As of now, there are five women who have been awarded the prize for Best Actress at the the actress who truly blew critics and audiences away that year, proving herself to be a stand-out among Hollywood's best. So far, five actresses have won this prize in the 2020s, and each has her own unique talent.
In the 2020s, the Best Actress Oscar winners include s McDormand, Jessica Chastain, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Stone, and Mikey Madison. While each actress undoubtedly earned their award, it is hard to ignore how vastly different each of their performances are. Some of the actresses rooted their characters in reality while others had to use more fantastical elements. Their ages, genres, and characters are all distinctly different from each other. Because of this, some of these 2020s Best Actresses could be considered better than others.
5 Jessica Chastain
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
As of 2025, the weakest Best Actress performance of the 2020s would have to be Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. This movie, based on a documentary of the same name, tells the true story of Tammy Faye Bakker, who had humble beginnings in small-town Minnesota before striking it big as a televangelist, alongside her husband. At the Oscars, Chastain won for Best Actress, while the movie itself won for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Of the movies on this list, The Eyes of Tammy Faye has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics score, at 67%.
By no means was Chastain's performance bad. In fact, she can be considered to be the movie's saving grace, as many critics felt the movie brought nothing particularly new or exciting to the table. Chastain completely transforms as Tammy Faye, giving an astounding dramatic performance. However, because of the movie's lukewarm reception, Chastain is at the bottom of the Best Actresses of 2020s list.
4 Mikey Madison
Anora
Next up on the list is Mikey Madison in Anora. The most recent winner of the Best Actress Oscar, Madison stars in Anora as Ani, a New York-based stripper who is given a chance at a lavish new life after marrying the son of a Russian oligarch. Yet, their whirlwind romance is interrupted when Ani's new husband's life begins to disrupt their new one in increasingly dangerous and terrifying ways. Anora swept at the 2025 Oscars, earning five awards in all.
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Truthfully, putting Madison in the number four spot out of five is a difficult choice. Just like Chastain, Madison gives an incredible performance that is full of energy and spunk. There's little doubt that the actress put copious amounts of time and effort into this role. However, Madison is so young, and arguably new to acting, that it would be strange to put her over the more seasoned actors on this list. Ultimately, Madison's Anora win may be the first of many to come, some of which may be even better.
3 s McDormand
Nomadland
One of the biggest powerhouses on this list is s McDormand. In the 2020 movie, Nomadland, McDormand plays Fern, a woman who has lost her husband and her job. With nothing left to ground her, Fern decides to pack up her things and travel around the country in a van. In this way, she meets an entire community of nomads who have left the "regular" world behind. Nomadland won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress.
s McDormand's Best Actress/ing Actress Nominations |
|---|
Mississippi Burning (1989) |
Fargo (1997) |
Almost Famous (2001) |
North Country (2006) |
Three Billbaords Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2018) |
Nomadland (2020) |
Over the course of her career, McDormand has given countless amazing performances, and Nomadland is just one of the latest. The actress infuses the role of Fern with such emotion and sorrow that it is hard not to become invested in her story. More importantly though, McDormand makes Fern feel real. Watching Nomadland, audiences are shown a new side of life and humanity that is as inspiring as it is heartbreaking. Ultimately, McDormand gives a near-perfect performance in an incredible movie.
2 Emma Stone
Poor Things
The most unique performance on this list has to be Emma Stone in Poor Things. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, this book-to-movie adaptation tells the story of Bella Baxter, a young woman who is brought back from the dead by a Victorian scientist via a brain transplant. Essentially given a second chance at life, Bella defies societal expectations and breaks free of those trying to control her, in search for meaning and true emotion. Poor Things won four Academy Awards.
The magic of Stone's performance as Bella is its detail. Thrown into Lanthimos' colorful version of Victorian times, it is easy to separate Poor Things from real life, but Stone makes the gap even wider. She fully embodies this woman who must start over again from scratch through her movements, her line delivery, and even her facial expressions. Stone is a ray of light in this strange film, standing out from the rest of the pack.
1 Michelle Yeoh
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Ultimately, the best performance so far by a Best Actress winner in the 2020s is Michelle Yeoh. In 2022, Yeoh starred in Everything Everywhere All At Once, a sci-fi action movie which centers on Evelyn, a woman whose dull and monotonous life is interrupted by a rupture in time and space. Suddenly, she is forced to take action in order to save herself, her family, and the world. Along the way, she discovers what has been missing from her life. EEAAO raked in seven Oscars.
Yeoh's portrayal of Evelyn may be one of the most moving performances of the 2020s. Although Yeoh established herself as a talented actress long before 2022, her role in EEAAO shows her versatility and emotional range. Sure, Yeoh brings elements of her action-hero past, but she also steeps Evelyn in true-to-life feelings of depression, loss, and fear. Overall, Yeoh's performance is brilliant for its strangeness and also its sense of reality. She is truly one of the Oscars greats.
