Nominated for Best Actress in La La Land

Emma plays Mia Dolan, an aspiring actress who leaves her hometown to become an actress in Los Angeles. Likewise, after dropping out of school at the age of 15, Emma moved from her hometown in Arizona to LA to pursue an acting career. And much like Mia, her efforts paid off in the end, earning herself a title as one of Hollywood’s leading ladies.

Nominated for Best Actress in Florence Foster Jenkins

We’ve heard her belt out classic ABBA songs in Mamma Mia!, so we know she can carry a tune. In this film, based on a real like New York socialite with an opera-singing dream despite being tone deaf, Meryl had to sing off-key not just deliberately, but convincingly.

Plus, with 20 nominations, she holds the record for most nominations ever received by an actor. She has won three times.

Nominated for Best Actress in Elle

The critically-acclaimed French actress, 63, has appeared in over 100 TV and movie appearances, if she wins Best Actress this year, she’ll be the oldest winner in the category since 1990. Jessica Tandy won that year for “Driving Miss Daisy” at the age of 80.

Nominated for Best Actress in Jackie

According to the film’s producer, Darren Aronofsky, “Natalie makes you forget you’re watching Natalie. Somehow through her magic and voodoo, she can disappear into any role”. To transform into Jacqueline Kennedy, Natalie read countless articles, listened to tapes and watched newsreel footage to really get under the skin of America’s iconic First Lady.

Her co-star Billy Crudup, who plays a journalist in the movie, says, “When somebody is so possessed by their character and their work is so refined that you are literally transported and taken away by it, that is something unusual.”

Nominated for Best Actress in Loving

Ruth plays Mildred, one half of an interracial couple who get married despite anti-miscegenation laws in the state of Virginia in the 1960s. In real life, the Ethiopian-Irish actress herself is a product of a mixed-marriage.

Bonus fact: She acted in 2014’s Best Picture, 12 Years A Slave, although her scenes were ultimately cut from the movie.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Moonlight

Naomie had just three short days to film all of her incredible scenes, which she completed while in the midst of a press tour for James Bond. In her Oscar-nominated role, she plays a drug-addicted single mother in Miami. Thankfully, the actress did extensive research before filming, having watched tons of interview videos with crack addicts and speaking with a woman suffering from addiction.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Fences

And she won a Tony Award for it, too. In 2010, Viola and her film co-star, Denzel Washington, played the same characters in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Lion

In the movie, she plays a mother of an adopted child. In real life, Nicole is mum to two children, Isabelle and Connor, whom she adopted with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Hidden Figures

In a beautiful act of kindness, Octavia purchased every single ticket at an LA cinema over Martin Luther King weekend, giving low-income families a chance to see her movie. “My mom would not have been able to afford to take me and my siblings,” she said on an Instagram post, “So, I’m honoring her and all single parents this #mlkweekend”.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Manchester By The Sea

While she’s seen a few scenes of her award-nominated drama, the highly acclaimed actress has yet to view it in its entirety.

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