Support Me In the Love of All Things Supporting!
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 7:34PM by Nathaniel R
Elle Fanning, Conan O'Brien, Youn Yu Jung, and Delroy Lindo did NOT make the nominee list but I loved all four performances just the same.
Dearest readers, I apologize at how long it takes me to do all this but now is the time to finish the Film Bitch Awards. Should be done in the next couple of days! That's probably more exciting for me than for you but what of it?!? Be my Supporting friends and DISCUSS. Before we get to the nominations a quick look at the dozen performances I cherished most in Supporting from men and women...
TOP DOZEN -BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (alpha order)
Coincidentally my favourites list has not one but four film actresses playing film actresses (present or former)
- Zoey Deutch as "Jean Seberg" an American movie star in Paris in Nouvelle Vague
- Kirsten Dunst as "Leigh", a lonely divorcee and Toys R Us worker in Roofman
- Elle Fanning as "Rachel Kemp' an American movie star in Norway in Sentimental Value
- Nina Hoss as "Eileen Lovborg" a drunk Academic in Hedda
- Inga Ibsdottir Lilleeas as "Agnes Borg Pettersen" a former child actress and mother in Sentimental Value
- Amy Madigan as "Aunt Gladys" a sinister garish witch in Weapons
- Wunmi Mosaku as "Annie" a hoodoo practiioner and estranged wife in Sinners
- Tânia Maria as "Dona Sebastiana" den mother to refugees in The Secret Agent
- Gwyneth Paltrow as "Kay Stone" a former movie star and bored wife in Marty Supreme
- Lesley Sharp as "Peggy" a protective mother with cancer in Pillion
- Teyana Taylor as revolutionary and rat "Perfidia Beverly Hills" in One Battle After Another
- Youn Yu Jung as "Ja Young" a grandmother who sees right through the leads in The Wedding Banquet
And of those twelve I believe that either Amy Madigan or Wunmi Mosaku will take home the Oscar.
Since there are more supporting roles in movies than leads this is always hard to narrow down so shout-out to other actresses that scratched a cinephile itch doing fine work like Oliva Colman as the hilariously suss Reverend Mother in Paddington in Peru and Regina Hall as a weary revoluationary in One Battle After Another to name the two closest also-rans for this top dozen.
TOP DOZEN - BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS (alpha order)
Since I already dug deep on this category via the Oscar volley with Cláudio we don't need to drag this out but just as (mostly) a recap these were the 12 men that really did it for me this year. For the record the two Oscar nomineess that are missing (Elordi, Skarsgard) are not booted because they aren't worthy but because they aren't supporting players (they both made my top 12 in Best Actor) since their films are quite obviously either about them (Elordi) ... or preference their point of view (Skarsgård) to the extent that they became co-leads... even though sometimes I wonder if Sentimental Value would have been even better (it's already so damn good) had it picked just one lead. Benicio Del Toro as "Sergio St Carlos" in One Battle After Another
- Benicio Del Toro as sensei and community organizer "Sergio St. Carlos" in One Battle After Another
- Brando Huang as "Johnny" a lonely night market worker in Left-Handed Girl
- Jacobi Jupe as the titular doomed Hamnet
- Delroy Lindo as Mississippi music legend "Delta Slim" in Sinners
- Kayo Martin as cruel bully "Jake" in The Plague
- Conan O'Brien holding his own as "Linda's Therapist" in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
- Haris Patel as the endearing but confused dad "Archit" in A Nice Indian Boy
- Sean Penn as the cartoonish but frighteningly familiar "Colonel Steve Lockjaw" in One Battle After Another
- Lewis Pullman as superpowered amnesiac "Bob" in Thunderbolts*
- Andrew Scott as composer "Dick Rodgers" on the evening of his greatest success in Blue Moon
- Min Tinaka as "Onagawa Mangiku" a national living legend in Kokuho
- Ricardo Teodoro as "Ronaldo" the sexiest mentor ever in Baby
P.S. For what it's worth the Best Juvenile Actor, Best Voice or Mo-Cap Performances, and Breakthroughs of the Year have also been posted.
Reader Comments (11)
Yes on Conan, Nina Hoss, and Tania Moria being unfortunately overlooked all season long, especially as they epitomize *supporting* acting. Conan, especially, is rather unnerving as you realize at first that it's Conan the hilarious talk show host, but really disappears into the role. He works so well at making you uncomfortable.
Supporting performances I appreciated but which never got any traction include Jack O'Connell in Sinners, Roney Villela in The Secret Agent, Austin Abrams in Weapons, and (sorry) Kevin O'Leary in Marty Supreme. Voters clearly saw all those films, and the actors all very much supported the films rather than taking them over, but voters were too committed to category fraud perhaps to see them.
Yay Film Bitch. You always dig deep in your nominations. So good. I also loved Zarna Garg as the mother in A Nice Indian Boy.
I have 2 from each list of yours in my own nominations.
Spot on about Kirsten Dunst,how to make a normal ordinary woman interesting and someone to root for hire Kirsten.
My nominees
Supporting Actor in order of preference
Sean Penn One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi Frankenstein
Andrew Scott Blue Moon
Adam Sandler Jay Kelly
William H. Macy Train Dreams
Supporting Actress in order of preference
Amy Madigan Weapons
Nina Hoss Hedda
Gwyneth Paltrow Marty Supreme
Emily Blunt The Smashing Machine
I am still deciding on the 5th nominee,2 actress you never mentioned Odessa A'Zion in Marty Supreme and Aisling Franciosi in Twinless and Kirsten Dunst.
Thank you for reminding me of Youn Yuh-Jung in The Wedding Banquet (a movie I otherwise found disappointing but SHE was magnificent, as she always is). And for including Gwynnie, who almost but did not quite make my supporting actress ballot, though she'd certainly make my top 10.
No love for Son Ye-Jin in No Other Choice?
Conan was great, though I found his character frustratingly impenetrable. Probably by design. And he's another reminder of how often comedians make excellent dramatic actors, especially impressive considering the reverse is...much less often the case.
1. Hell yeah, on all 5 supporting actress nominees getting in your top 12. Oscar did such a good job this year.
2. Love the shoutouts for Tania Maria and Lesley Sharp. Maria's work is so indicative of why Secret Agent works. All these great, full sketches at the edges of the movie. Every single person in the movie could lead a movie. And Pillion doesn't work half as well without Sharp filling the frame with some of the audience's perspective.
3. I love Jacobi Jupe's work. I think a smarter Oscar campaign would have had people wondering if BOTH Jupe brothers could get in to the category. Would have been a good angle, and certainly helped elevate Jacobi. And I truly think Mescal would have been nominated in lead.
4. I think people accept Skarsgard in the category because the whole thing feels so ensemble-y. So to counter your reflection, I wonder if maybe Sentimental Value would have been even better if it actually had zero leads. Equal focus, true ensemble, Altman-style.
when you mentioned Foster would be a nominee I started to expect the WONDROUS Daniel Auteil to get a supporting nomination here. They were a wonderful couple!
Nice words on Penn.
Since he became a soft frontrunner (not a sure-thing by any means) I’ve noticed people retconning his entire career—suggesting he’s less than the epic generational talent he so clearly is. The list of American actors in his cohort whose work even comes close to matching his is incredibly short. Hanks, Washington, maybe Kevin Spacey while it lasted? And I’d put his best work ahead of almost all of theirs, give or take Denzel at his best.
I'm always supporting you, Nathaniel.
Supporting Females: Totally agree with Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Paltrow, by far the best performances in the category this year.
Also like Mosaku, Fanning, Madigan, Dutch.
Dunst is great, but the movie is so bad, so bad... I know you like it, but fof me it's a mess.
I can't speak about Hoss and Yu Jung, I haven't watched that movie yet.
And, of course, I can't forget Regina Hall, who gives the best performance in OBAA with few scenes.
Supporting Male:
Skarsgård and Mescal are brilliant, leading or supporting. Mescal was criminally robbed this year, he's better than Buckley.
Elordi is absolutely marvelous, so subtle, so deep in that character that it's a kind of poetry. He's my runner-up only 'Cause Skarsgård is my number in.
Jupi is great and deserved the nomination, alongside Mescal.
Del Toro is very good, Penn isn't.
Completely agree abour Conan O'Brien in "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You". Great presence.
Same for Kevin O'Leary in "Marty Supreme". Was he only being himself? Maybe, but it worked.
Sandler is very good in "Jay Kelly", a fine movie, unfortunately underrated.
And although I don't buy all this insane hype for "Sinners" (16 noms, new record? A travesty! Shame on this "New Academy"!), O'Connell is great, this performance deserved much more recognition.
He and Mosaku are the highlights of that overrated and silly movie.
We just saw Marty Supreme last night and honestly, I wish Gwyneth would’ve at least been in the running for her comeback nod!
Idk how Odessa got some key nominations… She’s solid but unmemorable. It’s certainly nothing I haven’t seen before and a performance I believe most actresses given that role could've pulled off.
I thought Gwyneth’s role was much trickier, complex, and interesting and made way for a more layered, nuanced performance that not any actress could’ve pulled off. In my book, she would’ve been a worthy nominee and this would’ve been a great comeback nomination after all these years. I loved the meta nature of the role / performance, too. Her character geeking out a little bit when the audience laughed was a highlight.
In other news, I’m praying Amy Madigan takes home the Oscar as she deserves. I found Teyana Taylor solid but not Oscar-worthy, the performance was a bit one-note. I found Regina Hall to be a lot more fascinating. As for Wunmi Mosaku, she was the best performance in Sinners (a movie I found to be laughably terrible, as did the people I know—totally baffled by its awards run), but to win an Oscar for that something such an unmemorable performance would be…shocking.
I’m glad Kirsten Dunst has been getting such glowing reviews, even if the Academy continues to ignore her. Hoping she’ll finally get her long overdue Best Actress nomination for The Entertainment System Is Down.
And I know this is about supporting performances, but man oh man, in a just world, Dylan O’Brien got so much more for his stellar work in Twinless.
@Nathaniel: Thanks for posting. I love your nominees. I am surprised, however, that you consider Sean Penn supporting. The scope of his role is just as extensive as Leo's or Infiniti's, not to mention the fact that his character is the one actually propelling the plot forward (whereas the other two leads are simply reacting and evaluating where to go based on Lockjaw's plans). The role reminds me of the Joker in The Dark Knight, both in scope and in screen time. Curious to hear your rationale for placing him in supporting given how meticulous you are about category placement.
P.S. I also consider Kirsten Dunst the leading lady of Roofman, even if I understand why people consider her supporting.
Gold to Zoey Deuth, right?