We’re looking at each individual category for the Oscars and what our thoughts are going into the final stretch. We’ve adjusted our thoughts based on the precursor associated with this category, Screen Actors Guild. Below are our predictions in Best Supporting Actress.

Best Supporting Actress

Winner Predictions

• Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
• Ariana Grande – Wicked
• Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
• Isabella Rossellini – Conclave (PP O)
• Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez (WL O) (TL O)

Runner-Up Predictions

• Ariana Grande – Wicked (WL P) [New] (TL O)
• Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez (PP O)

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Wesley Lovell: Like with most of the other acting awards, this seemed to be a wide open field until the Golden Globes where Zoe Saldaña delivered an impassioned speech and since then has won every televised award. She now is second only to Kieran Culkin in the likelihood of winning among the acting nominees.
Pete Patrick: Zaldaña has dominated this race from the beginning, but Rossellini would be a nice surprise 50 years after her mother, Ingrid Bergman, pulled an upset to win her third Oscar for Murder on the Orient Express. 
Thomas La Tourrette: Starting with a joint win at Cannes, Zoe Saldaña seemed unstoppable for her co-leading role in Emilia Pérez. She proved she could act and was the heart of the movie. The win at the Golden Globes cemented her front runner status. Then her costar Karla Sofía Gascón’s old tweets created a firestorm that threatened to sink most chances for that movie. But Saldaña continued to rack up wins at CCA, BAFTA, and most importantly with SAG. She seems pretty set to win the Oscar. Ariana Grande seemed to pose a threat for her wonderfully comedic turn in Wicked, but never managed to get the big awards. Perhaps voters are waiting for the second film in order to honor her. Isabella Rossellini had a small but pivotal role in Conclave and also seemed a possibility. Her best chance to shake things up would have come with a win at BAFTA, but Saldaña prevailed there too. She will have to be content with a nomination. Felicity Jones never seemed to stand a chance. Monica Barbaro impressed with both acting and singing in A Complete Unknown but never turned into a major competitor. Zoe Saldaña has bested the travails that occurred to Emilia Pérez and should triumph with a win at the Oscars.

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