Ever since the 2018 Oscar nominations came out in late January, the anticipation over who the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will choose as the winners has slowly built. At this point, the excitement is at an all-time high, as the 90th annual award show will air on March 4. This year the Oscar nominees included more diversity than usual, including many women nominated for 2018 Oscars whom you might not know about. Even though you probably are familiar with each of the actors nominated for their roles in some of 2017's best films, you probably don't know even a fraction of the total number of women nominated for Academy Awards.
As we all know, in the past, men have overwhelmingly dominated the Oscar nominations — and while this year isn't too different, it's also important to celebrate and acknowledge the women who have earned nods this year. A few have even made history, like Rachel Morrison, who became the first female cinematographer nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar ever. While those kinds of triumphs are encouraging, a few other categories — like Sound Editing and Visual Effects — still lack any female nominees, so there's still a long way to go.
As you'll probably notice, even though many women have worked behind the scenes in the top films of the past year, the majority of them are white, showcasing the lack of racial diversity at the Oscars. The Academy Awards clearly still don't represent a perfectly un-biased competition, but regardless, each of the female nominees below deserves to be celebrated for their work.
1Sally Hawkins
Hawkins' starring role in The Shape Of Water earned her a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
2Frances McDormand
Frances McDormand stars in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, for which she is nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She previously won Best Actress at the 1996 Oscars for her role in Fargo.
3Margot Robbie
Robbie nailed her performance in I, Tonya, and she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
4Saoirse Ronan
Ronan got her third Academy Award nomination overall and second for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her part in Lady Bird.
5Meryl Streep
At this point, the Oscars should just be called the Streeps. The actor earned her 21st nomination with her role in The Post. Streep received her first nomination in 1979 for her supporting role in The Deer Hunter.
6Mary J. Blige
Blige could be on her way to becoming an EGOT, because just this year she earned nominations for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Original Song. Her role and track, "Mighty River," both shined in Mudbound.
7Allison Janney
Janney earned herself a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role with I, Tonya.
8Lesley Manville
The actors plays Daniel Day Lewis' character's sister in Phantom Thread, a role for which she received a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
9Laurie Metcalf
The former Roseanne star played everybody's mom in Lady Bird. Metcalf is now nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
10Octavia Spencer
This year, Spencer received her third Oscar nomination, for Best Actress in a Supporting Role thanks to The Shape of Water. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, this nomination makes Spencer the first Black female actor to earn two consecutive Oscar-nominations, as in 2017, she was nominated for her role in Hidden Figures.
11Greta Gerwig
Gerwig is nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay with her Best Picture-nominated film, Lady Bird.
12Emily V. Gordon
Gordon co-wrote The Big Sick with her real-life partner, Kumail Nanjiani. Together they're nominated for Best Original Screenplay at this year's Oscars.
13Vanessa Taylor
Taylor co-wrote The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro, and the two are nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
14Dee Rees
Rees wrote and directed Mudbound, and she is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
15Nora Twomey
Twomey is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film with her movie, The Breadwinner.
16Anita Doron
Doron is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film with Twomey for writing The Breadwinner.
17Dorota Kobiela
Kobiela is the co-director and co-writer of Loving Vincent, which is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.
18Ildikó Enyedi
Enyedi wrote and directed On Body and Soul, a Hungarian movie nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
19Rachel Morrison
Morrison made history with her nod for Best Cinematography, as her work on Mudbound made her the first female cinematographer nominated for an Oscar.
20Jacqueline Durran
Durran is nominated for Best Costume Design her work two different films: Beauty And The Beast and Darkest Hour.
21Consolata Boyle
Boyle worked as the costume designer for the film Victoria and Abdul, and she is nominated for Best Costume Design.
22Agnès Varda
Varda is a co-director of the documentary, Faces Places, which is nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
23Laura Checkoway
Checkoway directed the short documentary, Edith+Eddie. She's nominated for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 2018 Oscars.
24Kate Davis
Davis directed and edited the short documentary, Traffic Stop, which is nominated for Best Documentary (Short Subject).
25Tatiana S. Riegel
Riegel was the editor of I, Tonya, which is nominated for Best Film Editing at the 2018 Oscars. She has an impressive resume with her work on other films and TV shows, like The Way Way Back, United States of Tara, and Lars and the Real Girl.
26Lucy Sibbick
Sibbick is nominated along with Kazuhiro Tsuji and David Malinowski for Best Makeup & Hairstyling. She worked as a prosthetic hair artist and prosthetic makeup artist on Darkest Hour, a Best Picture nominee.
27Emilie Georges
Georges is a producer of Call Me By Your Name, which means she's nominated for Best Picture.
28Lisa Bruce
Bruce's work as a producer of Darkest Hour earned her a Best Picture nomination.
29Emma Thomas
Thomas produced Dunkirk along with Christopher Nolan, and she will receive a Best Picture award should Dunkirk win.
30Evelyn O'Neill
O'Neill produced the Best Picture nominee Lady Bird, along with Scott Rudin and Eli Bush.
31Megan Ellison
Ellison co-produced Phantom Thread, another Best Picture-nominated film. She has three Oscar nominations from films she's produced so far.
32JoAnne Sellar
Sellar worked as a producer on the film Phantom Thread, earning her a nomination for Best Picture.
33Amy Pascal
Pascal produced The Post along with Steven Spielberg. Together, they're nominated for Best Picture.
34Kristie Macosko Krieger
In addition to Pascal and Spielberg, Krieger co-producedThe Post, which earned her a nomination for Best Picture.
35Darla K. Anderson
Anderson co-produced the Pixar film, Coco, which is up for Best Animated Feature Film.
36Lori Forte
Forte is an Oscar nominee for her role as a producer on the nominated animated film, Ferdinand.
37Rosalie Varda
Rosalie Varda produced Faces Places, which is nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
38Julie Goldman
As a producer of the Best Documentary Feature nominee, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Goldman will receive an Oscar should the film win.
39Joslyn Barnes
Barnes co-produced the documentary Strong Island, earning her a nod for Best Documentary Feature Film.
40Elaine McMillion Sheldon
McMillion Sheldon directed Heroin(e), a short doc nominated for Best Documentary (Short Subject).
41Taura Stinson
Stinson wrote the song "Mighty River" for Mudbound. She is nominated for Best Original Song for her work, which Mary J Blige co-wrote and performed.
42Diane Warren
Warren wrote the song "Stand Up For Something" with Common for the film Marshall. The two musicians are nominated for Best Original Song.
43Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Anderson-Lopez co-wrote the music and lyrics for "Remember Me" for the film Coco. She and her husband famously wrote "Let It Go" for Frozen, and again they're nominated for Best Original Song.
44Sarah Greenwood
Greenwood has two nominations this year for Best Production Design as she worked on both Beauty and the Beast and Darkest Hour.
45Katie Spencer
Spencer worked in Set Decoration for Beauty and the Beast and Darkest Hour. Like Greenwood, she's nominated for Best Production Design at the 2018 Oscars.
46Alessandra Querzola
Querzola led set decoration of Blade Runner 2049, and she's nominated for Best Production Design.
47Dana Murray
Murray is a producer of Pixar's animated short, Lou, which is nominated for Best Animated Short Film.
48Ru Kuwahata
Kuwahata co-directed Negative Space, a nominee for Best Animated Short Film.
49Rachel Shenton
You may know Shenton as the character Lily Summers in Freeform's Switched at Birth, but the actor also wrote the short film, The Silent Child. She's a nominee for Best Animated Short Film.
50Katja Benrath
Benrath directed the live action short film, Watu Wote/All of Us, which is nominated for Best Short Film (Live Action).
51Mary H. Ellis
Ellis is the only woman nominated in the category, Best Sound Mixing. She's honored for her work on the film Baby Driver.
These Oscar-nominated women all helped make 2017 a special time for movies, and they all deserve our attention this Oscars.
Correction: A previous version of this story included inaccurate information about the cinematographer and producer of Heroin(e). The story and headline have since been updated.
