Every Best Actress Oscar Movie Winner Of The 21st Century Ranked
6. Frances McDormand - Nomadland (2020)
Who should have won: Frances McDormand - Nomadland.
As noted earlier, McDormand's Best Actress wins of the century went to two vastly different performances. Whilst in Three Billboards... she was raging and unguarded, in Nomadland she's quiet and hauntingly existential.
As a widow caught in the midst of personal upheaval, McDormand slowly peels back the layers of Chloe Zhao's Best Picture-winning drama to reveal a woman of perseverance, mourning, and hidden uncertainty. Along the way, she also finds room to be quietly amusing and constantly inspiring.
McDormand has always been one of the very best actors of her generation, and her work in Nomadland - with its raw honesty, vulnerabilities, and uplifting assessment of acceptance and growth - ranks as perhaps her finest hour.