Every Oscar Sunday, a slew of actors and actresses get the chance to take home the gold statue. While this year's ceremony is cutting some of the technical categories, all four of the acting categories remain alive and well.
All 10 nominated performers who led their respective films have starred in great movies of the past, each of which holds a rating above 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. With that being said, not all of the actors and actresses received nominations for these previous projects. In fact, this is the first contention for one of the nominees.
Kristen Stewart: Certain Women (2016): 92%
Stream On The Criterion Channel & AMC+
Kristen Stewart received her first Academy Award nomination for playing Diana, Princess of Wales in Twilight and Snow White, the performer has also starred in excellent films such as Still Alice, Personal Shopper, and Clouds of Sils Maria.
She also starred in minimalist director Kelly Reichardt's moving 2016 piece Certain Women. Co-starring Laura Dern, Jared Harris, and Reichardt favorite Michelle Williams, the film features Stewart as attorney Elizabeth Travis, who teaches a class on education law.
Javier Bardem: No Country For Old Men (2007): 93%
Stream On HBO Max
Even though he's played a particularly memorable Bond villain, Javier Bardem will always be associated by many with his worldwide breakthrough character of Anton Chigurh in the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men.
The 2007 film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and netted Bardem the Academy Award for Best ing Actor as well. It's a performance so iconic it matches the real-life figure he portrays in Being the Ricardos.
Jessica Chastain: Take Shelter (2011): 92%
Stream On Tubi TV
While Take Shelter wasn't as much of an Oscar darling as it should have been, critics still took to it. It's an intelligent look at mental illness, the skepticism of others, loyalty, and the lengths one will go to protect their family.
Michael Shannon portrays Curtis, a man who experiences lurid visions of a particularly horrifying storm. The Eyes of Tammy Faye star and Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain portrays Samantha, Curtis's comionate but stressed wife.
Benedict Cumberbatch: 12 Years A Slave (2013): 95%
Stream On HBO Max
Benedict Cumberbatch starred in one of 2013's highest-rated films, 12 Years a Slave, just as he led one of The Power of the Dog. Jane Campion's film seems poised to take home some gold, perhaps even the top prize.
Cumberbatch portrays slaveowner William Ford, who treats Chiwetel Ejiofor's Solomon Northup with comion, at least in comparison to Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). Ford's big act of kindness is saving Northup from sadistic plantation carpenter John Tibeats (Paul Dano).
Olivia Colman: The Father (2020): 98%
Stream On Starz
Olivia Colman has been on a massively impressive Oscars streak as of late. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in The Favourite, co-starring Emma Stone. Then, she received a nomination for her highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes: The Father, where she starred alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins.
The film is a moving drama about a woman growing closer to her father, who is living with dementia. Both performers turn in powerhouse performances, and Hopkins even took home the trophy for Best Actor.
Denzel Washington: Glory (1989): 93%
Stream On Paramount+
Just like 2021's Denzel Washington's best movies.
He portrays Private Silas Trip, a soldier in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the very first all-Black Union Army regiments. Distrusting of his white superior officers and fellow soldiers alike, Trip has the best arc of the movie and is powered by a jaw-dropping performance that's even better. The Tragedy of Macbeth marks the actor's ninth nomination, with Glory serving as his final Best ing Actor nomination to date. Since then, he received nods for Malcolm X (1993), The Hurricane (2000), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2018).
Penélope Cruz: Official Competition (2021): 100%
Not Available To Stream
Penélope Cruz received three other acting-based Oscar nominations prior to her leading work in the Pedro Almodóvar drama Parallel Mothers (Madres Paralelas).
First was her Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for the Almodóvar comedy-drama, Volver (2006). She then won the Academy Award for Best ing Actress trophy for her work in Woody Allen's sublime Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). One year later she nabbed another Best ing Actress nomination for her work in the otherwise critically-dismissed film. However, while her highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes was released in 2021, it wasn't the film for which she was nominated. It would actually be the entertainment industry satire Official Competition (Competencia official).
Will Smith: Men In Black (1997): 92%
Stream On Fubo TV
The King Richard.
Yet, it's a blockbuster that stands as Smith's highest-rated movie. Men in Black follows the actor's James Darrell Edwards III, an officer with the NYPD who is recruited into a secretive organization after seeing something he most certainly was not supposed to. Now called Agent J, he and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) must bring down a massive alien bug wearing a man as a disguise.
Nicole Kidman: Paddington (2014): 97%
Stream On Netflix
One of Paddington isn't one of the movies to nab Kidman an Oscar nomination, even if she was clearly having a ball playing the villain.
Kidman's nomination for playing Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos marks her fifth to date. She received a Best Actress nomination for Moulin Rouge! in 2001, won for 2002's The Hours, then was nominated again eight years later for Rabbit Hole. Then, between that film and Being the Ricardos, she received a Best ing Actress nomination for Lion.
Andrew Garfield: The Social Network (2010): 96%
Stream On Netflix
Surprisingly enough, Andrew Garfield did not receive his first Oscar nomination for portraying Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher's gripping and astounding The Social Network. At least partly responsible for the development and success of Facebook, Saverin was effectively cut from the company by the cold Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg).
In fact, Garfield's first nomination didn't come until he was—temporarily—through with the Spider-Man spandex when he portrayed conscientious objector United States Army combat medic Desmond Doss in Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge.
