Best Actress is consistently one of the most interesting categories in any Academy Awards ceremony. Not only is it usually far more interesting than its male counterpart—largely thanks to the abundance of rich female performances in any given year—but it has also presented some of the most exciting races in the ceremony’s history. FromKatharineHepburnversusBarbra Streisandin 1969 (to date, the first and last tie in Best Actress) toViola DavisversusMeryl Streepin 2012, Best Actress has been home to some brilliant showdowns that have gone on in Oscar history.
So far, the 2020s have been quite exciting for the Best Actress category. Five actresses have claimed the prestigious award this decade, and although the number is low, the quality of the work is everything but. Indeed, at least two of these performers have delivered career-best, emotionally resonant, and truly groundbreaking work that places them at the top level of the Best Actress rankings. Meanwhile, the other three range between “solid” and “quite good,” even if not necessarily the best in their respective years.This list will rank every Best Actress Oscar winner of the 2020s so far, considering the performance itself, its role in the film’s narrative and the actress' larger career, and how likely it is to stand the test of time.
5Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye Baker
Won Best Actress in 2022 for ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ (2021)
Jessica Chastain’s talent is beyond question. One of the most riveting and accomplished actresses of her generation, Chastain received two back-to-back Oscar nominations for her supporting performance in 2011’sThe Helpand her leading work in 2012’sZero Dark Thirty. However, she wouldn’t win her Oscar until almost a decade later, thanks to her portrayal of televangelist Tammy Faye Baker in the uneven 2021 biopicThe Eyes of Tammy Faye.
In broad terms,The Eyes of Tammy Fayeis classic Oscar bait, and Chastain is givinga classic Oscar-baity performance. Buried under piles of prosthetics and making a sincere effort to capture each of Faye’s well-known mannerisms,Chastain does her best to elevate an otherwise painfully average movie. Her efforts succeed, if only sporadically; indeed, the film around her is just too mediocre for her work to amount to anything else thanan admittedly impressive but ultimately hollow imitationof a real-life figure whose legacy lies somewhere between honesty and camp. Chastain is capable of so much more with the right material—her performances in movies likeA Most Violent YearandMiss Sloane, both of which would’ve been far better Oscar wins for her, are proof enough.Kristen Stewartmight’ve been the rightful winner of the 2022 Best Actress Oscar, butno true cinephile will complain about an actress of Chastain’s caliber having an Oscar—even if it’s for such a basic movie.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
4Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland
Won Best Actress in 2020 for ‘Judy’ (2019)
Renée Zellwegerhad one of the best acting streaks of the 2000s, receiving consecutive Oscar nominations for her work inBridget Jones’s Diary,Chicago, andCold Mountain, ultimately winning for the latter. However, her career took something of a tumble near the end of the decade, prompting the actress to spend much of the 2010s in relative silence. Thus, 2019’sJudywas touted as a long-awaited comeback for the actress, and many rightfully assumed her portrayal ofa figure as iconic asJudy Garlandwould translate into Oscar gold.
Much like Chastain,Zellweger settles for imitating rather than evoking. She does her best to embody Judy’s physical and emotional frailty, and she often succeeds. Especially in the scenes where the character is allowed more emotional freedom, Zellweger excels, coming dangerously close to overdoing it but never fully hamming it up. One can tell the actress is coming froma place of genuine respect for Garland, and while her performance isn’t exactly subtle, it is surprisingly apt at modulating the broader strokes. The 2020 Best Actress category wasn’t particularly strong, especially considering some of the year’s best female performances—mainlyLupita Nyong’o’s tremendous dual performance inUsandAwkwafina’s vulnerable work inThe Farewell—were painfully snubbed. Thus,Zellweger is a fine winner, even if her performance doesn’t exactly match the heights once achieved by its real-life subject.
3Frances McDormand as Fern
Won Best Actress in 2021 for ‘Nomadland’ (2020)
Three-time Oscar winnerFrances McDormandis already a living acting institution. The actress, who won her first two Oscars for her leading work in 1996’sFargoand 2017’sThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, has gained a reputation for playing strong, no-nonsense, often confrontational women who refuse to play by anyone else’s rules. Those traits are still present in her third Oscar-winning performance, but they are refreshingly turned on their head—along with McDormand’s on-screen persona.
Nomadlandis not exactly an approachable movie; it’s far too incisive and intimate to be considered “mainstream.” McDormand fits that approach witha performance so subtle it’s almost involuntary. What the actress does inNomadlandmight seem simple but it’s deceitfully challenging, portraying a woman who might very well be the mirror for countless people struggling to merely exist in a world that seems rigged against them. Many argue that a third Oscar for such an elusive portrayal might’ve been somewhat unwarranted, especially when her competition that year was incredibly strong and included truly brilliant performances likeAndra DayinThe United States vs. Billie Holidayand Carey Mulligan inPromising Young Woman. Indeed, 2021 was one of the strongest years for Best Actress in recent memory, butfew can argue that McDormand was undeserving of the gold.
2Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Quan Wang
Won Best Actress in 2023 for ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)
Michelle Yeohhas been working in Hollywood since the mid-90s. Starring in such classics as the Oscar winnerCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the actress became known as one of the defining action heroines in mainstream cinema. However, her career went to another level with her leading performance in The Daniels’ subversive, genre-bending absurdist dramedyEverything Everywhere All at Once.
A film that never settles with being just one thing,Everything Everywhere All at Onceis among the most originaland boundary-pushing pieces of art in modern cinema, and it all rests on Yeoh’s performance. As the overworked, overstressed, and underappreciated Evelyn Quan Wang,Yeoh is a revelation, simultaneously challenging and reveling in her action star persona while revealing layers upon layers of emotional depth within. Much like the film itself, Yeoh is multiple things at once in the role—brave, brutally honest, playful, silly, antagonistic, and tender. The actress dives head-first into a once-in-a-lifetime role that requires her to use every ace up her sleeve, and she lives up to the challenge.Yeoh’s win was historic, becoming the first Asian to win the Best Actress Oscar in the Academy’s nearly 100-year-old history. But beyond its meaning for representation, Yeoh’s victory represents the chance to seea veteran and hard-working actress receiving her much-deserved flowers for a career-best performancein a truly original movie.
1Emma Stone as Bella Baxter
Won Best Actress in 2024 for ‘Poor Things’ (2023)
In the pantheon of all-time great female performances,Emma Stone’s name has been all but cemented thanks to her career-best turn inYorgos Lanthimos' sci-fi comedyPoor Things. The actress plays Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life with the brain of a baby. As she rediscovers her identity and develops relationships with the world around her, Bella discovers a newfound passion for learning and discovers the true meaning of being alive.
Stone was already an Oscar winner, claiming the gold for her work inDamien Chazelle’s 2016 romantic musicalLa La Land. However, one look atPoor Thingsis enough for anyone to understand why the Academy chose to recognize her again. As Bella,Stone is delightfully unrestrained, playing the character withan unabashed gusto rarely seen in mainstream motion pictures. There’s something so wonderful and liberating in Stone’s daring performance that makes the audience an accomplice in Bella’s journey of self-discovery. Stone is wide-eyed and ever-curious,a true tornado of vibrancy and unassuming bravadothat elevatesPoor Thingspast its broader terms and into something genuinely meaningful and revelatory. Although she gets considerable help from heavyweights like a deliciously absurdMark Ruffaloand a surprisingly tenderWillem Dafoe, Stone isPoor Things' beating heart. Her Oscar win ranks not only as the best of the 2020s butone of the best of the 21st century.
