The Oscar nominations were revealed earlier this week and the actress categories are looking strong. It will be hard to predict who is going to go home with an Oscar this year but let’s take a look at the contenders.

• Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs

Glenn Close gave a brilliant performance as a woman living as a male butler named Albert Nobbs in 19th century Ireland. She portrays the simple yet heartbreaking butler perfectly and probably because she played Albert Nobbs in 1982 on Broadway. Glenn Close has yet to win an Oscar despite being nominated multiple times. Could this be her year?

Viola Davis for The Help

Viola Davis played ‘Aibileen’, a black maid who helped bring up countless white children in her time working as “the help” for ungrateful white people who couldn’t be bothered to bring up their own kids, while struggling to cope with the untimely death of one of her own. She gave a subtle performance that was true and believable but whether it will be enough to win an Oscar, we’ll have to wait and see.

Rooney Mara for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Rooney Mara’s name seems to be in the air right now. She’s the third actress to play The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander. The American portrayal of the film has received some criticism but there is no denying that her performance was stellar, bad-ass and well worth the Oscar nomination she received. It would come as no surprise if  Miss Mara was crowned best Actress in a Leading Role.

Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep has previously received Oscars for her roles in Sophie’s Choice and Kramer vs. Kramer, but will she be third time lucky? The Iron Lady has been slated for being too soft on Thatcher and for skimming over her political career, which undermined Streep’s incredible performance. Has a poor plot-line ruined Streep’s chances at Oscar glory?

Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn

It’s been a year of big stars portraying iconic figures who have too much of a detailed life story to fit in to a two hour film. But if the rest of them took a leaf out of the My Week With Marilyn book, they’d do much better for focusing on one specific event in the lives of so many huge figures. Michelle Williams captured the spirit of Marilyn Monroe as if Monroe were possessing Williams herself. But will it be enough to secure a win?

• Actress in a Supporting Role

Bérénice Bejo for The Artist

The beautiful Bérénice Bejo stunned us all in her silent role  as Peppy Miller in The Artist, an absolutely incredible film reminding us of the brilliance of silent,black and white films before the talkies took over. The Artist is up for 10 awards, and Bérénice Bejo could be the winner of one of those.

Jessica Chastain for The Help

Jessica Chastain played a ditzy blonde married to a mostly absent but wealthy man in The Help. Unlike the rest of the white folk, she was not a bitch. Under her happy exterior was a traumatized woman who has had several miscarriages but hasn’t told her husband for fear he’ll leave her. Such a delightful character to watch on screen but Chastain is fighting for an award among heavyweights here.

Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids proved that women can create a film as insanely funny and full of hoemance as the bromantic The Hangover. Mostly because Melissa McCarthy was hilarious as the extremely butch Megan who, after getting food poisoning, has to empty her bowels into a sink. She deserves an Oscar for her Charlie Harper clothes and all the lols she gave us.

Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs

Glenn Close was no doubt amazing in Albert Nobbs, but Janet McTeer may have outshone her. Like Albert, she plays a woman disguised as a man but her performance was so charming and the way she carried her character was so believable, that it took me a few minutes to realize I wasn’t looking at a man, such was the standard of her acting. It’s one thing to upstage the lead and another when the lead is Glenn Close.

Octavia Spencer in The Help

There will be some tension with this category as Octavia Spencer faces off against Jessica Chastain for an Oscar. Octavia plays Minny a headstrong black maid with a take-no-shit attitude (or in her case give-them-shit attitude). She gives The Help a feisty heart and a deep soul, and plays a character who is full of dry humor. Jessica Chastain may have to watch herself as Octavia is a very strong contender for the title of best Actress in a Supporting Role.

• Which female Oscar nominees do you think deserve to take home the little gold man?

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