Best Actress in a Leading Role
HELEN MIRREN in THE QUEEN

See Final Predictions 5 /5 but that's no biggie. They'd all been locked up since early December
Readers Choice: 37% of you chose Helen Mirren as The Queen as the year's best performance.
See My Ballot 3/5 similar but it's a classy field. Best in years
Long Story Short: Helen Mirren is the biggest lock for a win since Titanic sank in 1997

Penélope Cruz Volver	Judi Dench Notes on a Scandal	Helen Mirren The Queen	Meryl Streep The Devil Wears Prada	Kate Winslet Little Children
40 Films first nomination	32 Films 6th nom / 1 win	45 films 3rd nom / first win!	34 Films 14th nom / 2 wins	19 Films 5 noms / 0 wins
Other Awards: EFA, Cannes Role: Raimunda, a working class woman in emotional crisis, her mother is back from the dead, her husband is suddenly gone	Other Awards: None Role: Barbara Covett, a desperately lonely and manipulative spinster teacher and closeted lesbian	Other Awards: Venice, NBR, GG , BFCA and 20+ Critics Prizes Role: Queen Elizabeth II, her legacy in doubt in the wake of Princess Diana's death	Other Awards: NSFC (supporting) Role: Miranda Priestley, icy demanding editor of "Runway" and boss from hell	Other Awards: None Role: Sarah Pierce, a young restless mother embarking on a careless affair with a neighborhood father
How'd They Get Nominated?
51% Performance + Surprise Attack. Oscar is historically kind to mediocre movie stars who are suddenly great in a movie 21% Her makeover into a Loren-style voluptuous earth goddess made for increased hotness and a perfect press hook. 20% High Profile Year -prizes at Cannes, Almodóvar retro tour and Pedro & Penélope both out working it 7% Role. It's tearful which is always a plus 1% Oscars new diversity trending	35% She's Dame Judi Dench. Oscar didn't notice until 1997. But they've nominated a third of her roles since 27% Performance -So good it got Blanchett nominated too 20% Role -Oscar loves crazy homos. They dig schoolteachers. Bingo 10% "You're not Young!" awesome histrionics. This film got juicy catfight 4% Casino Royale 3% She's a Dame and a Brit -they love both 1% Probably still making it up to her for 1997. Helen Hunt?	40% Performance. It's all about a woman making a small shift in her thinking -it all depends on Mirren 27% Role. You gotta play a real person if you wanna play with Oscar. Royalty is also usually strong bait 23% Reverential reviews, media and critics awards in lockstep 5% Extremely likeable and frank movie star. Probably stellar at the meet and greets 3% She's a Dame and a Brit -they love both 2% Hotness	37% She's Meryl Streep. The most nominated actor ever. She's nominated for 40% of her screen roles (no really, she is) -almost every other 33% Performance -big role but she plays it small. Smart woman 16% Role -memorable and fresh choice for a stellar career 7% Second biggest hit of career. They respect success 6% "That's All" -line reading and catch-phrase of the year 1% A Prairie Home Companion	38% Performance. Endearing vibrant take on a potentially unlikeable woman in a lesser actresses hands 32% She's Kate -the most frequently nom'ed young actress. They love her 13% Role -it's meaty. Breakdown in car big plus 5% Lack of competition for the fifth slot. Incredibly no one else got any traction to speak of 4% Madame Bovary 3% Hotness. Looks great on red carpet 1% British
Should Win / Will Win
Should Win: Cruz, Dench, and Streep are all on my ballot and my prize / vote went to Streep. Will Win: So difficult to predict this one. Anyone could win... KIDDING. I'd argue that Helen Mirren is the biggest lock since Titanic a decade ago. She's got the perfect ingredients for an Oscar win: hugely respected actor, playing a real life famous person, the whole film is about her face and the film isn't boring (so, you know: good job Helen), winning every precursor known to man, up against previous winners or young upstarts who the Academy feels might be honored later on, and she's the only actor in either lead category representing a Best Picture nominee. She's impossible to dethrone.
How'd I Do On My Predictions?
5/5 for 100% but almost everyone on the planet could've predicted this. No other actress campaigns took hold this year, despite a plethora of rich leading work. Best year for leading ladies in some time.
Who Got Robbed?
The general consensus is that no one got robbed this year. Most moviegoers and Oscar pundits are pleased with this rich and varied lineup and it is sweet to see a lineup so free of gimmick performances and so full of class. There are two women who you'll hear occassional mourning for. Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby) supporters can be justifiably frustrated that she's been churning our remarkable work for some years now and still hasn't caught Oscar's eye. Then there's the case of Laura Dern (INLAND EMPIRE). She was FYC'ed by her own eccentric director with a cow on the streets of California (bless) but she was never going to be recognized. AMPAS is an institution and institutions are by and large conservative things. It's an uphill battle for abstract 3 hour digital films, even one that's made by a legendary artist and stars a respected actress. But that's not to say that Dern wasn't deserving of the honors. She was.
Factoids / Trivias / Did You Knows?
CRUZ 32 years-old * Claims that she became an actress because of Victoria Abril's performance in Pedro Almodovar's Tie Me Up Tie Me Down! (Pedro started making features when Penélope was six. His first feature Pepi, Luci, Bom starred Carmen Maura who plays her mother in Volver * Has a very gossip friendly personal life having dated musicians and co-stars including Cruise, McConaughey and Damon. Her best friends are Salma Hayek and Goya Toledo (who American readers will know as the model in Amores Perros)	DENCH 72 years-old. The oldest and the shortest nominee. She's just a teensy bit shorter than Helen Mirren's 5'4" * Her late husband of 30 years, Michael Williams, was also an actor. Their last film together was Tea With Mussolini (99) * Has worked with two of the nominees: Helen Mirren (A Midsummer Nights Dream, 68) and Kate Winslet (Hamlet, 96 and Iris, 01) * Will make her 6th appearance as "M" in the Bond series next year	MIRREN 61 years-old. Childless by choice * Married to director Taylor Hackford (Ray) who directed her in White Nights * Her real name is 'Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov' * Regularly appears naked in films, most infamously in Caligula (79) and just this past year had a relatively steamy part in Shadowboxer in which she bedded Cuba Gooding Jr.	STREEP 57 years-old. Married for 28 years to Don Gummer whom she married just 6 months after her lover John Cazale (The Godfather, The Deer Hunter) died of cancer. Gummer & Streep have four children * Katherine Hepburn did not like her work. Hepburn holds record for the most Oscar wins (4). Streep for most Oscar noms (14) * Tied with Jack Nicholson for the most Golden Globe wins (6) * Paid $5 million for Prada * The only American in this acting category. She's from Jersey	WINSLET 31 years-old. The youngest actor to have ever received 5 nominations. But both Hilary Swank and Jodie Foster had WON two Oscars by this age. So, well, my point is: The Oscars can really suck * Gets Oscar nominated 26% of the time when she makes a feature. Not too bad, right. * the tallest nominee @ 5'8" * Is married to director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead). She has two children. One is from her first marriage * Her work in Eternal Sunshine is rumored to be her favorite