In recent years, we have seen the likes of Patricia Arquette, Lupita Nyong'o, and Anne Hathaway win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in what have been rather one-sided fights for this major gong. Is 2016 going to follow a similar trend?
Rooney Mara in Carol
Personally, I would like to see all the actresses in the mix for the award as it goes down to the wire... and there look set to be some big names and great performances in the mix when the nominations are announced at the beginning of next year.
We take a look at some of the actresses that are already being tipped to be in the running - we will have to wait and see if they do indeed find themselves in the Oscar race.
- Rooney Mara - Carol
Carol is a movie that has had people raving since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and Rooney Mara would well find herself in the Oscar race once again.
Mara already has a Best Actress Oscar nod under her belt for her performance in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and a second does look to be coming her way. However, Mara could find herself in the Best Actress Oscar race rather than the Best Supporting Actress Oscar race - we will have to wait and see in which category her performance lands.
Mara is set to take on the role of Therese Belivet, a department store clerk who falls for Carol, an older and married women. The movie sees Mara star alongside Cate Blanchett for the first time as the Oscar winner takes on the title role.
Mara and Blanchett are joined on the cast list by Kyle Chandler and Sarah Paulson, while Todd Haynes is back in the director's chair. Carol is based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith and has been adapted for the big screen by Phyllis Nagy.
The central performances from Mara and Blanchett have been winning over the critics and have been considered early Oscar contenders ever since the movie premiered. We are going to have to wait to see is Mara and Blanchett are in separate categories or will go head to head.
- Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight
At one point, it looked like The Hateful Eight would not make it to the big screen when the script was leaked online at the beginning of last year. That doesn't seem to be enough to stop Quentin Tarantino, as he is set to return to the director's chair.
He has assembled another great cast and Jennifer Jason Leigh is one to watch out for come awards season. We have seen Christoph Waltz win two Best Supporting Actor Oscars in recent years for his work in Inglourious Basterds and Django and Leigh may follow in his footsteps.
Only one actress from a Tarantino movie has picked up an Oscar nod for her work and it is high time that we saw another get a nod. While Leigh has picked up a string of awards and nominations during her career, she has never been nominated for an Oscar.
The Hateful Eight will mark the first time that Leigh has teamed up with Tarantino as she takes on the role of Daisy Domergue in the film alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, and Tom Roth.
- Helena Bonham Carter - Suffragette
Helena Bonham Carter is one of the best British actresses of her generation and she could find herself in the Oscar mix once again for her role in the upcoming Suffragette.
Directed by Sarah Gavron, Suffragette is a movie that explores the early days of the feminist movement and is set to be one of the must see movies of the autumn. This is the type of movie that the Academy loves and it is already being tipped to be a major contender come awards season.
However, with Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep also on the cast, it will be interesting to see who will snag possible Oscar nominations. Will they all be recognised? Will someone miss out?
Bonham Carter is set to take on the real-life role of Edith New, a member of the Suffragette movement who broke the windows of prime minster H.H. Asquith in protest. Suffragette will mark the first time Bonham Carter has worked with director Gavron as she make her first live action feature since Brick Lane back in 2007.
Bonham Carter has already picked up Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations for her work on The Wings of the Dove and The King's Speech but she has never walked away with this major film prize. I personally would love to see her win.
- Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs
Kate Winslet is no stranger to the Oscar spotlight having been nominated five times before she finally won the Best Actress gong for her performance in The Reader. Now she may find herself in the Oscar race once again for her latest film Steve Jobs.
The Danny Boyle directed film is a biopic about Steve Jobs and Winslet is set to take on the role of Joanna Hoffman in the highly anticipated film.
The movie will see Winslet work with Boyle for the first time, while Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels make up the cast list of the awards friendly movie - we all know how much the Academy loves a biopic project.
The first trailer for Steve Jobs really did offer a lot of promise with some great actors appearing to be on top form - don't be surprised if we see this movie well and truly in the mix come the awards season.
We haven't seen Winslet in the Oscar mix since she won back in 2009 and it would be great to see her back in the mix once again. It would be her third nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category; she received a nod for Sense and Sensibility and Iris in 1996 and 2002.
- Julie Walters - Brooklyn
Julie Walters is one of the best actresses that this country has ever produced and it seems almost criminal that she has never won an Oscar for her work.
Walters has two nominations under her belt - Best Actress and a Best Supporting Actress nod for Educating Rita and Billy Elliot - and she could be in the running again for her role in the upcoming Brooklyn.
We won't see Brooklyn hit the big screen until the autumn but it is already one of the most acclaimed movies of the year so far having won over critics on the awards circuit.
Brooklyn, which is based on the book by Colm Toibin and directed by John Crowley, is widely expected to be a major awards player and Walters could well be in the mix for her role as Mrs Madge Kehoe in the film. Brooklyn is set to be the first time that we have seen Walters on the big screen since the success of Paddington at the end of last year.
John Crowley is in the director's chair for the first time since Closed Circuit, while Walters is joined on the cast list by Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, and Jim Broadbent. Brooklyn is set to be a film to really watch out for.
Other contenders include Rachel McAdams (Spotlight), Nicole Kidman (Genius), Elizabeth Olsen (I Saw The Light), and Rachel Weisz (Youth).