Which of this year's nominees for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award do you think should take home the Oscar?
Check out below the interviews and clips of each nominated performance; then, vote in our poll at the end of this article!
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"
Leigh received her first Academy Award nomination for her performance in Quentin Tarantino's western, playing a prisoner on her way to be hanged, and you can tell from her shiner and blood-stained face that it hasn't been an easy trip.
"You know, she's had a rough go, " Leigh told CBS News' Tracy Smith. "I mean, she has a black eye, and her face is scratched up and bruised. And I remember the very first day of shooting just taking a picture and sending it to my mom, just saying that, 'This is as good as it's gonna get.'"Leigh has given acclaimed performances in such films as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High, " "Last Exit to Brooklyn, " "Single White Female, " and "Georgia, " but the roles have been fewer in recent years, when she's concentrated on writing. "I just remember one day actually, my brother-in-law was like, 'You know, all it takes is a call from, like, Quentin Tarantino for everything to turn around.' And I just kind of laughed, because it seemed so - not impossible, but how many movies does he make, you know? And how many times is there gonna be a part that I could be right for? Will I even get to audition? It didn't seem like a reality that was going to happen.
"And then it happened."
Watch a clip of Leigh, Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson from "The Hateful Eight":
Rooney Mara, "Carol"
In 1950s New York City, Therese, a department store shop girl (Mara), becomes strangely attracted to an elegant, married older woman (Cate Blanchett).
The two begin an affair, and it is perhaps the first time that Therese - one who generally goes along with the flow - makes demands and pursues what she wants, which in this case bucks societal expectations of the day.At the London Film Festival Mara said, "Chemistry isn't something you can create - very much the same way in real life. You either have chemistry with someone or you don't. I felt lucky in that it was easy for me to feel chemistry towards Cate, not only because she's Cate, but my character spent much of the film just sort of in awe of this woman and enamored with her, and that was very easy for me to embody."
Mara previously received a Best Actress nomination for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
Watch a clip of Mara and Blanchett from "Carol":
Rachel McAdams, "Spotlight"
As Sacha Pfeiffer, part of the Boston Globe team of investigative reporters who uncover the Catholic Church's cover-up of the abuse of children by priests in "Spotlight, " McAdams played up the reporter's compassionate aspect of Pfeiffer, who was the youngest reporter on the Spotlight team, and the only woman.
