, Grand Jury Prize and the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and Gabourey has also picked up a Best Female Lead nod at the Independent Spirit Awards.
In Harlem, an overweight, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
Other actresses that could also be in with a shout at a nod include Hilary Swank for Amelia, Audrey Tatou for Coco Before Chanel and Natalie Portman for Brothers.
Tomorrow we take a look at the Best Supporting Actor Category.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in The Oscars Meryl Streep