11 Unexpected Actors Who Might Win Oscars In 2019

7. Melissa McCarthy - Can You Ever Forgive Me?

The Role: Infamous author-turned-forger Lee Israel, who after her writing career ran dry in the early 1990s, began forging letters from dead actors and writers to support herself.

Why She Might Win: The Academy also loves it when comedy actors play against-type, and though Melissa McCarthy has received a prior Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work in Bridesmaids, that was certainly a case where the nomination - baffling though it was - was very much the win.

Here McCarthy is playing a far more "worthy", conventionally Oscar-friendly role, and given the fascinating nature of Israel's real-life story, McCarthy has the floor to give her most nuanced and emotionally diverse performance to date. From what's been shown off in trailers so far, she looks fantastic.

Plus, if she's been nominated before for taking a dump in a sink, why the hell couldn't she win an Oscar for an actual, serious performance?

Why It's Unexpected: Aside from her dramatic turn in 2014's St. Vincent, McCarthy generally sticks to broad studio comedies and effectively squanders her talents, so the prospect of the star of dreck like Tammy and The Boss winning an Academy Award isn't especially convincing.