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Shailene Woodly

You know that moment when you go on IMDb and you realize that an actor you hate is probably going to be nominated for an Oscar? That's how I felt when I realized that Shailene Woodly, AKA the star of the worst TV show ever “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” has a prime supporting role in Oscar favorite The Descendants. Alexander Payne is great at getting his actresses Oscar nominations, with both Kathy Bates and Virginia Madsen getting nominated in his films. In addition, being the only actress under 30 in the running will benefit Woodly's chances. Woodly is not the sure thing that Spencer and Redgrave are, but it won't take much to guarantee her a spot.

Berenice Bejo

Unless you're a really, really big fan of the historical rom-com A Knight's Tale, or are related to Berenice Bejo, you have no idea who Berenice Bejo is. For those of you who are not part of the Knight's Tale Fan Club or the Bejo family, Bejo is a French actress who is looking to make her breakthrough this year in the silent film The Artist, currently the frontrunner to win Best Picture. Considering she has no dialogue the bias against foreign language films here, but as she is an unknown actress, not having a big weepy speech might be a drawback. Still, if she has a showy enough part, and love for The Artist continues to grow, Bejo seems like a safe bet in a wide-open field.

Melissa McCarthy

A year ago, almost nobody had heard of Melissa McCarthy. If you had shown me a picture of her, I might have recognized her as the chick from Mike and Molly. But by stealing every scene she was in in Bridesmaids, McCarthy has become a certified star, similar to what Zack Galifianakis pulled off with The Hangover. But Bridesmaids is recognized as a much better film than The Hangover, and one way that The Academy could award it is by nominating McCarthy. This is not an unprecedented move, considering that Robert Downey Jr. was nominated a few years ago for Tropic Thunder. A SAG nomination will be the make-or-break here; if she gets nominated there, an Oscar nom will follow.

Carey Mulligan

Even though I'm pretty sure she's, like, 12, Mulligan is quickly becoming a respected and acclaimed actress. This year she looks to score her second Oscar nomination by appearing in supporting roles in two very dark, hard-to-swallow films. As jealous as we all might be of the fact that she gets to play the love interest of both Ryan Gosling in Drive and Michael Fassbender in Shame, we cannot let that jealousy cloud our judgment. Right now it seems that her juicier part (I really hope no pun intended) is in Shame, but if the Academy gets turned off by what is supposed to turn them on, her chances there are about nil. Like several other contenders in the supporting races, Mulligan's best shot is to have one of her leading men build a lot of support, and then to ride their coattails. It is highly unlikely that Mulligan will be nominated for either performance if her lead is not in the race as well.

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