Zoe Saldana's BAFTA win makes her an Oscar frontrunner
What's the story
The 2025 awards season is already seeing fierce competition in the Best Supporting Actress category, with Zoe Saldana and Ariana Grande emerging as leading contenders.
Saldana's role as lawyer Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Perez has been lauded, while Grande's portrayal of Glinda in Wicked has also garnered significant praise.
Recently, Saldana made a major move toward Oscar glory by winning Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTAs.
Here's how she's dominating the awards circuit.
Award momentum
Saldana's Golden Globe, BAFTA wins strengthen Oscar prospects
Saldana recently bested Grande at the 78th BAFTAs and the 82nd Golden Globes, winning Best Performance by a Female Actor in A Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture.
The win comes after Emilia Perez's major win at the Cannes Film Festival and several nominations for Saldana's performance from different awarding bodies.
Notably, she was also a co-winner for Best Ensemble Cast at Cannes with her Emilia Perez co-stars.
Critics' acclaim
Saldana's winning streak continues across critics' awards
Along with her BAFTA and Golden Globe win, Saldana has also been named Best Supporting Actress at the Dallas-Forth Worth Film Critics Association Awards, the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards.
She also won the recently-held Critics Choice Awards, where Grande was once again a contender in the same category.
With this winning streak, it seems major awards this season are favoring Saldana over Grande.
Award trends
Golden Globes and Oscars share history of similar winners
Historically, the Golden Globes and the Oscars have frequently picked the same winners in their Best Supporting Actress categories.
Of the 81 supporting female actors overall, 37 have been picked by both awarding bodies.
The trend is even more pronounced in recent years, with 15 out of 24 in this century and seven out of 10 in the last decade being honored by both organizations.