A standing favorite and a complete unknown comprise the rest of our top five. Nobody knew who Carrie Coon was heading into 2014. One caustic turn as Ben Affleck’s twin sister later, her career is in terrific shape. Coon plays the woman being told of the mystery, and her reactions to the unfolding drama are core to the appeal of Gone Girl. Coon was also lauded as the fourth best Breakthrough Perfomance of the year for the role.

Meanwhile, Jessica Chastain is a handful of 2014 Mama votes away from earning four consecutive top 10 finishes in Best Actress. After finishing 7th in 2012 and 2nd in 2013, she returns in fifth place for her work as a dedicated scientist and daughter in Interstellar. Suffice to say that our staff loves Chastain in basically everything.

Sixth and seventh place go to Tilda Swinton and Laura Dern. Swinton mesmerizes as what I can only describe as a PR exec for Hitler. Her entire purpose on the world’s last working train is to prevent would-be insurgents from inciting rebellion. And she is creepy as fuck in doing so. Nobody taunts a dude about losing an arm like Tilda Swinton. For her part, Dern earns lavish praise for being placed in a Jessie Royce-Landis-ish position. She plays the mother of Reese Witherspoon, an actress only a few years younger than her. Dern’s character dies when Witherspoon’s is still young, yet she is so inspirational that her daughter begins a journey in order to feel closer to her. Between The Fault in Our Stars and Wild, Laura Dern is officially back.

Our final selections in Best Supporting Actress are Carmen Ejogo, Rene Russo and Jillian Bell. Ejogo portrays Coretta Scott King, the wife of a spiritual and civil rights leader who happens to consider marital fidelity problematic. Ejogo brings tremendous grace to the role. Russo tries to hire a guy to boost her television program’s ratings. First, she gets blackmailed and then her situation gets really bad. Russo is one of the great actresses of our era, and it’s always nice to watch her remind the world of this fact. As for Bell, she kiss-fights Jonah Hill during the most unforgettable scene of the year. Anybody who has ever had a creepy roommate will absolutely adore her portrayal, and we believe that she has the potential to follow the same career trajectory as Rebel Wilson if not surpass her.

Narrowly missing selection this year are Anna Kendrick and Meryl Streep for Into the Woods, Jessica Chastain (yes, again) for A Most Violent Year, Sienna Miller for American Sniper, and Tilda Swinton and Saoirse Ronan for Grand Budapest Hotel. Split movie votes really hurt the candidacies of a few actresses this year.


2015 Calvin Awards
Calvins Intro
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture

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