Oscars 2014: Who is Winning the Best Actress Race?

3. Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks

Any Academy Award buff will know that when it comes to getting Oscar wins and nominations as an actor, it never hurts to play a historical figure. This is particularly the case when the historical person in question has a link to Hollywood, which is why sight unseen many Oscar prognosticators were declaring Emma Thompson's performance as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers an instant Best Actress contender. While some may view this sort of analytical tact overly reductive and crude, those prognosticators are being proved correct, for even as the film Saving Mr. Banks has hit a few rough patches on the precursor circuit (although that appears to have been remedied with a Producers Guild of America Best Picture nomination), Emma Thompson has shown up as a Best Actress nominee on almost every conceivable list. Ms. Thompson has had some good history with the Academy in the past. In a span of four Oscar ceremonies (1993-1996), Ms. Thompson managed to win two Oscars (Best Actress in 1993 for Howard's End and Best Adapted Screenplay in 1996 for Sense and Sensibility) and received an additional three Oscar nominations (all for acting) in that four year time span. Beside the incredible hot streak that was the mid-1990s for Ms. Thompson though, she has never rendezvoused with Oscar again, but that will definitely end on January 16. As P.L. Travers, Thompson plays the infamously stubborn author in a bit of a cartoony manner, almost like the title character in Ms. Traver's book or Thompson's most famous recent role, Nanny McPhee. However, as the film settle down some, so does Ms. Thompson's performance, as the inner emotional life that P.L. Travers works so hard to mask is slowly revealed for the audience. Regardless of the finer points of the performance though, there is no denying that it is a turn that is delivered with much charisma on the part of Emma Thompson. When you combine this with a story line that Academy members are sure to love, about a movie, Mary Poppins, that they already showered with affection back in 1964, then I think we can safely count Ms. Thompson as a Best Actress nominee. Nomination Chances: 80%