Oscars 2026 is going to be a year of highs and lows for the potential nominees in the Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories (Variety). Once every decade or so, the Academy finds itself in a dilemma when all the nominations are too exceptional to crown any single one as the absolute best of them all.
This year, One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value are all lining up for a fierce battle in the supporting actress category. With choices galore, the Academy voters will have to settle on one by the end of awards night, but given the tough competition, fans will forever remain divided on the snubs and the wins of 2026 for years to come.
Every Eligible Contender for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars 2026
For 30 years, Paul Thomas Anderson has delivered one masterpiece after another without a single Oscar win. 2026 may finally be the year for the director with his 10th epic, One Battle After Another. But for every silver lining, there exists a cloud… in this case, the supporting actress category.
Variety claims:
“One Battle After Another” has turned both Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor into critical sensations — Hall with her seasoned restraint and sublimated grief, and Taylor with raw, electric volatility. Either could mount a serious Oscar campaign. Neither may survive having to split the vote.
Not to mention, P.T. Anderson’s film goes one step further by pitting Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro against each other in the supporting actor category.
Meanwhile, the same goes for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which has wrangled a standout performance from both Elle Fanning and her Norwegian co-star, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas. At times devastating, measured, and exacting, Sentimental Value delivers a phenomenal performance from both its actresses, who each command the screen with their quiet yet career-defining presence.
Elsewhere, each of the Safdie brothers is riling up the Oscars 2026 lineup with their individually brilliant films, but it is the older sibling who’s causing major Oscar buzz with his sports comedy-drama, Marty Supreme.
Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” pits Odessa A’zion’s breakout ferocity against Gwyneth Paltrow’s scene-stealing “comeback turn” — exactly the kind of narrative Oscar voters have historically devoured.
If the trades are right about their predictions, the Oscars 2026 will be nothing short of chaos and anomalies.
Oscars 2026 Could Make or Break Records With Its Potential Nominees
In 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King cast was in for a battle of its own among its brilliant supporting cast: Sean Astin, Sir Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, and Andy Serkis.
The same went for Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, which had standout performances from Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, as well as Kevin Bacon.
Going further back, in 1994, not only were the films locked in for a battle for the Best Picture honor (Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption), but the former two even had an internal battle going on in the supporting actor and actress categories.
History now repeats itself as it pits 6 powerhouse actresses against each other in 3 of the most brilliant films of 2025. Oscars 2026 could make or break records with its potential wins, snubs, and overall nominations, and the repercussions of the Academy voters’ final decision could echo loud enough to remind them of the Brokeback Mountain catastrophe.
Below is a list of all the potential nominees for the upcoming 98th Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actress category:
Whose performance impacted you the most among the above potential nominees? Share your thoughts on who deserves the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in the 2026 race.
One Battle After Another is currently playing in theaters worldwide.
Sentimental Value and Marty Supreme will premiere in the US on 7 November 2025 and 25 December 2025, respectively.
