4. Carey Mulligan
Carey may be my favorite actress on this list because not only has she impressed in all her roles, Ive thoroughly enjoyed all her films. Plus she got hitched last year to the frontman of one of the best acts in contemporary music. Her first major screen credit was a big one as Kitty Bennet in Joe Wrights Pride & Prejudice. The first time I really took note of her, though, was in the amazing stand alone episode of Doctor Who called Blink. Not long after that she struck the lottery, first with an Oscar nominated performance in An Education and then with roles in increasingly high profile pictures. She was impressive in Public Enemies, Brothers, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and Never Let Me Go. 2011 was big for Carey with amazing performances in two incredible films Drive and Shame. Unfortunately, neither of these earned the recognition they deserved with the Academy. For Drive, it was likely because of some extreme violence and in the case of Shame, the MPAA damned it with an NC-17 rating due to graphic sex scenes. Carey, as well as her male counterparts Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender respectively, should have received nominations for their outstanding jobs in these films. This year we can look forward to two, perhaps slightly more audience-friendly, films with Carey. First comes Baz Luhrmanns dazzling new adaptation of The Great Gatsby with Carey inhabiting the pivotal role of Daisy Buchanan. Later in the year we get to see her in the Coen Brothers new period folk music film Inside Llewyn Davis (with some of the tunes composed by her husband, Marcus Mumford). While its hard to anticipate what critics with latch onto before films have opened, either of these could turn into a second Oscar nomination for Carey.