Winner: Kate Winslet
The Reader
Kate Winslet this year achieved the rare feat. Kate won two Golden Globes®—one for Best Actress for her role in Revolutionary Road and another for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Reader.
Kate is honored this year with an Oscar® nomination for Best Actress for her performance The Reader, which she plays a former Nazi prison guard on trial for war crimes.
Anne Hathaway
Rachel Getting Married
She began her career as a Disney princess in The Princess Diaries, and broke out in a big way as Lurleen in Brokeback Mountain. Subsequent roles in The Devil Wears Prada, Becoming Jane and Get Smart have made Anne Hathaway—whose acting has been compared to Audrey Hepburn's—a household name.
Her groundbreaking role in Rachel Getting Married, the story of a woman who returns from rehab for her sister's wedding, earns Anne her first Oscar® nomination.
Photo: Imagine Entertainment
Angelina Jolie
Changeling
Angelina Jolie first caught audiences' attention in the HBO movie Gia, which earned her an Emmy® nomination. A year later, her Oscar®-winning portrayal of a troubled mental patient in 1999's Girl, Interrupted proved she was here to stay.
In the decade since, she has racked up an impressive list of film credits that includes Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Good Shepherd. Angelina, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency, has also been widely celebrated for her humanitarian work.
In Changeling, which is based on a true story, Angelina plays Christine Collins, a woman whose son is kidnapped. Christine recognizes that the boy Los Angeles police returned to her is not her own, is branded unfit and committed to a psychiatric ward.
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics
Melissa Leo
Frozen River
Fans of the acclaimed TV series Homicide: Life on the Streets remember Melissa Leo for her gritty portrayal of Detective Kay Howard. Others may remember Melissa for her work as series regular on All My Children. In subsequent years, she has been recognized for her work in movies such as 21 Grams and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
This year, Melissa earns her first Oscar® nomination for her role in Frozen River as Ray Eddy, a poor single mother who smuggles illegal immigrants into the United States from Canada.
Meryl Streep
Doubt
One of the most celebrated actors of modern times, Meryl Streep has received 15 Oscar® nominations, more than any actor or actress in the history of the awards. She has won two—the first in 1982 for Best Actress in Sophie's Choice and the second for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer.
This year, Meryl took on the role of Sister Aloysius in the film adaptation of the John Patrick Shanley play Doubt. Set in the mid-1960s, Doubt focuses on the confrontation between Sister Aloysius and the parish priest she suspects of abusing a black student.
