If Angelina Jolie Wants To Win The Best Actress Oscar In 2025, She'll Have To Overcome Netflix (2025)

Angelina Jolie is a strong contender for Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars thanks to her performance in Maria. She plays opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's drama acquired by Netflix, and the dramatic turn has brought her plenty of awards buzz. She's our predicted Best Actress winner for the 2025 Oscars at the moment even. Now that Maira is streaming on Netflix and more people - specifically Oscar voters - have the chance to witness or revisit her performance, this is the time when Jolie's campaign should be pushed extra hard for her third Oscar nomination.

The visibility that comes with Maria streaming on Netflix should bolster Angelina Jolie's Oscar chances. It's now something that most people have access to, whereas Mikey Madison (Anora) may still be missed by some, and most have yet to see Nicole Kidman (Babygirl). Netflix also boasts a strong history of securing Oscar nominations in various categories over the years, including Best Actress. That's all good for the odds of Jolie's name being mentioned when all Oscar category nominations are announced on January 17, 2025 - but Netflix's history of winning Best Actress is cause for concern.

Netflix Is 0 For 8 With Best Actress At The Oscars In The Last 6 Years

Will Angelina Jolie Make It 0 For 9?

Netflix has spent the better part of the last six years being a major force at the Oscars, and it all started with Alfonso Cuarón's Roma. Not only was that the first Netflix movie to be nominated for Best Picture, but it secured nominations in 10 categories overall - winning three. This included Yalitza Aparicio earning Netflix its first Best Actress Oscar nomination, but she was not ultimately selected as the winner. Still, Aparicio began a six-year streak where Netflix has been part of the Best Actress Oscars race, and Angelina Jolie is poised to extend it to seven years.

The issue for Jolie, though, is that the Best Actress Oscar winner has never come from a Netflix movie during this stretch. And it has not been for a lack of trying. The streamer funded several awards-friendly projects and unsurprisingly received several nominations as a result. Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story), Viola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Ana de Armas (Blonde), Annette Bening (Nyad), and Carey Mulligan (Maestro) have joined Aparicio as performers from Netflix movies to earn Best Actress Oscar nominations. Yet, none of them won.

The elusive Best Actress Oscar for Netflix is both surprising and not. There were certainly points in earlier years where Aparicio, Johansson, Davis, and Mulligan were thought of as potential winners in the category. However, Netflix has a poor history of winning Oscars across the board in major categories, not just Best Actress. The streamer is 0 for 9 in Best Picture, 0 for 8 in Best Actor, 0 for 6 in Best Supporting Actor, and 0 for 15 in both Screenplay categories. Their biggest wins have come twice in Best Director and once in Best Supporting Actress.

That's not exactly the type of history Angelina Jolie needs for the Oscars. The silver lining is that there's a good track record of Academy voters giving performances from Netflix movies nominations, so Jolie should not be at too big of a risk for missing out on her third nomination. But if she is going to win her first Best Actress Oscar and second Academy Award overall, she'll have to make history for Netflix and overcome the potential bias against the streamer.

What Netflix's Best Actress Oscars History Means For Angelina Jolie's 2025 Chances

She Could Have A Tougher Time Winning

Winning the Best Actress Oscar in 2025 is not impossible for Angelina Jolie. There's a reason why she was tipped as a contender for the category even before Maria came out. Her performance is among the best of her career, so what a win would mean for her legacy creates a compelling narrative for voters. She's got the star power, narrative, performance, and backing from a major studio to get it done. It also helps that Larraín is no stranger to directing actresses to Oscar nominations, although neither Kristen Stewart (Spencer) nor Natalie Portman (Jackie) won it all.

However, it's difficult to ignore the fact that Netflix has never gotten a Best Actress contender over the final hurdle and onto the ceremony's stage to give an acceptance speech. Perhaps part of the issue is Netflix pushing multiple performances in the category, which is happening once again this year with Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez) also a strong contender for Best Actress. This puts Netflix at odds with itself, allowing other studios to push their best option, such as what Neon is doing with the odds-on favorite Mikey Madison (Anora).

The best case scenario for Angelina Jolie winning the Best Actress Oscar is that voters come to prefer spreading out the wins across multiple films beyond just the strongest contenders, like Anora, Conclave, and The Brutalist. Although these wins came at Netflix's expense, The Favourite and Judy won their only Academy Awards in Best Actress as voters wanted to recognize the work of two excellent performers seeking their first Oscars. Jolie could follow this pattern and bring Maria a single win at the 2025 Oscars.