OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp in "WICKED"

Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Pansy in "HARD TRUTHS"

Kani Kusruti as Prabha in "ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT"

Saoirse Ronan as Rona in "THE OUTRUN"

Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva in "I'M STILL HERE"

AND THE WINNER:

MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE AS PANSY IN "HARD TRUTHS"

This is the first win and fourth nomination for Marianne Jean-Baptiste. She was previously nominated indiviually and with the ensemble of Secrets & Lies (1996). She also received a nomination alongside the ensemble of Hard Truths (2024). She wins for her performance as Pansy in Hard Truths.

If you had told me at the beginning of 2024 that Marianne Jean-Baptiste reuniting on film with director Mike Leigh after their last collaboration thirty years prior would be my winning performance for leading actress honestly I would've understood. I mean earlier this year I even tweeted that Marianne's performance was the one I was most looking forward to and once I saw the film at the BFI London Film Festival I could not think of anyone but Marianne being my leading actress choice.

It truly is impressive of Marianne as Pansy managed to give both the most dramatic and humorous performance of the year nailing all the comic lines of dialogue early on and absolutely selling the fall into sadness so well. I do not know how anyone who has seen Hard Truths could not just proclaim MJB as having delivered the finest performance of the year regardless of genre, gender or size of part. She is a powerful force as Pansy from the very beginning playing this deeply flawed woman so fiercely. I don't think I'm soon to forget her tough interactions with basically other characters and while I say this I do love this character especially when we later understand how hurt she is by many other forces in her world.

It is such a pleasure to see Mike Leigh give Marianne this moment to shine as she sat and allowed Brenda Blethyn her Secrets & Lies co-star to play the flashier part thirty years earlier. I do expect to watch this film countless more times throughout my life as I appreciate this performance so much and believe to be among the centuries greatest.