Best Actress nominees at the 2025 Oscars: the full list
All five Best Actress nominees at the 2025 Oscars, from winner Mikey Madison to Demi Moore and Brazil's Fernanda Torres, and the films behind each role.
Best Actress was one of the most open races of the 2025 Oscars, with five very different performances. Demi Moore had momentum, Fernanda Torres carried the hopes of an entire country, and Mikey Madison ended the night with the statuette.
The five Best Actress nominees of 2025
1. Mikey Madison, Anora · Winner
A Brooklyn dancer marries the son of a Russian oligarch, and his family comes to undo the wedding.
- Director: Sean Baker
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
Worth it if: you want a funny and painful fairy tale in reverse.
Oscars: Winner: Best Actress
2. Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
The unlikely friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, long before the events of The Wizard of Oz.
- Director: Jon M. Chu
- Genre: Musical, Fantasy
Worth it if: you love Broadway, magic and big musical numbers.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actress
3. Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
A cartel boss hires a lawyer to help start over with a new identity, in a crime story told as a musical.
- Director: Jacques Audiard
- Genre: Musical, Crime
Worth it if: you are curious about bold, divisive musicals.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actress
4. Demi Moore, The Substance
A fading TV star takes a black market drug that creates a younger version of herself.
- Director: Coralie Fargeat
- Genre: Horror
Worth it if: you can handle extreme, satirical body horror.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actress
5. Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here
Eunice Paiva rebuilds her family after the dictatorship takes her husband, Rubens, in 1971.
- Director: Walter Salles
- Genre: Drama, History
Worth it if: you want a restrained, powerful story of memory and resistance.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actress
Who won Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars?
Mikey Madison won Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars for Anora, beating Cynthia Erivo, Karla Sofía Gascón, Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres.
Which one is your favorite?
Pick your favorite on Rankiew: rate every film, write reviews, build lists and start clubs to talk movies with friends.
More from the series: Oscars 2025: every nominee and winner, category by category
