Saoirse and Brie on the Road to Oscars 2016
Now that awards season is upon us, the race for the Best Actress field in this year's Oscars is really getting to be exciting. This category has much competition this year that it's actually been rivaling Best Actor, which is almost unheard-of. Leading female roles have gotten so rare these days that usually, voters are struggling to find five performances to put on the ballot, but this year, there are several to chose from. And right in the thick of the race are two former child actresses: Brie Larson, 26, for Room, and Saoirse Ronan, 21, for Brooklyn.
Brie Larson began acting at age 9; she got her first big role as the adorable daughter in the WB sitcom Raising Dad, which was cancelled after the first season in 2002, and had smaller parts in several films and TV shows. In Room, based on the 2010 best-selling novel, she plays Ma, a young woman held captive by her abductor, who still manages to create a beautiful life for her 5-year-old son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay, now 9). Jack has trouble adjusting to the outside world after he and his mother escape from the room where he's lived his entire life, and Brie has been getting rave reviews for her emotional, powerful performance.
Brie hugs Jacob Tremblay at a premiere of Room, October 13.
"I knew I didn't have to worry about the movie becoming some sort of melodramatic, gratuitous piece," Brie told Hollywood Reporter. "This was someone who wanted to show how love can thrive in dire circumstances."
Room is shaping up to be Brie's star-making role and her first Oscar nomination, but even though her competitor Saoirse Ronan is five years younger, she's already more of a veteran. Since getting an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Atonement at age 13, Saoirse has had lead roles in several wide-released movies, like The Lovely Bones (2009) and Hanna (2011). This year, she's set to break into the grown-up category, and her stunning performance in the romantic drama Brooklyn is just the ticket to get her there.
Saoirse and director John Crowley during a Q&A at Brooklyn's New York premiere, November 3.
Saoirse has talked in several interviews about how hard it was for her to find an adult role. "I had never been in kid films, so I had always thought about myself as just an actor, really," she said at the Toronto Film Festival. "But when I got to about 18, 19, up until now, really, it was tricky to showcase that you were ready to move on to that next step of taking on roles that were just a little bit more mature."
Shaking up the race is Jennifer Lawrence, 25, who is looking for her fourth nomination for Joy. Although the film still has just started to screen and the verdict is still out, Jennifer's role as the title character, a highly successful businesswoman, is pure Oscar material, and some critics are already predicting that she'll not only get nominated, but win Best Actress. On the other hand, Jennifer won in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook, and some voters might think that 25 is too young to own two Oscars.
Jennifer at a TV appearence on November 9 to promote Mockingjay: Part 2. Unlike Brie and Saoirse, she hasn't been campaigning for an Oscar, and I get the impression that she doesn't care whether she's nominated or not. Of course, she's already much more famous than they are.
"I got to play a woman across four generations, which is incredible for an actor," Jennifer said at a recent press conference for Joy. "It's sweet and f-ed up."