Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne
This adorably handsome Brit deserved his Best Actor’s Oscar for his brilliant and mesmerizing performance as world-famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Watching the film Redmayne has the audience truly believing he is the one suffering from ALS with how accurately he delivers the disabilities, yet still portrays the intellegence and humor of his character. Before accepting the Oscar, and other awards for this role, Redmayne is recognizable from several other films. Redmayne’s most attributed role was Marius in Les Misérables, where he showed off the range of his impressive vocals and emotional depth. There is also My Week with Marilyn, where Redmayne plays a young man who becomes infatuated with Marilyn Monroe while she is working on one of her movies. Smaller movie roles before these include Hick, Other Boleyn Girl and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The latest of Redmayne’s work in theaters is Jupiter Ascending where Redmayne takes on the role as the villain. The last movie aside, Redmayne has a knack for period pieces and can be expected to continue his outstanding performances for future roles.
Best Actress: Julianne Moore
Moore finally garnered an Oscar this past Sunday for her haunting portrayal of a college professor who learns she has Alzheimer’s and her slow progression with the disease in Still Alice. Her four previous Oscar nominated roles were from the films Far From Heaven (Best Actress), The Hours (Supporting Actress), The End of the Affair (Best Actress), and Boogie Nights (Supporting Actress). The recent films Moore has starred in include Crazy, Stupid Love, The Kids Are All Right, What Maise Knew, and Don Jon; all of which are on Netflix and should considered for the next movie night. Moore is also connected to the cult classic The Big Lebowski, where she played the daughter of Jeff Bridges’ title character Lebowski. Out on DVD and BluRay next month is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 where Moore was cast as District 13’s calculated rebel leader President Alma Coin. Moore will return to the big screen to reprise role of Coin this coming November and has another film, Freeheld, in post production where she again plays a woman battling a terminal illness. Both sound like a must-watch and should be kept on film radars for the coming months.
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons
The recognizable face and voice of J.K. Simmons been everywhere from the small to big screen. Simmons accepted the Best Supporting Actor award for his character Fletcher in Whiplash, who is an abusive and hard driven music teacher. Before this acadamy award winning role, Simmons has appeared in other well-known movies and has voiced characters for several popular cartoon shows. In the movie Juno, Simmons starred as the title character’s good natured and caring father. For the original Spider-Man trilogy Simmons was known as J. Jonah Jameson, the Spidey-hating newspaper editor Peter Parker worked for. The TV shows Simmons has starred in or made guest appearances on include The Closer, Growing Up Fisher, Men at Work, Law & Order, Arrested Developments, and most recently Parks and Recreation; to name a few. With his talented voice acting skills, Simmons has brought to life characters on a variety of cartoon shows. Simmons starred as the voice of the Airbending mentor Tenzin in Legend of Korra, which recently wrapped up on Nickelodeon. Previously Simmons has voiced reoccurring characters in the kid shows Justice League and Kim Possible. He has also done guest spots for the popular cartoons The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and American Dad!. From supportive father figures to a violent music teacher, Simmons has a wide range of acting abilities. The next project Simmons boasts on his ever growing resume is the summer blockbuster Terminator Genisys, which promises to be a wild action reboot of the original.
Best Supporting Actress: Patrica Arquette
Arquette’s powerful acceptance speech for the Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Boyhood had the likes of Meryl Streep and J.Lo on their feet cheering as she called for wage–equality and equality overall for women in today’s work force. This woman is no stranger to portraying powerful female roles onscreen either. Arquette’s most widely recognized role is her Emmy winning character Allison Dubois, the psychic crime fighting cop and soccer mom in the TV series Medium. Her movie roles include acting in the films Girl In Progress, Fast Food Nation, Ed Wood, and True Romance. Most of her work has been with television, as aside from Medium, Arquette has had reoccurring spots in the shows Boardwalk Empire and CSI. From the latter, Arquette is recieving a CSI spin off of her own as Special Agent Avery Ryan in CSI: Cyber. Arquette is a woman who knows what she is doing and the impact she can make so be sure to keep an eye on her in the future.
*all pictures courtesy of IMDB and Getty Images