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Oscar_bestactress.appFooter = "Miki Turner is a freelance writer/producer in Los Angeles and can be reached at dmiki@aol.com.";
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Oscar_bestactress[i-1].body = "The one thing you can say about Hollywood this year is that not only were there more opportunities for people of color to excel in front of and behind the camera, but there were a plethora of superior roles for women, too. This year’s best actress race is one in which all of the nominees are so deserving that it’s truly a shame they all couldn’t grab a piece of the golden boy.Helen Mirren could take his head, Meryl Streep could claim his torso, Kate Winslet could grab his right leg, Dame Judi Dench could have the left and Penelope Cruz could go home with an arm.
It would be all good.
All are household names so there’s no dark horse contender this year. All but Cruz have been to this dance before. They have 28 nominations between them and three wins — two for Streep and one for Dench. And, with the exception of those two wily veterans, all of the other nominees are up for what could potentially be career-defining roles. Sorry, Kate, never thought you were all that in “Titanic.”
But since the anatomically ambiguous Oscar can’t be ripped apart like the jumbo shrimp they serve at the Governor’s Ball, he’ll probably have to go to the woman who really worked it, turning in the year’s most unforgettable performance.
We all know who that is, but hey, anything can happen on Oscar night. Remember, Cuba Gooding Jr. is an Academy Award-winning actor.";
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Five minutes into “The Queen” I knew that it was all over for Meryl Streep.
Helen Mirren was so amazingly convincing in her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II that I immediately had to cast my vote for the devil wearing the hound’s tooth skirt. Mirren was not only impressive in her role, but her talent helped salvage a film that could have easily been dismissed as a sordid guilty-pleasure sensationalist flick about a fairytale princess who lost both her glass slippers and eventually her life.
A three-time nominee (“Gosford Park,” “Madness of King George”), this is Mirren’s first time up for best actress. Considering that she’s won just about every imaginable award leading up to the Oscars including the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award, there’s very little doubt that she’ll collect some new hardware for her trophy case on Feb. 25.
As fine as Streep’s performance was in “The Devil Wears Prada,” and as riveting as Dame Judi Dench, Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz were in their respective vehicles, none of them really faced the artistic and political challenges Mirren did in portraying a living character who just happens to be her reigning monarch.
The transformation into this character was seamless and engaging. She painted an intriguing portrait of a complex woman that few get to know. Not once did you feel you were watching an actress portray the Queen of England.
Mirren, who has also been honored for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in an HBO film, has proven that she is Hollywood royalty. It’s time for her to be crowned.";
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Meryl Streep has been nominated a record 14 times for an Academy Award. Her streak began in 1979 when she got a best supporting actress nod for her role in “The Deer Hunter.” Since then she’s been invited to the dance nearly every year, winning twice for “Kramer vs. Kramer” in 1980 and “Sophie’s Choice” in ’83.
If it weren’t for Mirren she might have been a strong contender this year, too, for her deliciously wicked turn as the boss from hell in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Although Streep can hardly be considered a sentimental choice since she already has a pair of Oscars, you always want to root for her at the Academy Awards. She always gives the wittiest and most articulate acceptance speeches; and it would be really cool to see her break four-time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn’s record for most wins of all time.
Since Streep just keeps getting better with age, there’s a good chance that she might. There’s time. Hepburn was 74 when she won her last one in ’81. ";
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There’s no doubt that Penelope Cruz will have people around the world pulling for her. She’s a first-time nominee, she’s a woman of color, and she took a chance and accepted one of those roles that could have missed the mark had she not had the chops to carry it.
The Spanish actress who has made a whole slew of forgettable movies, finally hit the mark with her compelling performance as a woman whose deep, dark secret is revealed by the ghost of her dead mother.
The stunningly beautiful Cruz makes you look past her beauty into the depths of her talent for perhaps the first time in a feature film with mass distribution. Hers is a very nuanced performance in which she gets to play with a plethora of emotions that you totally buy in to.
While the Academy deserves kudos for nominating Cruz, who is one of several Hispanic nominees this year, unfortunately she’ll have to be satisfied that she did get a nod — at least this year.";
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Kate Winslet has to be feeling like the Martin Scorsese of the Academy Awards. Four times she’s been nominated; four times she’s lost. Her fifth nomination for “Little Children” is well deserved, but it’s a film that would probably only appeal to a small portion of the voting Academy.
Her portrayal of a unhappily married woman who cheats on her husband is rich, but it might be too dark and convoluted for voters to really appreciate. Plus, she’s hard to like. On top of that Winslet’s fine performance is actually overshadowed by her costar and fellow nominee Jackie Earle Haley. He not only got a plum role but the Hollywood hype machine is in full throttle trumpeting his comeback from virtual obscurity.
So, while she won’t win, Winslet is to be applauded for her choices. She’s made all the right moves since her first nomination for “Sense and Sensibility” in '96 and its very likely that one day she’ll do the right film at the right time and be rewarded for it.";
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If for some reason Academy voters take leave of their senses and don’t vote for Helen Mirren, Dame Judi Dench would be my heir apparent. The six-time nominee who named best supporting actress in ’99 for the approximately eight minutes she appeared in “Shakespeare In Love,” deserves to be honored for more substantive work.
Dench was superbly brilliant in her role as a cantankerous, spinster school teacher on the brink of retirement who develops an unnatural attachment to a younger female colleague played by Cate Blanchett.
Yet even though she has an Oscar, as the oldest woman in this category and one who has not been rewarded adequately, Dench could very well play the role of the spoiler in this year’s race.
The battle of the Brits. Bring it on!";
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There are some folks who feel that Laura Dern got snubbed for her role in “Inland Empire,” but I think that the one performance that was totally overlooked this year was Gong Li’s turn as an empress having an illicit affair with her stepson the prince in “Curse of the Golden Flower.”
Li was flawless as the wife of a cruel and conniving emperor who used his wives own servants to slowly poison her. But methinks that most voters probably didn’t see this film and those that did are probably still reeling from her dismal performance in that horrid “Miami Vice.” To her credit, she didn’t have much to work with in that flop.
She’s a first-rate talent. She’ll get her nod some day."; // END editorial data