AFT Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

This is the fourth category of the 6th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them and drawn from a pool of approximately 95 films. Click here to see previous years of this category.

Honorable mentions:
Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Carrie MacLemore (Damsels in Distress), Joanna Kulig (Elles), Samantha Barks (Les Miserables), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Amy Adams (The Master), Frances McDormand (Moonrise Kingdom)

Runners-up:
Kelly Reilly (Flight), Pauline Collins (Quartet), Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises), Heather Graham (About Cherry), Anais Demoustier (Elles)

The winner:
Ann Dowd (Compliance) was magnificently believable as an overly willing fast food restaurant manager who let a call to duty turn into a living nightmare.

Other nominees:
Olivia Colman (Hyde Park on Hudson) immediately enlivened a dull film with her presence as the heavily sarcastic, easily flummoxed Queen Elizabeth. Helen Hunt (The Sessions) gave a mature, refreshing performance as a sex therapist with the utmost respect for her job and its impact. Arielle Kebbel (The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best) was a welcome presence as the reality check for an overeager band who got drawn in by its allure somewhere along the way. Sheridan Smith (Quartet) stood out in the middle of a thoroughly talented cast of established actors as the kindly director of a retirement home for musicians.