2026 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTRESS (November)

One of the biggest early stops on the campaign trail before nominations and awards start rolling in is the Governors Ball, celebrating the season’s Honorary Oscar recipients. So, who showed up from the Best Actress contender field? All of my top 10 this month did. Interesting…

Jessie Buckley, Rose Byrne, Cynthia Erivo, Kate Hudson, Chase Infiniti, Dakota Johnson, Jennifer Lawrence, Lucy Liu, Imogen Poots, Renate Reinsve, Amanda Seyfried, Emma Stone, Sydney Sweeney, Tessa Thompson, Eva Victor and Kate Winslet all showed up.

Who’s missing? Laura Dern, Jodie Foster, Julia Roberts, and more.

Here are my 2026 Oscar nomination predictions in Best Actress for November.

1. Jessie Buckley – Hamnet (Focus Features)
Gotham

2. Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value (NEON)

3. Cynthia Erivo – Wicked: For Good (Universal Pictures) ↑

4. Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures) ↑
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5. Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24) ↓
Berlin Best Lead Performance, Gotham

6. Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros)

7. Emma Stone – Bugonia (Focus Features)

8.  Jennifer Lawrence – Die My Love (MUBI)
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9.  Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue (Focus Features)

10.  Sydney Sweeney – Christy (Black Bear)

11. Julia Roberts – After the Hunt (Amazon MGM)

12. Tessa Thompson – Hedda (Amazon MGM)
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13. Laura Dern – Is This Thing On? (Searchlight Pictures)

14. Jodie Foster – Vie Privée (Sony Pictures Classics)

15. Julia Garner – Weapons (Warner Bros/New Line)

16. June Squibb – Eleanor the Great (Sony Pictures Classics)

17. Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby (A24)

18. Emma Mackey – Ella McCay (20th Century Studios)

19. Dakota Johnson – Materialists (A24)

20. Margot Robbie – A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Sony Pictures/TriStar)

Other contenders: Sally Hawkins – Bring Her Back (A24), Lucy Liu – Rosemead (Vertical), Nadia Melliti – The Little Sister (TBD) – Cannes winner, Kate Winslet – Goodbye June (Netflix)

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.