2008 Woodie Awards
Where is the love?
Here are four actresses who haven't gotten the credit and recognition they deserve from audiences and critics
Deanna Cioppa '07
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Some of you among my most faithful (thanks, Mom) might remember a piece I wrote last year concerning underappreciated actors-sidekicks, comic relief, etc. Well, I think it's time for the ladies to have a turn. The task is a bit more daunting this time around. It seems that Hollywood is split these days between gorgeous young starlets banking on their bodies and more mature women esteemed for their acting chops and not their looks. So where do you go to find unrecognized talent with or without drop-dead beauty? I found what I was looking for in film and T.V. alike; the somewhat absurd friend of the female lead, the tough as nails suburban mom, the intimidatingly artsy girl-I beg you give them their due. Read on. . .
Vera Farmiga:
Thirty-three year old Farmiga first caught my eye as Teresa Gazelle in Running Scared (2006). There is a definite roughness to Farmiga's looks and character which bordered on trashy in this film, until you took a moment to really look at her face. Aside from decidedly "strong" features, there is something haunted, something sad in her eyes which not only makes her more believable as a lower-class mom in Jersey, but seems to make everything else around her more believable as well; part of what makes the audience dubious toward her husband's crude behavior and suspect dealings is the years it has put into his wife's eyes. Farmiga recently appeared as a strong yet vulnerable psychiatrist in The Departed opposite Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. What remains to be seen is if Farmiga can play a "softer" role. I, for one, am confident that she can.
Ginnifer Goodwin:
Goodwin wasn't given much to work with in 2004's Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!. Playing the cute and curvy friend of a waif-like Kate Bosworth made me worry that Goodwin would always be typecast as just that-the quirky friend whose job it is to highlight just how gorgeous the leading lady is. Well, Goodwin has got quirky down. There's a twitch to her features that made even the more banal lines funny, at least in delivery. Goodwin's proved herself adept at drama as well, turning in a sensitive and believable performance as Johnny Cash's first wife in Walk the Line. Perhaps her most challenging role to date, however, has been in HBO's series Big Love, a look into the life of a modern-day polygamous family in Utah. As the young third wife Margene Heffman, Goodwin straddles the life of a newlywed with the complex system of interrelationships that accompanies polygamy. Margene is 23, and though she loves her family, it is a lonely life. Goodwin captures perfectly the mixed bag of Margene's feelings-a love-struck zest for life and a growing realization of just what she has gotten herself into. Quirks and all, Goodwin is one to watch.
Vera Farmiga:
Thirty-three year old Farmiga first caught my eye as Teresa Gazelle in Running Scared (2006). There is a definite roughness to Farmiga's looks and character which bordered on trashy in this film, until you took a moment to really look at her face. Aside from decidedly "strong" features, there is something haunted, something sad in her eyes which not only makes her more believable as a lower-class mom in Jersey, but seems to make everything else around her more believable as well; part of what makes the audience dubious toward her husband's crude behavior and suspect dealings is the years it has put into his wife's eyes. Farmiga recently appeared as a strong yet vulnerable psychiatrist in The Departed opposite Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. What remains to be seen is if Farmiga can play a "softer" role. I, for one, am confident that she can.
Ginnifer Goodwin:
Goodwin wasn't given much to work with in 2004's Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!. Playing the cute and curvy friend of a waif-like Kate Bosworth made me worry that Goodwin would always be typecast as just that-the quirky friend whose job it is to highlight just how gorgeous the leading lady is. Well, Goodwin has got quirky down. There's a twitch to her features that made even the more banal lines funny, at least in delivery. Goodwin's proved herself adept at drama as well, turning in a sensitive and believable performance as Johnny Cash's first wife in Walk the Line. Perhaps her most challenging role to date, however, has been in HBO's series Big Love, a look into the life of a modern-day polygamous family in Utah. As the young third wife Margene Heffman, Goodwin straddles the life of a newlywed with the complex system of interrelationships that accompanies polygamy. Margene is 23, and though she loves her family, it is a lonely life. Goodwin captures perfectly the mixed bag of Margene's feelings-a love-struck zest for life and a growing realization of just what she has gotten herself into. Quirks and all, Goodwin is one to watch.