Best Actress 2020+

My top choices in the order I would place them on my Academy ballot if I were allowed to vote. In other words, this is my top five, but I acknowledge that this list is already influenced by awards buzz. They are not in order of my preference. Instead, the actors whom I think would theoretically benefit the most from my vote are at the top.

VASILISA PERELYGINA, Beanpole (Дылда)

BARBARA SUKOWA, Deux (Two of Us)

SIDNEY FLANIGAN, Never Rarely Sometimes Always

VIOLA DAVIS, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

FRANCES McDormand, Nomadland

Also loved:
Tsai Chen, Lucky Grandma (幸運的奶奶)
Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Beanpole (Дылда)
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Yuliya Vysotskaya, Dear Comrades! (Дорогие Товарищи!)
Evan Rachel Wood, Kajillionaire
Wu Ke-Xi, Nina Wu (灼人秘密)

Apologies to:
Itsaso Arana (The August Virgin), Pamela Mendoza Arpi (Song without a Name), Radha Blank (The Forty-Year-Old Version), Carrie Coon (The Nest), Zahia Dehar (An Easy Girl), Clara Riedenstein (The Portuguese Woman), Ia Sukhitashvili (Beginning), and Abigél Szőke (Those Who Remained), whose films I have not yet seen.

Related:
My Best Actress picks from past years (2004-2019)
My Best Actor picks from 2020+
My Best Supporting Actress picks from 2020+
My Best Supporting Actor picks from 2020+