Film fans can find some of the best actresses of modern-day just by looking at the Oscar nominations of the last 20 years. Some of these actresses are veterans who have been nominated across multiple decades. Others are people who have appeared more often in the past ten years or so, getting multiple nominations over just a few years.
Tiebreakers will be the number of wins since 2000, followed by the first to get to that number of wins, and then the same rules for nominations. The last two winners with four nominations and one win since 2000 will remain tied.
Jennifer Lawrence / Viola Davis - 4 (Tie)
Jennifer Lawrence has been nominated for Winter's Bone (2010), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2013), and Joy (2015). She won the award for Best Actress for her role in Silver Linings Playbook. She is also known as one of the most successful actors of the 2010s.
Viola Davis has been nominated for Doubt (2008), The Help (2011), Fences (2016), and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020). She won Best Supporting Actress for Fences. She was also a contender to win for The Help, but Meryl Streep won that year. Both Lawrence and Davis are known for roles in comic book movie series, with Lawrence playing Mystique in the X-Men films and Davis playing Amanda Waller in the Suicide Squad films.
Penelope Cruz/Michelle Williams (Tie) - 4
Two more actresses who are coming in with 4 are Penelope Cruz and Michelle Williams. Cruz has been nominated for acting in Volver (2006), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Nine (2009), and Parallel Mothers (2021). Cruz won Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She was also nominated for an Emmy and a SAG Award for her role in the TV series The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
Williams, meanwhile, was nominated for Brokeback Mountain (Supporting, 2006), Blue Valentine (Lead, 2011), My Week with Marilyn (Lead, 2012), and Manchester by the Sea (Supporting, 2017). She has yet to take home a statue, but has nabbed herself an Emmy for Fosse/Verdon.
Frances McDormand - 4
Frances McDormand's Oscar nominations for acting since 2000 have been for Almost Famous (2000), North Country (2005), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Nomadland (2020). She won the award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Nomadland.
McDormand was previously nominated for Mississippi Burning and Fargo, winning for the latter. She is one of just seven actors with three or more Oscar wins for acting. She additionally won for Best Picture for Nomadland.
Renee Zellweger - 4
Renee Zellweger has been nominated for her performances in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Chicago (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), and Judy (2019). She won supporting for Cold Mountain and lead for Judy. Three of her four nominations have been for Best Actress.
She has also received awards attention for Jerry Maguire, Nurse Betty, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Miss Potter. She has won four SAG Awards (including one ensemble win) out of five nominations.
Kate Winslet - 5
Kate Winslet's acting nominations since 2000 were for the films Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008), and Steve Jobs (2015). She seemed to be an often-nominated actor who never won for many years until she won Best Actress for The Reader.
Four of her nominations have been for Best Actress, and three have been for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet was previously nominated for her roles in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Titanic (1997). Titanic is sometimes seen as having Winslet's best-known character, but her other roles are good alternatives too. She has also won three BAFTAs, two Emmys, a Grammy, and four SAG Awards.
Nicole Kidman - 5
Nicole Kidman has been nominated for Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Hours (2002), Rabbit Hole (2010), Lion (2016), and Being the Ricardos (2021). Her role in The Hours won her the Oscar. All her nominations were for lead except for Lion.
Kidman has also received awards attention for To Die For, Cold Mountain, Nine, and the TV series Big Little Lies. She has won a BAFTA, two Emmys, and one SAG Award.
Judi Dench - 6
Dame Judi Dench has been nominated for an Oscar six times since 2000. These films include Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Philomena (2013), and Belfast (2021). She was previously nominated for Mrs. Brown (1997) and Shakespeare in Love (1998), winning for the latter.
Dench is one of just 15 people with eight or more Oscar nominations in acting categories. Five of her eight nominations have been for Best Actress. She has won 10 BAFTAs, two SAG Awards, and a Tony.
Amy Adams - 6
Amy Adams has six Oscar nominations, putting her behind only Glenn Close with eight nominations for the most-nominated living actor with no wins. Many think Adams should have won an Academy Award by now. Her nods have been for the films Junebug (2005), Doubt (2008), The Fighter (2010), The Master (2012), American Hustle (2013), and Vice (2018).
All of her nominations have been for supporting except for American Hustle. Adams has won four Critics' Choice Awards and an Independent Spirit Award.
Cate Blanchett - 6
Cate Blanchett has been nominated since 2000 for The Aviator (2004), Notes on a Scandal (2006), I'm Not There (2007), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Blue Jasmine (2013), and Carol (2015). She won for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine. Blanchett previously received a nomination for Elizabeth (1998). Four of her seven nominations came for Best Actress.
Blanchett joined two exclusive clubs in 2007. She became the first woman to be nominated for the same role twice. Her two nods for Queen Elizabeth I made her the fourth of just five people to do so. She followed Bing Crosby as Chuck O'Malley, Peter O'Toole as Henry II, and Paul Newman as Eddie Felson, and was followed herself by Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa. 2007 also saw her become the 11th of just 12 people to be nominated for lead and supporting in the same year. While she wasn't nominated for The Lord of the Rings, the three movies are Blanchett's highest-rated on IMDb.
Meryl Streep - 9
Meryl Streep's nine acting nominations since 2000 are more than all but eight actors have received in their whole careers. These were for Adaptation (2002), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Doubt (2008), Julie & Julia (2009), The Iron Lady (2011), August: Osage County (2013), Into the Woods (2014), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), and The Post (2017). She won the award for The Iron Lady. She has a total of 21 acting nominations (17 for Best Actress), nine more than anyone else. She previously won for both Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie's Choice.
Since 1979, the longest time she has gone between nominations is five years (1990-1995). Meryl Streep has had at least one nomination in five different decades. As Jared Leto once quipped, her nominations seem to be California State Law. She has yet to be nominated in the 2020s.