Every year, Academy Awards voters honor twenty performers for their achievements. The four acting categories – lead actor, lead actress, supporting actor, and supporting actress – are typically quite competitive, which leads to a number of deserving people snubbed in favor of other talent. Every year of Oscar nominees brings with it a handful of new faces who have never before been nominated. In the impressive cinematic year that was 2021, here are ten actors who may be considered for the first time.
1. Kristen Stewart in Spencer
Early in her career, Stewart was best known for a breakthrough role in Panic Room and as Bella Swan in the Twilight movies. A collaboration with director Olivier Assayas on 2014’s Clouds of Sils Maria got her Oscar buzz but no nomination, and she won over filmgoers with her work in another Assayas film, 2016’s Personal Shopper. She’s prominent and visible in action films like the Charlie’s Angels remake and the holiday comedy Happiest Season, and she continues to tackle dramatic parts in films like Lizzie and Seberg. But it’s her astonishing transformation into Princess Diana in Spencer that seems all but guaranteed to land her an Oscar nomination – and maybe even a win – this year.
2. Peter Dinklage in Cyrano
If it seems like Dinklage has already won an Oscar, that’s because he’s been celebrated frequently at the Emmy Awards, winning a whopping four prizes for playing Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones. While Dinklage was indeed terrific on the show, his career has hardly been confined to just one defining part. Nearly two decades ago, he impressed in The Station Agent, and he’s shown up in the ensembles of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and I Care a Lot. His work in festival sci-fi hits like I Think We’re Alone Now and Rememory is also worth noting. Now, he’s starring in a musical as the famous Cyrano de Bergerac, a role that won José Ferrer an Oscar back in 1950 and earned Gérard Depardieu a nomination in 1990.
3. Kirsten Dunst in The Power of the Dog
Dunst burst onto the scene at a young age with a standout turn in 1994’s Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. She followed that up with a range of roles, from entertainment in Bring It On to much more serious drama in Melancholia. She’s found time to anchor TV shows, starring in season two of Fargo and Showtime’s recently-cancelled On Becoming a God in Central Florida. This year, Dunst is likely to be on the Oscar ballot for the first time for her portrayal of a fiercely protective mother in 1920s Montana with a truly unfriendly brother-in-law, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
4. Jesse Plemons in The Power of the Dog
Who better to join Dunst as a first-time Oscar nominee than her onscreen husband and real-life partner Plemons? Dunst’s fiancé and the father of their two children was her costar in Fargo, but he was already a TV mainstay with memorable roles on Friday Night Lights and Breaking Bad. His transition to film has been very much worth watching, with key parts in The Irishman and Judas and the Black Messiah, and a haunting lead performance in I’m Thinking of Ending Things. His subtle turn in The Power of the Dog as a stoic rancher shouldn’t be underappreciated.
5. Caitriona Balfe in Belfast
Audiences know Balfe best as Claire, a Scottish nurse sent back in time on Outlander. Anticipation for the sixth season of that show, which is set to bow on Starz this coming March, should be the perfect opportunity for filmgoers to see the Irish actress back on her home turf in Kenneth Branagh’s drama Belfast as a mother fighting hard to keep her family together. She already appeared in a Best Picture nominee from a few years ago, Ford v Ferrari, but this is the part that will catapult Balfe into the ranks of serious film actresses.
6. Aunjanue Ellis in King Richard
Ellis has been working for decades, appearing in a number of TV series and in the ensemble casts for films like Ray and The Help. Her awards track record in recent years have been very positive, earning accolades for the powerful limited series When They See Us, the TV movie The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel, and HBO’s genre series Lovecraft Country. Her profile is about to skyrocket thanks to her performance as the eternally supportive wife of Will Smith’s man with a plan for his daughters, Venus and Serena Williams.
7. Ann Dowd in Mass
Dowd came close to an Oscar nomination almost a decade ago for her unsettling work as a manager all too willing to take orders in Compliance. Since then, she’s gone from small-scale roles to star turns in shows like The Leftovers and Good Behavior. She won an Emmy for playing the terrifying Aunt Lydia on The Handmaid’s Tale, a role that’s still giving her plenty to do four seasons in. She’s far more sympathetic and equally terrific in the four-person drama Mass, which puts Dowd in top-notch company with Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaacs, and Reed Birney.
8. Troy Kotsur in CODA
Some actors win Oscars thanks to memorable monologues and inspirational speeches. But that’s not the case for all performers, particularly those who don’t use spoken language to communicate. As Frank, father to Ruby (Emilia Jones), a Child of Deaf Adults, Kotsur conveys an extraordinary passion for his way of life and his family without saying a word. His CODA costar Marlee Matlin remains the only Deaf actor to have won an Oscar thirty-five years after her victory for Children of a Lesser God. Kotsur may be able to revise that statistic.
9. Woody Norman in C’mon C’mon
It’s not all that common for those with very little life experience to find their way to Oscar recognition early on, but it has happened. A formidable candidate for this year is Norman, who at only twelve years old delivers a very relatable and charming turn as a young boy bonding with his uncle, played by Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix. He wouldn’t even be the youngest nominee ever in the Best Supporting Actor category, and the quality of his performance speaks for itself.
10. Tessa Thompson in Passing
Thompson has been steadily rising as a star over the past few years, with key supporting roles in the Creed and Thor franchises. Her prominence on Westworld has also increased, giving her fantastic material to work with as one of the show’s most intriguing characters, and she’s shown range in films like Sorry to Bother You and Annihilation. If Sylvie’s Love had competed at the Oscars instead of the Emmys (where it was nominated for Best TV Movie), Thompson might be an Oscar nominee already, and hopefully her committed performance opposite Ruth Negga in Passing will change that this year.
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