Melissa Leo

© 2010 Paramount Pictures

Melissa Leo, The Fighter *WINNER
Melissa Leo has already taken home top honors from the Hollywood Foreign Press for playing Alice Ward, the mother of boxing greats Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund in The Fighter. This is her second Oscar nomination. She was previously nominated for Frozen River.

Leo's career has spanned both television and film. On the small screen, she is best known for All My Children, The Young Riders and Homicide: Life on the Street. Leo's performance in films such as Frozen River and 21 Grams has garnered much critical acclaim.
Amy Adams

© 2010 Paramount Pictures

Amy Adams, The Fighter
She's played a princess and taken on Julia Child's famous cookbook, recipe by recipe. Now, Amy Adams' role as a tough bartender who helps her boyfriend become a champion boxer has earned her Oscar® nomination number three.

Since her big-screen debut in 1999’s Drop Dead Gorgeous, Adams has been winning over audiences and critics alike with roles in such films as Catch Me If You Can, Julie & Julia and Enchanted. Her portrayal of a pregnant wife in Junebug earned her an Independent Spirit award, a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination and her first Academy Award nomination. Adams' second Oscar nomination came in 2009 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Doubt.

Helena Bonham Carter

© 2010 The Weinstein Company 

Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
She's already walked the red carpet as a Golden Globe nominee for her role as Queen Elizabeth in The King's Speech. Now, Helena Bonham Carter's regal role is in the running for Oscar gold. This is Carter's second Oscar nomination. In 1998, she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar® for her performance in The Wings of the Dove.

This British actress has been wowing audiences since her breakthrough performance as Lucy Honeychurch in the 1985 film Room with a View. Though in her early career she was often typecast as a “corset queen,” in recent years Carter has appeared in such varied films as Fight Club, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and multiple Harry Potter films.
Hailee Steinfeld

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
One year ago, Hailee Steinfeld's biggest role was in a Kmart commercial. This year, she is among Hollywood's elite. The 14-year-old actress is blowing critics away for her performance in the Coen Brothers' adaptation of True Grit. Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross, a young girl who turns to a tough, heavy-drinking U.S. Marshal, played by Jeff Bridges, to track down her father's murderer. 
Jacki Weaver

© 2010 Sony Pictures Classics

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Jacki Weaver's role as the matriarch of a powerful Melbourne crime family who takes in her estranged grandson has earned this Australian actress her first Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.

An accomplished film and stage actress, Weaver has already taken home a number of awards for her work in Animal Kingdom, including three Australian Film Institute awards and a National Board of Review award.