● Female
Supporting Role
HALEY BENNETT IN “CYRANO”
A
GREAT SUPPORTING ACTOR CAN STEAL THE show—or provide just the right amount of drama. We’ve rounded up some of these big-screen performances, from headstrong mothers and grandmothers to superheroes to, even, a president. For your consideration in advance of January’s SAG Award nominations announcement: the supporting female film stars of the year!
Caitríona Balfe
BACKSTAGE 12.06.21
Haley Bennett
“Cyrano” Bennett is perfect in the role of Roxanne, the maid of misplaced love in Edmond Rostand’s classic play—and now, in this innovative
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Cate Blanchett
“Nightmare Alley” Ever since 2015’s “Carol,” we’ve been itching to see Blanchett take on another midcentury femme fatale. We’ve gotten our wish with Guillermo del Toro’s 1940s circus thriller “Nightmare Alley” (which reunites Blanchett with Rooney Mara). As Dr. Lillith Ritter, a psychiatrist who seduces
Bradley Cooper’s carnival barker, Blanchette oozes her trademark magnetism; she’s the top power player in a noir-tinged world full of them.
Jessie Buckley
“The Lost Daughter” Motherhood is hard. And in the case of Olivia Colman’s Leda in “The Lost Daughter,” it’s traumatic, too. Buckley plays the younger version of the character in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feature film directorial debut; in flashbacks, she takes questionable actions that will have dire consequences, affecting Leda’s life for years to come. The torn despair Buckley conveys backstage.com
PETER MOUNTAIN
“Belfast” Balfe’s screen-siren looks and capacity for heavy emotions have never been put to better use than in Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical tale of the Troubles in 1969 Belfast. As the matriarch of little Buddy’s (Jude Hill) tight-knit family, she avoids the “worrying mother” cliches, instead painting a
three-dimensional picture. Her precise delivery of her character’s reckoning with the choice facing her family—to stay or flee?—is what gives this story its power.
musical film from Joe Wright and Erica Schmidt. Over-thetop in her swooning love but grounded in modernity, she endears herself to us in seconds, not minutes. And she bolsters her ravishing performance with a lovely singing voice.
“MASS”: BLEECKER STREET; “WEST SIDE STORY”: NIKO TAVERNISE
FYC: Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
