Best Actress Winners at the Algonquin Area Public Library District

Are you getting ready for the Academy Awards? 

Catch up on past award winners, like Academy Award winners for Best Actress.  All of the films, starring the award winners, can be found at the Algonquin Area Public Library District.

84th Academy Awards

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD IRO

A surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. One of the 20th century's most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male-dominated world. (PG-13, 105 min)

83rd Academy Awards

Natalie Portman, Black Swan: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD BLA

A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet. An insecure ballet dancer wins the lead in Swan Lake but slowly loses her grip on sanity when a seductive newcomer is out to steal her role. (R, 108 min)

82nd Academy Awards

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD BLI

Michael Oher is a homeless African-American teenager who is from a broken home. Mike is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, Mike faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome - as both a football player and student. (PG-13, 129 min)

81st Academy Awards

Kate Winslet, The Reader: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD REA

Post-WWII, Germany. Michael Berg is a teenager who becomes ill and is helped by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their relationship deepens. Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears. Years later, Michael is stunned to find Hanna back in his life, only this time she is being tried as a war criminal. (R, 124 min)

80th Academy Awards

Marion Cotlillard, La Vie en Rose: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD FOREIGN FRENCH VIE

Edith Piaf was raised in a brothel, wrested from the only life she knew by her father so they could join the circus, Edith spent her teen years on the streets. She is finally "rescued" by a crime figure who gives her career a start, and, ultimately, her international success and final illness. She was always frail, sickly, malnourished, and wildly temperamental. She was often on drugs or alcohol, and she was always in search of true love. Middleweight boxer, Marcel Cerdan, captures her heart and gives her something to live for, besides her music--at least for a while. (PG-13, 140 min)

79th Academy Awards

Helen Mirren, The Queen: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD QUE

An intimate, moving portrait of Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair following the untimely death of Princess Diana. The Queen's restrained reaction causes a public relations debacle that Prime Minister Blair must defuse. The two struggle to reach a compromise between what was a private tragedy for the Royal family and the public's demand for an open display of mourning. PG-13, 103 min)

78th Academy Awards

Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD WAL

Traces Johnny Cash's childhood, including his distant father to his early attempts at a music career. At this point in his life he marries his girlfriend Vivian. During a tour with singer/musicians Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, he encounters singer June Carter, and his love for her, and her rejection of him through the years, spurs him into drugs, drinking, and depression. June is both a sassy spitfire singer whose charm breaks hearts and eventually becomes a sympathetic friend who tries to help Johnny get over her. A true love story of two country music stars. (PG-13, 136 min)

77th Academy Awards

Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD

Frankie is a former boxing manager, who initially refuses to train Maggie due to her gender and age. With her talent and his coaching the spirited young fighter rises through the ranks of women's boxing, the pair form a touching bond in the process. (PG-13, 131 min)

76th Academy Awards

Charlize Theron, Monster: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD MON

Homeless most of her life, Wuornos subsisted by working as a prostitute. One night, after a john attacksed her, Aileen pulled a gun and killed the man. Aileen's loathing for the men who pay her for sex became so extreme that she began killing her customers regardless of their behavior. (R, 109 min)

75th Academy Awards

Nicole Kidman, The Hours: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD HOU

In 1929, Virginia Woolf is starting to write her novel, 'Mrs. Dalloway, ' under the care of doctors and family. In 1951, Laura Brown is planning for her husband's birthday, but is preoccupied with reading Woolf's novel. In 2001, Clarrisa Vaughn is planning an award party for her friend, an author dying of AIDS. Taking place over one day, all three stories are interconnected with the novel: one is writing it, one is reading it, and one is living it. (PG-13, 114 min)

74th Academy Awards

Halle Berry, Monster’s Ball: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD MON

Hank and Leticia inhabit stark, queasy realities of the contemporary South, he as a death row corrections officer and she as the soon-to-be widow of an inmate whose execution Hank helps conduct. In the aftermath of the execution, both lose their children to tragic deaths and they form an unlikely bond. (R, 111 min) 

73rd Academy Awards

Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD ERI

Erin Brockovich is a feisty young mother who convinces attorney Ed Masry to hire her and promptly stumbles upon a momumental law case against a giant corporation. Erin's determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. The two begin an incredible and sometimes hilarious fight that will bring a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees. (R, 131 min)

72nd Academy Awards

Hilary Swank, Boys Don’t Cry: Find it in the Library @ Call # DVD BOY

A true story about hope fear, and the courage it takes to be yourself. (R, 118 min)