Oscar Countdown: Best Actress Nominees

If you have been watching the Oscar odds, you probably know that Sandra Bullock is the odds-on favorite at 57/100 to take home the statue for Best Actress for her role in The Blind Side. Bullock, who has made a career from mostly romantic comedies, shines in her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy, a well-to-do, white, Christian who takes Big Mike Oher (played by Quinton Aaron) under her wing, leading to his career with the Baltimore Ravens. Although her portrayal of Tuohy may be a tad one-dimensional and her competition may be more worthy (see: Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren), Hollywood loves Bullock and the Academy loves a moneymaking Oscar contender.

Meryl Streep is no stranger to Academy Award nominations. The much-revered actress has had no less than 16 times and has not won since won Best Actress for her 1982 role in Sophie’s Choice. While Streep is rated as the second most likely to win at 81/50, you have to wonder why Streep has been nominated so many times while winning so rarely. Could the Academy think that Streep receives enough accolades as it is, that they are disinclined to vote her? Streep’s nomination this year was for her role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia, which gave her the added benefit of looking good next to Amy Adams’ weak performance as Julie Powell.

With the momentum of her recent BAFTA win for her role in An Education, could Carey Mulligan, whose odds are 8/1, upset Sandra Bullock? The fresh-faced 24-year-old Mulligan, plays Jenny, a 16-year-old schoolgirl who so desperately wants to experience the world outside the contraints of her suburban childhood, she seeks the arms of an older man. Keep in mind that those who win at the BAFTAs over in jolly old England, often win at the Academy Awards across the pond. The BAFTAs have predicted the Oscars the last four years in a row.

With an NAACP award for best leading role in a movie for Precious, Gabourey Sidibe, who has 14/1 odds of winning best actress, is apparently nothing like her down-and-out character. Gabourey, who considers herself “a funny person” says being a plus-sized woman thrust into the stick-figured world of Hollywood is like “being the alien in the room.” Sidibe, a newcomer to the glitz and glamour of filmmaking, plays a physically and sexually abused pregnant sixteen-year old, with a four-year-old child by her own father. With backing from God Oprah, Sidibe could be the dark horse no one saw coming.

Helen Mirren is another well-respected actress in Hollywood, who arguably deserves the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Last Station. Unfortunately for Mirren she won the Best Actress Award for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 and the Academy almost never awards people two Oscars so close together (occasional exceptions include Sean Penn and Hilary Swank). It’s not fair, but hey, who said Hollywood was fair? One thing that might get Mirren in your bettor’s scope is the very juicy odds of 33/1, which might make Mirren the perfect longshot pick for the 2010 Oscars.