The paint has barely dried on the last awards season, but Hollywood’s prestige calendar never actually stops moving. While the 2027 Oscars might feel like a distant dot on the horizon, the foundational blocks of the race are already locking into place. Between summer blockbusters redefining the cultural conversation and highly anticipated fall festival titles securing major studio backings, a few performances are already demanding early attention.
From game-changing physical transformations from industry legends to powerhouse dramatic turns from up-and-coming mainstream stars, the cinematic season is already looking extremely competitive. Early in the race, these five thespians are establishing themselves as the top early contenders to watch for the 2027 Academy Awards. Let’s break down why they might be in for a shot.
5. Jack O’Connell in Ink (2027)
In Ink, Jack O’Connell plays Larry Lamb, the man who brought page 3 models to the UK, drawing fierce criticism from feminists, politicians, and conservatives. His character helps Rupert Murdoch (played by Guy Pearce) turn The Sun into the paper that everyone loved to hate. O’Connell’s been involved in a good number of solid horror flicks of late, so watching him slip into a sharp period piece is a nice change of pace.
Director Danny Boyle already has an Oscar on his shelf, and he las led many stars to Oscar nods in the past. Ink is set to open the 83rd Venice Film Festival, which is the kind of flex that makes agents cry tears of joy. While O’Connell is somewhat of a mover in shaker in Hollywood, he’s now at his most popular point in a global sense. So, with Netflix grabbing up the U.S. rights before critics even filed their first reviews, he can expect the full weight of a streaming giant’s awards campaign behind him.
4. John Leguizamo in The Odyssey (2026)
Most fans remember John Leguizamo as the funny guy who played Sid the Sloth in the Ice Age movies for what feels like forever. Before this, adult audiences pictured him as the typical yet brilliant villain who oozes sleaze like in Carlito’s Way. But in Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey, he’s neither the funny wild card or the nasty antagonist.
With a stripped back yet powerfully quiet performance, he plays Eumaeus, the loyal, blind servant to Matt Damon’s Odysseus. And he wasn’t faking the blindness either. He wore special contact lenses that left him unable to see for 12 to 14 hours on set, which is the kind of dedication voters pay serious attention to. Riding the Nolan ensemble wave means he’s got bags of visibility, and he’s looking like a real shoo-in for Best Supporting Actor.
3. Samantha Morton in The Odyssey (2026)
Any doubt about The Odyssey being a massive hit has since been dispelled by its astounding box office numbers alone. But this epic is shaping up to be a genuine awards magnet too. Buried underneath the massive spectacle is Samantha Morton, whose entire performance lasts about ten minutes, and still manages to be one of the film’s most talked-about performances.
This kind of performance isn’t exactly new for her; just ask the people who saw her gut-punch performance in The Whale. Still, her take on Circe, the witch goddess who turns men into pigs, might be her best work yet. Critics are already losing their minds over that transformation scene, calling it one of the most nerve-wracking moments of the year. The Hollywood Reporter profiled her performance, and Gold Derby has her climbing their Best Supporting Actress odds, and anyone who’s seen that scene immediately gets why.
2. Tom Cruise in Digger (2026)
It’s kind of hard to imagine Tom Cruise playing a character with none of the trademarks that fans expect: killer abs, slicked back hair, daring stunts. But that’s exactly who he is in Digger. With thinning hair and a pot belly, he’s a world away from the guy who pulled off motorcycle cliff jumps and underwater heists in Mission: Impossible. He plays Digger Rockwell, a delusional oil guy in a satirical eco-comedy that looks like Succession meets Idiocracy.
Set reports say he’s barely recognizable, and that type of reinvention is exactly the kind of thing that awards voters eat up. Alejandro G. Iñárritu is in the director’s chair, and he’s the same guy who finally got Leonardo DiCaprio his overdue Oscar, so it’s easy to see why people are already calling this Cruise’s big career moment. It also helps his case that Warner Bros. set Digger for an October 2 release in theaters and IMAX, which is right in the sweet spot for fall awards timing. After decades of being Hollywood’s favorite daredevil, this might be the role that finally lands him that Best Actor Oscar everyone thinks he deserves.
1. Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary (2026)
Nearly $700 million worldwide and a Certified Fresh score in the mid-90s on Rotten Tomatoes, for a movie that dropped in March, which is usually Oscar Siberia. That alone says so much about Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary. The setup sounds familiar: one person, one spaceship, the fate of humanity resting on their shoulders, is one we’ve seen before. Think Matt Damon farming potatoes in The Martian or Sandra Bullock holding her breath in Gravity.
Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher who wakes up with amnesia on a lone ship and is tasked with the daunting job of saving the sun. What sets it apart is that it just kept going all year, with critics unable to stop talking about how Gosling nailed the humor, the fear, and the lonely heart of it all without ever showing off for the camera. Voters have a long memory, and when the time comes, it’s hard to imagine they would’ve forgotten this one.
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