Best Supporting Actress Nominees

Samantha Morton, The Messenger

Samantha Morton is no stranger to the red carpet. This British actress has been nominated twice before—once for her role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Low Down and again for her work in Jim Sheridan's In America. Morton also starred alongside Tom Cruise in the action-thriller Minority Report.

In The Messenger, Morton plays Olivia Pitterson, a woman whose husband is killed during the war in Iraq. When military officials show up at her doorstep to notify her of her husband's death, one of the officers—played by Ben Foster—develops feelings for Olivia.