Best Female Lead
Elizabeth Olsen
FilmMartha Marcy May Marlene
Elizabeth Olsen is not only a vivacious and engaging young actress, but she is also a full time student at New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. Last January, The Silent House, which Olsen starred in, showcased at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The Silent House is the re-imagining of the successful Uruguayan psychological horror-thriller, La Casa Muda. The movie is based on a true story which occurred during the late 1940′s in a small village in Uruguay. It focuses on a girl (Olsen), who second by second intends to leave the house unharmed, but ends up discovering the dark secret it hides. The film was directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, the team behind the terrifying shark tale Open Water.
Recently, Olsen began filming Liberal Arts starring as Zibby opposite Josh Radnor. The film follows a thirty-something guy (Radnor) and a coed (Olsen) who spark a connection due to their mutual love for books and music, though their age difference complicates their fledgling relationship.
This past spring, Olsen finished filming Red Lights starring opposite Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy, and Sigourney Weaver. The film centers on a psychologist and her assistant, whose study of paranormal activity leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic. The film will be released in 2012.
Olsen is also very familiar to the stage as she understudied on the Off-Broadway play Dust and the Broadway play Impressionism while attending college. Other workshops include Bottom of the World by Lucy Thurber (Atlantic Theatre Company) and The Living Newspaper (DRD Theatricals). Her training includes attending the Atlantic Acting School and Moscow Art Theatre School.
Michelle Williams
FilmMy Week With Marilyn
Michelle Williams' performances have established her as one of Hollywood's most sought-after and respected actors earning her two Academy Award nominations. Williams was last seen in Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling. Williams' captivating performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress as well as Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations and her fourth Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Williams is currently in production on Sam Raimi's OZ: The Great and Powerful, opposite James Franco, where she stars as Glinda the Good Witch.
Williams' performance in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, released in 2005, earned her a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award as well as an Independent Spirit Award, SAG, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Following, Williams was nominated for a 2007 Independent Spirit Award for "Best Actress" for her performance in Wim Wenders' Land of Plenty. In her first collaboration with Kelly Reichardt on her critically acclaimed independent film Wendy and Lucy, Williams' moving and evocative performance as "Wendy" garnered a Toronto Film Critics Award for Best Actress in 2009 and her third Independent Spirit Award nomination.
In 2004, Williams shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination with her fellow actors for Thomas McCarthy's The Station Agent for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2005, Williams was honored by the Motion Picture Club as "Female Star of Tomorrow."
Williams' other film credits include her second collaboration with director Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cuttoff, Martin Scorcese's Shutter Island, Sharon Maguire's Incendiary, Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State, Sandra Goldbacher's Me Without You, and Andrew Fleming's Dick.
On television, Williams starred opposite Chloë Sevigny in Martha Coolidge's HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk 2. She also had a six-year run as "Jen Lindley" on the WB's hit television series Dawson's Creek. The series premiered in 1998 and remained one of the WB's top-rated shows throughout its run.
On stage, Williams received glowing reviews for her portrayal of Varya in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She also achieved critical acclaim for her run in Mike Leigh's Smelling a Rat at the Samuel Beckett Theatre and her off-Broadway debut in Killer Joe.
Lauren Ambrose
FilmThink of Me
Lauren Ambrose is most known for her critically acclaimed work on the HBO series Six Feet Under as Claire Fisher. In the five seasons the show was on the air, Ambrose received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2002 and 2003). Other film credits include Where the Wild Things Are, by Spike Jonze, Love and Other Possible Pursuits directed by Don Roos and starring Natalie Portman, Cold Souls opposite Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson and David Strathairn, A Dog Year, opposite Jeff Bridges, Starting Out In the Evening, opposite Frank Langella and Lili Taylor, Diggers, opposite Paul Rudd, and Can't Hardly Wait. Ambrose won the OutFest L.A. Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actress for her lead performances in both Swimming and Psycho Beach Party. On Broadway she has appeared in Exit the King, opposite Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush, Clifford Odet's Awake and Sing! opposite Mark Ruffalo and the London National Theatre production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child. Ambrose can currently be seen on the critically acclaimed Starz series Torchwood: Miracle Day. This fall, Ambrose will be seen in David Wain's Wanderlust with Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. She currently resides in New York City with her husband and son.
Rachel Harris
FilmNatural Selection
Rachael Harris stole her scenes as the pitch-perfect, irritating girlfriend of Ed Helms in the number one R-rated comedy of all time, The Hangover. She had previously co-starred with Helms as a correspondent on The Daily Show. Harris may be seen starring opposite Steve Zahn in Diary of a Wimpy Kid directed by Thor Freudenthal for Fox; and the sequel Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.
Other film credits include: Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, Starsky & Hutch, Kicking & Screaming and Daddy Day Care.
On the small screen, she may be seen on CBS' Gary Unmarried guest starring on Starz's Party Down, and playing Gary Cole's wife on The Good Guys. Previously, Harris appeared on ABC's Cougar Town and Showtime's Fat Actress.
Harris also recently appeared in the Hollywood Bowl production of RENT in Los Angeles.
Harris was born in Worthington, Ohio and currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Adepero Oduye
FilmPariah
Adepero Oduye hails from Brooklyn, New York City by way of Nigeria. She is a graduate of Cornell University; and has studied acting with Wynn Handman, Austin Pendleton, and Susan Batson. Her name is pronounced "Add-eh-pair-o Oh-due-yay." Her theatre credits include Danai Gurira's play Eclipsed, at the Yale Repertory Theatre; The Bluest Eye, at the Hartford Stage and Long Wharf Theatres; and Fela!, in the AEA workshop, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones.
Ms. Oduye first starred for writer/director Dee Rees as Alike in the award-winning short film Pariah. Among the other shorts that she has starred in are Gabriele Zamparini's Water; Russell Costanzo's The Tested; and Nadiah Hamzah's Sub Rosa.
She has made guest appearances on such television programs as Louie and two Law & Order series. Ms. Oduye credits the Center for Family Life in Brooklyn (CFL) for helping her find her voice as an actor; in 2011, CFL honored her at its Celebrating Community event.
