The biggest night in the movie calendar is officially over, with the97th Academy Awardsbringing plenty of glitz, glam, and a few shocks in another stellar night of entertainment. From surprise wins in the Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature categories, much to the beaming glee of millions of viewers, to the expected triumph of almost all the acting nominees, the2025 Oscars proved to be an apt celebration of a year of fantastic filmmaking.
AlongsideAnora’s Best Picture prize and a win forSean Bakerin the Best Director category, the other four biggest awards of the night went to the supporting and leading performances, withAdrien Brody,Zoe Saldaña,Kieran Culkin, andMikey Madisonall leaving the Dolby Theater with their hands clutching a Golden Statue. But just how deserving were they? Taking into account the depth of their performances, the demands of their roles, and simply how well-received their turns were,here’s a ranking of all four Oscar-winning performances.
4Zoe Saldaña as Rita Mora Castro
Best Supporting Actress - ‘Emilia Pérez’ (2024)
Marred by controversy,Emilia Pérez’s journey to Oscars night spiraled from theheady heights of 13 nominationsto the certain likelihood of not winning almost all of them. In fact, aside from Best Original Song,Emilia Pérez’s best chance of picking up a golden statue came in the shape of Saldaña and her “supporting” performance as lawyer Rita. The movie follows Rita as she is hired to helpKarla Sofía Gascón’s titularEmilia Pérezcomplete gender reassignment surgery and escape her life as the leader of a high-profile drug cartel.
With almost every aspect ofEmilia Pérezproving ultimately divisive, it is refreshing to see such universal support for Saldaña’s performance. With theenigmatic demands of this genre-jumping tale often falling at the feet of Saldaña, it’s impressive she manages to handle each with the poise of a veteran. Alas,Saldaña’s triumphis yet another in a long line of “category fraud” wins, with nothing about this lengthy turn as Rita suggesting she is the supporting actress as opposed to the movie’s lead.
Emilia Perez
3Kieran Culkin as Benjamin “Benji” Kaplan
Best Supporting Actor - ‘A Real Pain’ (2024)
Of all the acting prizes handed out at this year’s Oscars ceremony,Kieran Culkin’s Best Supporting Actor win was the one most certain. Culkin’s portrayal of Benjamin “Benji” Kaplan deserved its unending praise, withA Real Painfollowing him and his cousin David’s (Jesse Eisenberg) trip to Poland on a heritage tour to try and better understand the plight of their adored late Grandmother.
Fizzing with vibrancy from his first moments on screen, Culkin’s driving energy throughoutA Real Painprovidesthe perfect counter-balance for Eisenberg’s calm and collected David. However, behind each broad smile and eager deed of good will is the pain of a person lost, someonestruggling to find their identity amidst terrifying grief. Culkin more than deserves this award as thebest candidate in his category, but some suggestions that his character isn’t too dissimilar from the man himself have caused a minority to suggest the award was better given elsewhere.
A Real Pain
2Mikey Madison as Anora “Ani” Mikheeva
Best Actress - ‘Anora’ (2024)
There’s no doubting that this year’s biggest winner was Baker’sAnora, with theCannes Palme d’Or-winning comedy-dramataking home five awards, including a record-setting four for Baker alone.Anora’s fifth prize went the way of the extremely talented Madison, the woman behind the movie’s titular character. A sex worker from Brighton Beach, Ani quickly enters a whirlwind romance with the son of a Russian oligarch, and the pair spontaneously head to Vegas to marry. However, after his parents find out about the marriage, they head to America to enact their disapproval.
Anorais a wild rollercoaster ride that flies from sharp comedy to an ending sure to rip hearts right out of their chests. Pivotal to this weaving success is Madison, whosegorgeous, gripping, hilarious portrayal of Ani is simply stunning. The sort of performance to define a career, Madison had to fend off perhaps the strongest competition of all the acting categories, namely from bothDemi MooreandFernanda Torres, withher tough opposition making this win all the more impressive.
1Adrien Brody as László Tóth
Best Actor - ‘The Brutalist’ (2024)
Brady Corbet’sThe Brutalistmay have missed out on several categories that many saw it winning, but theBest Actor prize for Brodywas the award it most deserved,even if his speech felt as long as the movie itself. Brody stars as acclaimed architect László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor who heads to the US on the hunt for the American Dream for himself, his wife, and his niece. Upon arrival, abject poverty and the bigotry of his new community leave Tóth with nowhere to turn, only forGuy Pearce’s wealthy industrial client, Harrison Lee Van Buren, to offer Tóth the job of a lifetime. The question, however, is if it’s too good to be true.
After becomingtheyoungest actor ever, at 29, to win the Best Actor prize at the Academy Awards, Brody returned to the category over two decades later and won again, maintaining his record by beatingTimothée Chalamet. Brody did it with a turn that most of his peers could only ever dream of crafting. This three-and-a-half-hour epic rests almost entirely on Brody’s shoulders, withthis captivating performance of a man on the edge, struggling to balance confusing desires with the will to do the right thing, simply awe-inspiring.In years to come, this performance willsurely stand the test of time, with László Tóth a character that exudes the experiences so many have had, currently have, and will continue to, unfortunately, face.
