Previewing the Oscar Candidates: Best Actress in a Leading Role

The same people usually dominate the nominees for the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar with a newcomer or two crashing the party. There are only so many good Oscar roles for a leading lady so they usually go to the same people. Hopefully this year we'll see a few new faces but we will see some familiar faces as well. These are some of the performances this Oscar season that could be up for awards at next year's Oscars.

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Anne Hathaway has been a very promising actress for some time now. All she needed was an Oscar caliber movie to land a role in. Rachel Getting Married is not a movie that is going to be considered for many Oscars but is good enough to possibly get Anne Hathaway a nomination.

Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
The Oscar voters love movies about queens. It doesn't matter if it's Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth or any other queen. I wouldn't be surprised if some day an Oscar will be given to somebody starring in a biopic about Queen Latifah.

Kate Winslet, Revoultionary Road
Last time Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet joined forces she was awarded with an Oscar nomination and Leonardo Dicaprio wasn't. The only thing different about this year is that they'll both be nominated.

Keira Knightley, The Duchess
It's just not an Oscar season without a period piece by Keira Knightley. Maybe her career in blockbuster movies like The Jacket, Domino, King Arthur and the last two Pirates of the Carribbean weren't great but come Keira, surely you can do something other than period pieces well.

Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Frozen River is a very small movie and small movies usually get forgotten for Best Picture consideration. Fortunately an individual's performance in a small movie can stick around long enough to be considered, especially in the weaker women's categories.

Meryl Streep, Doubt
My only question about Meryl Streep is when in the world are they going to rename the Best Actress in a Leading Role the "Meryl Streep Award." She's only received one Oscar for Leading Actress but you know she should have won multiple times and the Oscar voters are just stingy.