The nominees for this year were:
Annette Bening in Being Julia as "Julia Lambert"
Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full of Grace as "Maria Alvarez"
Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake as "Vera Drake"
Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby as "Maggie Fitzgerald"
Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as "Clementine Kruczynski"

My Ranking:
1. Winslet - I haven't seen any of the other nominees recently enough to remember their performances, but I can't imagine any of them beating Winslet's amazing, by turns lucid and complex turn in "Eternal Sunshine", one of the best performances in recent memory and certainly the capstone of her career thus far.

-. Bening (seen it but ages ago)
-. Sandino Moreno
-. Staunton (seen it but ages ago)
-. Swank

My Personal Ballot:
I haven't seen enough performances from this year good enough to put on my ballot!

First of all, I have not seen "Maria, Full of Grace" but I will try to see it soon and then I will add her to my ranking.

Kate Winslet gets my vote right now because after watching "Eternal Sunshine" again recently after not seeing it since it came out, her performance felt fresher and it seemed to have stood the test of time, unlike Bening's, whose performance (looking back on it) was a little over the top (and she was my choice originally, but nonetheless, she is another actress who deserves an Oscar and she was still worthy for "Being Julia"). Imelda Staunton gave a beautiful and very subtle performance in "Vera Drake" that was a completely different performance than either Winslet's or Bening's and that is what makes this such a hard choice because each performance is so different but great in their own way.

Then that brings us to: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
-I didn't she was that great in this movie, except for one scene. When I first watched it, I thought that I had to like this performance and the movie but I wasn't that enthralled with either of them. It seems that more people now agree with me, at least on Swank's win.

1) Winslet
2) Staunton
3) Swank
4) Sandino-Moreno
5) Bening

My personal favorite actress was Julie Delpy in "Before Sunset".

I give it so Swank. Yes, she is an average actress and yes, she only had two great roles (and performances) so far, but wow, those two performance are fantastic!


2. Imelda Staunton
3. Kate Winslet
4. Cataline Sandino-Moreno
5. Annette Bening

This is a great line-up, all of those 5 would be worthy winners!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Fritz,

01. Swank
02. Bening
03. Staunton
04. Sandino Moreno
05. Winslet


My ballot:

01. Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
02. Annette Bening, Being Julia
03. Nicole Kidman, Birth / Dogville
04. Julie Delpy, Before Sunset
05. Uma Thurman, Kill Bill: Vol. 2

This message has been edited. Last edited by: markk,

1. Imelda Staunton
2. Annette Bening
3. Kate Winslet
4. Hilary Swank
5. Catalina Sandino Moreno

1) Winslet
2) Staunton
3) Swank
4) Bening
5) Sandino Moreno

1. Kate Winslet ... loved it!!!
2. Imelda Staunton ... loved it!!!
3. Catalina Sandino Moreno ...very good...

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4. Hillary Swank ... ok
5. Annette Bening ... I wish they would stop nominating her!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JayDF,

For me it was a toss up between Swank and Winslet. Haven't seen the other ladies, but I do like Annette Bening.

eternal sunshine in my opinion is winslets best performance ever, and shouldve won her the oscar

My vote goes to Imelda in a fairly strong field.

Rankings:

1. Imelda Staunton, "Vera Drake"
- Brilliant performance from start to finish. The trailer would have been enough to sell me on her as the winner amongst this group. "I help young girls out." Goodness.

2. Kate Winslet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
- This was a bizarre role and one of Kate Winslet's best to date. It's a miracle that it was even nominated, so that was nice to see happen. I would have been fine with this winning her a first Oscar (or just about anything over what actually won her her first Oscar).

3. Annette Bening, "Being Julia"
- I didn't love this performance when I first watched it, but it has really grown on me over the years, and I wouldn't have been disappointed if she ended up being the victor. The "B-E-N" scene nailed it.

4. Catalina Sandino Moreno, "Maria Full of Grace"
- Stunning debut performance. I was glad to see her recognized with a nomination.

5. Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby"
- Servicable performance, but the role was one-dimensional, and there were far better performances to pick as the winner from this lineup.

My Rankings

Winslet
Swank
Staunton
Moreno



Bening

My Personal Nominees
Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine
Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
Kimberly Elise - Woman Thou Art Loosed

And I am sure this last one will be a little weird , but I thought she was brilliant in this movie

Rachel McAdams - The Notebook

Mine Would Be:

Kate Winslet- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hilary Swank- Million Dollar Baby
Catalina Sandino Moreno- Maria Full of Grace
Imelda Staunton- Vera Drake
Annette Bening- Being Julia

However, my personal line-up would've been:

Kate Winslet- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hilary Swank- Million Dollar Baby
Uma Thurman- Kill Bill Vol. 2
Catalina Sandino Moreno- Maria Full of Grace
Imelda Staunton- Vera Drake

Thurman was burned by Oscar!

1. Imelda Staunton, "Vera Drake"
2. Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby"
3. Kate Winslet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
4. Catalina Sandino Moreno, "Maria Full of Grace"
5. Annette Bening, "Being Julia"