Continuing my rundown of personal Oscar nominations, today I’ll look at the Best Supporting Actress category.

While I had a hard time coming up with a long list of supporting male performances, it was a much different story for the women. I had to cut several names just to keep my list of honorable mentions manageable.

I could have named four different women from the cast of Women Talking alone, but I’ll be judicious and mention Jessie Buckley and Claire Foy, embodying two very different perspectives on the debate at the center of that film.

Thuso Mbedu in The Woman King and Carey Mulligan in She Said are two performers who were promoted for supporting actress despite arguably being co-leads in their films. My Best Actress lineup is even more stacked than this one, so I’ll mention them here.

Janelle Monae gave a delightfully deceptive performance in Glass Onion playing two characters, including one who is often pretending to be the other.

Nina Hoss does so much with just her eyes as the long-suffering musical and personal partner of Lydia Tár in TÁR.

Isabella Rossellini gives an award-worthy voice performance in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Her Nana Connie epitomizes the movie’s gentle soul.

Finally, Chloe East’s brief appearance in The Fabelmans is a master class in scene-stealing supporting turns.

Any of those women could have made my final list, but here are the actresses who did:

Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
One of two slots on my list that overlap with the Academy’s. Condon is wonderful as a woman who sees through the existential weight blanketing everyone on the island and manages — with equal parts hope and regret — to escape.

Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All At Once
The other pick I have in common with the Academy. I’m so glad Hsu got this nomination alongside her co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, because I feared Curtis would be the film’s only recognition in this category. Nothing against Curtis’ performance, which is fine, but Hsu is the emotional engine that keeps this wildly inventive movie grounded.

Lashana Lynch – The Woman King
Coming out of The Woman King, I was sure Lynch would railroad her way to not just a nomination but a sure win for her performance as the fierce but nurturing Izogie. Nothing shocked me more than her complete absence from the race. She owns every frame of this movie as a badass hero exuding charm and soul.

Keke Palmer – Nope
Palmer’s infectious personality is put to great use in Jordan Peele’s sci-fi/horror spectacular. Her Emerald Haywood is the perfect counterpart to Daniel Kaluuya’s low-key OJ — they are completely unalike but you totally buy their shared sibling history. Palmer’s beautiful, expressive face is a welcome port in the storm when shit starts getting crazy.

Tandi Wright – Pearl
Relatively unknown outside of her native New Zealand, Wright delivers a ferocious, emotionally wrought performance as the stern mother of Mia Goth’s Pearl. Slipping in and out of German as fluidly as Lydia Tár, she quietly and intensely simmers before boiling over in a remarkable scene of righteous fury.

And the winner is… Lashana Lynch. She may not have gotten the recognition she deserved elsewhere, but she’ll damn sure get it here.