HOLLYWOOD—So we’ve chatted about the contenders for Best Supporting Actor and who is likely to walk away with Oscar in that category. It is now time for us to focus on Best Supporting Actress. This category similar to Best Supporting Actor seems to have its front-runner who has been racking up prizes all awards season.

We’ll talk more about Angela Bassett a bit later, but let’s look at all the candidates: Angela Bassett “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Hong Chau “The Whale,” Kerry Condon “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Jamie Lee Curtis “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Stephanie Hsu “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

So let’s look at co-stars Curtis and Hsu, both have memorable performances in that sci-fi adventure that is a bit of a mind-bender that not everyone loves. It is not an easy movie to follow, but these two ladies can suffer the same fate as co-stars competing for Best Supporting Actor, cancelling one another out. It is never easy to pick one co-star over another in the same movie, but it sometimes works when you’re a massive scene stealer in a movie. Look at Octavia Spencer in “The Help” who bested her co-star Jessica Chastain.

There is Condon who is another comedic scene stealer like her co-star Keoghan in “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Condon is a dark horse in my opinion because I loved her in that dark comedy, and she has more momentum than people think. Her biggest competition lies in Bassett and Chau. Chau delivers a quiet, but riveting performance in a small movie as she shows kindness to an overweight male who is a shut-in.

Out of all the contenders, Chau is showcasing dramatic chops in a powerful movie which Academy members love. I mean if we’re being honest, Bassett is in an action movie, Condon in a dark comedy, and Curtis and Hsu in sci-fi. That leaves Chau in the one performance that actually is considered a drama that tends to win big at the Academy Awards.

We have talked about everyone except Bassett, who is long overdue for her Oscar after being overlooked nearly 30 years ago to the date for her performance in the 1992 biopic “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” where she portrayed Tina Turner. I might be bias, but what Bassett did in that movie sent chills through my bones it was amazing and seeing her lose to Holly Hunter for “The Piano” was just heartbreaking. She is not nominated for Best Actress this time around; she is nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She has won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards and I expect her to win the Screen Actors Guild Awards for her performance in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” that is a quiet, but resonating performance.

What does Bassett have that the other ladies don’t? History, she was overlooked 3 decades ago, and with Oscar, they love to deliver the prize to those in the industry who have been overlooked or as I like to call it, are ‘due’ for the awards. This is the Academy’s way of making up for that mishap years ago by crowning her the victor, it doesn’t mean her performance isn’t worthy. It is, but I have seen better work from the actress that has gone overlooked in previous years.

Bassett has the momentum and this is her award to lose, but if there is anyone who is a threat, it is Chau who could be the dark horse that delivers and upset that people not expect, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it transpired.