Jessie Buckley showed us how to love. Chloe Zhao taught us how to heal. Rose Byrne forced us to feel real anxiety. Eva Victor gave us a new meaning to the word ‘strength’. Lynne Ramsay let us be free. Amy Madigan proved to us that it’s never too late to be on the top of your game. Kate Hudson and Amanda Seyfried voiced to us the power of song. Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas demonstrated to us, how to be a good sister. Of course, the list goes on and on and on and on.
We were privileged to experience such all-time performances and impactful films over the course of the year. While many would argue that last year was ‘just another year’ in cinema, I found a severe lack of appreciation and coverage for the very topic I am going to talk about. In the midst of all the craze with a record breaking year for Sinners or the award breakthrough of Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, very few major Hollywood news outlets, podcasts, or even those who work in the industry have acknowledged the fantastic year it was for women in cinema.
Buckley takes the audience on a roller-coaster ride unearthing deeply rooted emotions that can only be described as magical.
In this piece, I take a deep dive into the individual lead and supporting actress performances as well as highlight female directed films and reveal a positive trend that we’ve seen in the past few award seasons. If I can’t convince you, then so be it; at the very least, I am more than happy to shed some positive light on a rarely celebrated demographic of the movie industry.
As for now, heed these words, I am confident in stating that 2025 is arguably the greatest year for women in cinema, to date.
As any professional debater would do, they start with their strongest argument. In baseball, you put your best hitters up first. In film, you put your best work first on a reel. Since I have already decided to wage a war with you, the reader, who most likely thinks my bold statement is ludicrous, blasphemous, pissy ca ca, I will begin my defense with my strongest argument.
Jessie Buckley.
Okay, so my next argument is going to be… I’m kidding, let me explain. Buckley delivers the performance of the year. Hands down. Accolades will prove it statistically, word-of-mouth from actor to critic to podcaster will voice it, and the movie Hamnet truly speaks for itself. Buckley takes the audience on a roller-coaster ride unearthing deeply rooted emotions that can only be described as magical. A supportive wife, a thankful sister, a protective mother, and a loving human being [and a disruptive theater goer]. Jessie is more of an embodiment of Agnes than Maggie O’Farrell could have ever envisioned when writing her book, Hamnet. You don't have to venture too far back in history to find an equally compelling performance, Emma Stone in 2023, but this truly ranks as one of the top performances of the 21st century, male or female.
The excellence does not stop here. It’s only the start as of a matter of fact. In any other year, Rose Byrne walks away with the biggest underdog Oscar winning performance of all time. The relatively unknown, small budget film, If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, really made a name for itself in the closing months of 2025. Following much success in numerous festivals, this film made a respectable amount in the box office and garnered significant praise amongst critics, especially for Rose Byrne’s performance. And rightfully so. The entire movie hinges on her performance. Her character’s increasing anxiety in impossible situations puts audience members through an experience that can only be described as a cinematically excellent fever dream. Rose has been applauded by everyone across the industry, especially given her comedic past and lack of opportunities to be the lead in a dramatic feature film.
My argument is further strengthened with outstanding performances by Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value, Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue, Amanda Seyfried in The Testament of Ann Lee, and Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love. All of which can seriously be considered as career best. I know Renate was wonderful in The Worst Person and Lawrence in Silver Linings; however, I believe I saw their best pieces of acting in 2025. Hudson’s performance can only be matched by her role in Almost Famous, which is the better movie overall, but Song Sung Blue was the more compelling performance. Seyfried had a similar situation as Rose Byrne, in that she was subjected to supporting roles, comedies, and or romance films following her popular role in Mamma Mia. While both excellent displays of singing and acting, Seyfried may have been more memorable in Mamma Mia but more critically acclaimed/appreciated for The Testament of Ann Lee.
Joining the list of career best performances are Chase Infiniti, who earns this distinction by default for being new to the industry, as well as Eva Victor who does it all as Writer/Actor/Director. More on Eva later…
One more person, I haven’t touched on yet is Emma Stone, who hardly needs an introduction. Stone is really the only one of the award nominated actresses who doesn’t deliver her career best performance; nonetheless, she still earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination. More evidence as to why Emma Stone is the greatest actress in Hollywood today.
Amongst all of these excellent performances, we aren’t served the stereotypical female roles of 'mother or wife to a husband' that we’ve grown accustom to in film. Refer to the Bechdel Test to go further down that (important) rabbit hole.
In 2025, we get to see a missionary, a tribute band singer, a supportive sister, a daughter of the revolutionaries, and a legit alien. Hats off to the writers because without them, these performances wouldn’t occur and these roles wouldn’t exist.
Chloe Zhao is in a league of her own.
One last point on the leading female performances for 2025 is a direct comparison to the leading male performances. I don’t want to turn this article into a male versus female actors debate, but I will use this year’s award season nominees as a brief example to support my claim. To me, across the board, I found the female performances of 2025 to be stronger, and more intriguing than nearly than the top male performances. In defense of the angry individuals reading this, this is not the case for most years, it’s just the way it worked out last year. Timothee Chalamet has swept award season for his performance in Marty Supreme, and it was brilliant, but not his best if you ask me. He may even attest to that if you asked him 10 years from now. Aside from Wagner Moura, Michael B. Jordan, and Joel Edgerton, who had their career best performances, I think all the other nominees were acknowledged more-so for being great actors with only solid performances. I’m not going to sit here and pit actor versus actress because that’s a silly game that no one wants to play; although, I will pit performance against performance and take Jessie Buckley, Rose Byrne, and Amanda Seyfried’s performances over all of the nominees for Best Actor in 2025. On the flip side, because I know I have triggered many readers at this point, I will mention the 2002 Best Actor race, in which I’m taking all 5 nominees over the Best Actress winner. Sorry Halle, you didn't deserve to catch that stray.
The elephant in the room, not just for the Academy Awards but for the movie industry as whole, is the lack of acknowledgment for female directors. Which is directly attributed to the lack of female directors in the first place. Which comes down to the question of why aren't they giving more women, more opportunities to direct larger films… I’ll let the studios answer that one.
6 out of the 12 nominees for Best Performance by a Female Actor ... were from female directed films. From 2012 to 2017, there were a total of 5 nominated performances coming from female directed films. Simple math tells us that’s 5 out of 72 nominations over 6 years. Last year surpasses that number alone.
The poacher of the elephant in the room… wait, that’s probably not a good way to phrase it. The pioneer on the path to gaining more respect for female directors, Chloe Zhao, delivers once more. I won’t shut up about Hamnet, if you hadn’t realized at this point. In short, Hamnet is my favorite film of 2025 and my somewhat biased pick for Best Picture. If it upsets OBAA and Sinners though, is it really a biased prediction? Or pure genius? Just watch, I'll be wrong. Anyways, Chloe Zhao is in a league of her own and she’s not afraid to voice her support and rally the troops so that the Best Director conversation has more female representation. And there are many names worthy of contention to keep an eye out for in the future.
Lynne Ramsay has critics and audience members split with her film Die My Love. No one is split on JLaw’s incredible performance though. The film was a complete home run to me. The same goes for Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, which I already gushed about earlier in this article. Celine Song has split reactions from Materialists coming off of the critically acclaimed Past Lives in 2023. Lesser mentioned movies that I found to be wonderful watches include Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales and Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind. Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee is another wonderful film. While none of these women secured Director or Picture nominations this award season, there is a key underlying victory for many of these films: Best Actress nominations.
Take the Golden Globes for example, rather than the Academy Awards which limits nominations to five, 6 out of the 12 nominees for Best Performance by a Female Actor in the Comedy/Musical and Drama categories combined, were from female directed films. From 2012 to 2017, there were a total of 5 nominated performances coming from female directed films. Simple math tells us that’s 5 out of 72 nominations over 6 years. Last year surpasses that number alone. 2024 saw 5/12 performances and the year before that, 2023, had 4/12 performances. So this shows, a real positive trend capped off by a record breaking 2025 in Golden Globes history. While female directors haven’t fared so well during award season, it’s clearly apparent that they’re getting the best performances out of their actors and that’s a damn good sign for things to come.
Another shout-out has to be made to the cultural phenomenon that people are calling Frozen 2.0. Maggie Kang, creator of the wildly popular KPop Demon Hunters, has swept the award season for animation and set streaming records of over 500 million views since its summer 2025 release. Kang’s success extends beyond film where her movie’s soundtrack has set records on Billboards Top 200 charts. Just another example of success in a genre, like animation, where directors don’t get talked about enough.
Finally, I save the most honorable for last. Eva Victor channels their inner Orson Welles, not a comparison just a cheeky compliment, as she writes, directs, and stars in Sorry, Baby. Eva’s film has gotten support during award season, by many critics and audience members, and from fellow actors and actresses like Julia Roberts who called Eva Victor her ‘hero’ during the 2025 Golden Globes. I loved the film. Boston bias aside, I thought this film was unique and unlike any other movie I’ve seen before… and I have watched a lot of movies. It also fits the vibe of the location which viewers who are unfamiliar with Massachusetts could not have been aware of. Bradley Cooper, along with a number of other actor-directors, has stated that acting is so much harder when directing your own film, and for Eva Victor to be nominated for Best Performance just proves how successful they were in making Sorry, Baby come to life.
Teyana Taylor is only in ... 12% of the movie and a favorite for the Oscar... that’s when you know, you did a good job.
In my humble opinion, kidding I am not humble, this year’s supporting actress category has been weaker when compared to year’s past. Not taking anything away from the wonderful nominees, but from a critic's standpoint I believe it’s attributed to the roaring success and competitiveness of the Lead Actress category. Especially when compared to one of the greatest, strongest group of nominees for the Best Supporting Actor. There you go guys, point for the men. In all seriousness, I found a handful of performances to be very moving and worthy of mention.
Amy Madigan’s record breaking 40-year gap between Oscar nominations is the feel-good story of the year. Weapons is another win in, former sketch comedy turned box office winning director, Zach Cregger’s young filmography. Amy Madigan is the definition of creepy, and she doesn’t need cheesy jump scares or a dark setting to do so. I’m talking in broad daylight, she’s as creepy as Hannibal Lecter. A win for her would be a huge win for the horror genre that often gets overlooked by The Academy as well as other award shows. Amy’s biggest competition will be Teyana Taylor who is only in the first 20 minutes of 2-hour 45-minute film, yet she makes such a big impact on the film. In 12% of the movie and a favorite for the Oscar… that’s when you know, you did a good job.
Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas shine in Sentimental Value [left]. Gwyneth Paltrow quietly gives one of her best performances in Marty Supreme. Wunmi Mosaku earns her flowers for her badass role in Sinners. And for Zoey Deutch (Nouvelle Vague), Emily Blunt (Smashing Machine), Katy O’Brian (Christy, Running Man), Son Ye-Jin (No Other Choice), and Mari Yamamato (Rental Family) I tip my cap to each of their performances. All of these supporting performances deserve recognition for making their own unique marks in a significant year for women in cinema.
As I sit in the theater, awaiting to watch (yup, you guessed it) the healing beauty of Hamnet, I see a horrifying Jessie Buckley with stitches in her head alongside my favorite actor, Christian Bale, in the trailer for The Bride. This is a prime example of two things: (1) raaaaange, Jessie Buckley has got it so don’t take her performance in Hamnet as a one-hit wonder, and (2) another female directed movie, this one from Maggie Gyllenhaal. Like Jessie and the rest of her nominees, just because these women had knock-out performances in 2025 doesn’t mean they can’t and won’t do it again in the next few years.
Let’s use the past as a way of promoting the high ceiling future for some of the aforementioned actresses throughout this article. Starting with Rose Byrne, Amanda Seyfried, and Regina Hall who have made us laugh our asses off for years, then turn around and show us some serious acting chops in dramatic films. That’s range ladies and gentlemen. From Oslo to The Worst Woman in the World to Sentimental Value, Renate Reinsve and Joachim Trier have had their own Yorgos-Stone partnership for well over a decade that is finally being acknowledged by critics, fans, and award shows. And speaking of Emma Stone, let’s not ignore her and Jennifer Lawrence’s production of a Miss Piggy movie. Act, sing, write, direct, produce... pick your poision, they can do it.
And one quick tangent on Amanda Seyfried. How long will she fly under the radar? Casually getting 2 Best Lead Actress nominations in the same year at the Golden Globes, and all people talk about is her funny carefree reactions to not winning them. I couldn’t dedicate my time to extremely detailed research, but she has to be one of a very few people in Golden Globes history to get double nominations for lead acting categories. A number have done it for directing & acting or TV & film performances, but I couldn’t find many who solely accomplished it in film for two leading performances. Anyways, that is incredible! Some top director needs to give Seyfried the keys to her first Oscar. Could it be a female director? Who knows, but someone ought to do it.
How long will [Amanda Seyfried] fly under the radar? ... she has to be one of a very few people in Golden Globes history to get double nominations for (2) lead acting categories.
Just because I used the term ‘career best’ in describing a number of performances for 2025, does not mean these actresses ‘peaked’ or aren’t capable of better performances in the future. Take Meryl Streep for example. In 1978, we see her in The Deer Hunter and people are like ‘oh man, that’s her best performance in her young career’. A year later, we get Kramer vs. Kramer... yeah that’s her career best right there. Insert Sophie’s Choice in ’82 or The Devil Wears Prada in ’06 or Mamma Mia in ’08. While Meryl is an unfair, outlying example to use, she’s living proof that just because you’ve had your career best, doesn’t mean you can’t do it again, and again, and again. That’s the mindset of the greatest actors/actresses of all time. "My next movie is going to be my best performance yet."
Actors and directors shan’t be the only ones mentioned in this review of women in 2025 cinema. We consistently see large contributions by females in other categories come award season. Like Best Original Song (2 noms), Best Documentary (2 noms), Best Costume Design (sweep), Best Documentary Short (3 noms), and the very first year for Achievement in Casting (4 noms). Nearly every nominee for Best Production Design and Best Hair & Make-Up are represented by teams of men and women too.
A well-deserved shout-out for all the individuals that make up the crew, casting associates, background/extras, marketing, animators, orchestra members, artists, designers, and others that do not get recognized during the Award Season but are truly the backbone of each and every film production.
In a(n) article ... for the most anticipated films of 2026, there were only 2 female directed films in the top 40. Ouch.
Alliteration.
I just wanted you to take the time to acknowledge it. See how I just did it again?
The main question for 2026 and years to come is: can female directors keep this momentum going? Or is a down year inevitable after such a successful 2025? Preliminary research of confirmed movie releases do not paint the prettiest of pictures. (I did it again)
In a very extensive/cumulative article for the most anticipated films of 2026, there were only 2 female directed films in the top 40. Ouch. Those were Greta Gerwig’s Narnia and Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. Fear not, most anticipated hardly ever correlates with most successful at year’s end. However, it’s still concerning that media outlets aren’t even trying to promote certain female directed movies unless they make some buzz at a festival. They can’t go out on a limb and say Olivia Wilde’s The Invite will be the funniest movie of the year? Or Giselle Bonilla’s The Musical will be critically acclaimed? Lauren Montgomery is making an Ang: The Last Airbender movie, but I’ve hardly heard anything about it. I had to dig and dig through articles to muster up enough female directed films coming out in 2026 to even write this paragraph, and I suppose I’m still missing some… this is disappointing. At the very least, I hope we get more coverage as the year goes on across all media outlets. Until then, let’s just appreciate the phenomenal year that 2025 has been for women in cinema and hope we get more years like the last, in the extended future.
