AFT Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

This is the fourth category of the 8th 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 156 films. Click here to see previous years of this category.

Honorable mentions:
Alexandra Roach (One Chance), Amanda Bauer (Forev), Amy Ryan (Birdman), Andrea Riseborough (Birdman), Ashley Aufderheide (Infinitely Polar Bear), Carrie Coon (Gone Girl), Cécile De France (Chinese Puzzle), Elle Fanning (Young Ones), Friedrike Kempter (A Coffee in Berlin), Gaby Hoffmann (Manhattan Romance), Georgina Minter-Brown (Frequencies), Hailee Steinfeld (Begin Again), Imogene Wolodarsky (Infinitely Polar Bear), Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year), Jessica Chastain (Interstellar), Joey King (Wish I Was Here), Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game), Kelly Reilly (Chinese Puzzle), Kelly Thornton (Life's a Breeze), Kristen Stewart (Still Alice), Liane Balaban (The Grand Seduction), Lorelei Linklater (Boyhood), Marta Torné (Tasting Menu), Mary Steenburgen (Song One), Mélanie Laurent (Enemy), Melanie Lynskey (Happy Christmas), Melissa McCarthy (St. Vincent), Mia Wasikowska (The Double), Naomi Watts (St. Vincent), Orla O'Rourke (Calvary), Sandrine Holt (Chinese Puzzle), Sarah Gadon (Enemy), Valeria Tedeschi (Viva la Liberta), Vera Vitali (Blind), Zoe Saldana (Infinitely Polar Bear)

Runners-up:
Krysten Ritter (Listen Up Philip)
Stephanie Ellis (The Sleepwalker)
Imelda Staunton (Pride)
Valeria Tedeschi (Human Capital)
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

The winner:
Emma Stone (Birdman) managed to break through into a serious adult role as the daughter of an actor struggling to get her life back together, eternally sardonic and responding to the wealth of drama going on around her.

Other nominees:
Caitlin FitzGerald (Manhattan Romance) followed up her “Masters of Sex” role with an equally forward-thinking film about sex and relationships, and her optimism and open-minded approach to romance was absolutely terrific. Naomi Watts (Birdman) is skilled at playing an actress, and her portrait of a big star outwardly confident but inwardly frightened to launch her career was enormously watchable. Mackenzie Foy (Interstellar) was the standout of a film starring several Oscar winners, demonstrating determination and a love for the unknown as a young girl with her eye on the future. Kerry Condon (Dom Hemingway) was sweet and lovely as always as the one bright spot of this blunt and grotesque film filled with characters worthy of existing in its universe.