Discuss the race for Best Supporting Actor/Actress here.

The nominees:

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin in “Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children” (New Line)
Djimon Hounsou in “Blood Diamond” (Warner Bros.)
Eddie Murphy in “Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed” (Warner Bros

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Adriana Barraza in “Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)
Cate Blanchett in “Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight)
Abigail Breslin in “Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Rinko Kikuchi in “Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)

My Rankings:

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
1. Alan Arkin in “Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
2. Eddie Murphy in “Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount)
3. Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children” (New Line)
4. Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed” (Warner Bros
5. Djimon Hounsou in “Blood Diamond” (Warner Bros.)

Very, very tight category. I could honestly see any of them excpet Hounsou winning.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
1. Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount)
.
2. Abigail Breslin in “Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
3. Rinko Kikuchi in “Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)
4. Cate Blanchett in “Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight)
5. Adriana Barraza in “Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)

Until JHud haters find an actress to rally ehind (I've haerd all the namesexcept Barraza tossed out as potential upsetters), she's winning.

American Idol contestant or youngest winner ever? I think they'll go for AI Girl.

I like how Wahlberg was one of those "well, maybe" nominees beforehand, and now he's the only Departed actor with a nod. A surprise, to me at least.

Tatum O'Neal would still beat her by a few months.

Abigail FRICKEN BETTER WIN!!!

DAMNIT!

I really think the Jack Nicholson snub and Leonardo DiCaprio getting nominated for The Blood Diamond has a lot to do with the category confusion of WB having FYC ads for Jack Nicholson Best Actor and Leonardo for Best Supporting Actor. Stupid Warner Bros.

I actually didn't like Abigal's performance that much. She was good, but not award worthy.

Blanchett or Kikuchi for me.

From the ones Ive seen for Supporting - I'd put Rinko Kikuchi just ahead of Jenifer Hudson who i thought was great. Two incredible performances - i'd be happy with either winning. I presume Blanchett is as good as usual. Wasnt that impressed by Barazza and havnt seen LMS.

I think Breslin is the biggest threat to Jennifer Hudson.

Boy would it suck for Dakota Fanning of Breslin won.

Wow my BSActor guesses were 5 for 5, that feels good. And as long as I'm bragging, Jon could you give me a little acknowledgement on arguing that Mark Wahlberg will get a nomination from passion votes since day one?

Best Supporting Actress... I could care less. Jennifer Hudson really didn't impress me. Just look at the scenes between her and Beyonce, and it's clear they emote far better as singers then actresses. It's a fine medium, but I don't understand all the hype.

Because you're not a dick the majority of the time, fine. The idea of the movie double-nomming seemed a little odd, especially with Mark Wahlberg. It was obvious though many people wanted him in when he started winning all those critics awards and the GG nom.

So yeah, kudos.

I just noticed Emily Blunt didn't get supporting. That's a surprise. Didn't Streep say she was the best young actress she'd worked with in a long time, possibly ever?

The Best Supporting Actor race is the most interesting one to me right now except for the BP race.

I think that Mark Wahlberg is the only one really out of competition here, the other four may very well win. I think it'll be down to Murphy and Arkin with the win depending on how things go otherwise for LMS.

I would rank Mark Wahlberg ahead of both Jackie Earle Haley and Djimon Hounsou although it is still very unlikely that he'd win. If The Departed does end up sweeping its awards, he could be caught up in the wave of it all.

I think we might have a big surprise in this category, like Hounsou winning.

I really doubt Arkin will win. He was memorable in the movie but deserving of a win is stretching quite a bit.
I'd say Haley is out of the running too. If Little Children had more momentum, he'd be in contention but there really doesn't seem to be much steam behind his nod.

I really think Hounsou might win with Mark being the dark horse candidate.

Anyone think Norbit might affect Murphy's chances in any way?

I think Murphy's lack of taking chances in his career will affect him, honestly, the guy never did an Adam Sandler or Robbin Williams just maybe star in a few indie/small films, he's always been Mr. Hollywood, never wanting to go for broke in a role, show some true acting chops (which the guy obviously has) instead he's gonna be in freakin Norbit.

Dont know if people have enough respect for him in Hollywood to hand him the oscar, will be close.

^bwahahahahahhahh

lets go marky mark!

Abigail Breslin on The Dakota Fanning Show:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AcNDzrfU0Ss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed>

Lol, finally someone makes fun of Dakota Fanning... perfect. SNL is definitely on the rebound.

That was hillarious. I was actually laughing. yes, laughing at an snl skit.

Jennifer Hudson is a lock simply because i can't imagine anyone else winning in the supporting actress category. maybe adriana barraza but she'd still have a pretty hard time.

i don't see the best supporting actor as a lock though. i know eddie murphy's won pretty much everything. but there's always the possibility that even though he's wone verything the vote for every award was pretty close and he just barely came out on top every time. hard to tell when that would be the case. but if it was, it would only take a single event to tip the scale's in someone else's favor. lack of overall support for dreamgirls + norbit would be reason enough. i think wahlberg, arkin, and hounsou are still very much in the race. and since i do believe supporting actress, actress, and actor (well, not entirely sure about this one but locked enough) are locks this would be the category to have a surprise. housou is an amazing actor who's been nominated before. but has yet to win. wahlberg and arkin have roles that are perfect for the category, moreso arkin. and he is perfect in the role which helps. if little miss sunshine was to actually win best picture, it would also help a lot.

so i think it will be arkin vs murphy and i'm tempted to give the edge to alan arkin. but i have to think about it, it's still pretty hard to ignore that murphy has won pretty much everything at this point.

In a year where a veteran actor has the chance to overtake the favorite in both the supporting and lead actor categories for a win..I wonder if Adriana Barraza is seen as a veteran actress or a newcomer in the eyes of the academy? I guess even then she might not have the nostalgia thing going for her the way Alan Arkin and Peter O'Toole do but I could still see her taking the Oscar.

If it happens:

Adriana Barrazza=Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Hudson=Kate Hudson

The Hudson curse?

I see no upset in the Best Supporting Actress category, but still I don't predict Murphy to win Best Sup. Actor. It just seems so...off. Especially with the lack of general support Dreamgirls got from the Academy. Wahlberg is very good, but I don't see him taking it either with the role reminding me a lot of William Hurt in A History of Violence. It will be down to Earle and Arkin. Earle grabbed many many critics awards while Arkin reminds likely because of the general LMS love.

See, Adriana Barraza can't be Marcia Gay Harden. Kate Hudson's problem was probably that she split votes with Frances McDormand. Jennifer Hudson doesn't have that problem. If anyone has that problem, it's Barraza, who will split votes with Rinko.