We already took an early look at the 2021 Academy Awards main collective categories, but now it’s time to take a look at the main individual categories, where both Chloe Zhao and Chadwick Boseman could make history.
Once again, everything’s ready for a lot of acting and directing careers to change on April 25.
Event: Academy Awards
Location: Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles
Time: Sunday, April 25, 8:00 p.m. ET
Host: None
Television: ABC
Live Stream: ABC Live
2021 Academy Awards Betting Odds
Best Actor
- Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) -2000
- Anthony Hopkins (The Father) +750
- Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) +1600
- Gary Oldman (Mank) +2500
- Steven Yuen (Minari) +2500
You won’t find any other individual with such good 2021 Academy Awards betting odds than Chadwick Boseman. Boseman died last August, but not before majestically portraying (according to the critics) Levee Green in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Chadwick Boseman already won Best Actor at the Critics’ Choice Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. The last posthumous actor to win the big one was Peter Finch back in 1976 for Network.
This would be Boseman’s first and only Academy Award.
Anthony Hopkins comes next. The veteran won Best Actor in 1992 for Silence of the Lambs but has failed in getting a second one twice; first in 1994 for The Remains of the Day and later in 1996 for Nixon.
Riz Ahmed won at several low-key award ceremonies, but that shouldn’t be enough to pull an upset here.
Last year, Best Actor went to Joaquin Phoenix for Joker.
Best Actress
- Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) -150
- Frances McDormand (The Nomadland) +275
- Andra Day (The United States vs Billie Holliday) +400
- Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) +1000
- Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) +1500
Carey Mulligan comes as the favorite here. In Promising Young Woman, Mulligan (Cassandra Thomas) seeks to avenge her best friend, who was a victim of rape.
Mulligan lost at the Golden Globe Awards (Andra Day won for The United States vs Billie Holiday), but won at the Critics’ Choice Awards, National Board of Review, and Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.
This would also be Mulligan’s first Academy Award. Previously, she won Best Actress in a Leading Role at the British Academy Awards for An Education in 2009.
Not only Andra Day could pull off an upset here, but Frances McDormand could also do it too as Nomadland is the heavy favorite to win Best Picture, and she already won twice in 1997 (Fargo) and 2018 (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).
Last year, Renee Zellweger won Best Actress for Judy.
Best Director
- Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) -1000
- David Fincher (Mank) +650
- Lee Isaac (Minari) +1100
- Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) +2000
- Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round) +2000
As mentioned before, Nomadland is the heavy favorite to win Best Picture, and Chloe Zhao directed it. Nomadland is Zhao’s third film; she previously directed Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider, and after Nomadland she took over Eternals.
Zhao and Nomadland already won at the Golden Globe Awards. She also won Best Director at the Critics’ Choice Awards.
No matter the outcome, Chloe Zhao already made history as the first woman of color to receive an Academy Awards nomination for Best Director. This is also the first time ever that two women have been nominated for this particular award.
Last year, Best Director went to Bong Joon-ho for Parasite. To date, Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, 2010) is the only woman to have won Best Director.
Best Supporting Actor
- Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) -450
- Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7) +350
- Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami) +550
- Paul Raci (Sound of Metal) +16000
- LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) +2000
Daniel Kaluuya is the heavy favorite here. He was nominated in 2018 (Best Actor) for Get Out but lost to Gary Oldman (Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour). Now, Kaluuya has a really good chance of winning his first Academy Award.
He already won at the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and his performance in Judas and the Black Messiah also earned him a nomination in the British Academy Film Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Sacha Baron Cohen left Borat behind and did a great job in The Trial of the Chicago 7, but apparently not as good as Kaluuya.
Last year, Brad Pitt won Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Mahershala Ali was the last actor of color to win this award (Green Book, 2018).
Best Supporting Actress
- Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) +150
- Youn Yuh-jung (Minari) +200
- Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy) +350
- Olivia Colman (The Father) +600
- Amanda Seyfried (Mank) +800
There’s not a heavy favorite here, but Maria Bakalova is still the favorite thanks to her work in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. The Tutar Sagdiyev role already made her win at the Critics’ Choice Awards, Toronto Film Critics Awards, and Utah Film Critics Awards.
Youn Yuh-jung comes next; she already won Best Supporting Actress at several ceremony awards, including Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards, DiscussingFilm Critic Awards, and Hollywood Critics Association.
If there’s going to be an upset here, I think it would be the veteran Glenn Close.
Last year, Laura Dern won the award for Marriage Story.
You can check the complete Nominees list in all categories on Oscars.org.
Don’t forget to take a look to all the betting lines we have for you!
