Match the Best Supporting Actress - 2000s Quiz

Answer: Marcia Gay Harden

With her first Academy Award nomination, Marcia Gay Harden won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of artist Lee Krasner in "Pollock". Her win was considered an upset since odd-makers had picked Kate Hudson as the favorite to take home the award.

In the biographical drama "Pollock", Krasner was the long-suffering wife and career manager of self-destructive artist Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris). The film covered Pollock's life from when he met Krasner until his fatal car accident a decade later.

The other Best Supporting Actress nominees were Judi Dench ("Chocolat"), Kate Hudson ("Almost Famous"), Frances McDormand ("Almost Famous"), and Julie Walters ("Billy Elliot").

Answer: Jennifer Connelly

Another winner with her first Academy Award nomination, Jennifer Connelly won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of strong-willed Alicia Nash in "A Beautiful Mind". Despite accolades for her performance, the casting of Connelly was criticized since the real Alicia Nash was Salvadoran; her Latina heritage wasn't mentioned in the film.

In the quasi-biographical "A Beautiful Mind", Alicia was the supportive wife of schizophrenic mathematician John Nash who fought treatment for his illness until his wife threatened to leave him.

The other contenders for the award were Helen Mirren ("Gosford Park"), Maggie Smith ("Gosford Park"), Marisa Tomei ("In the Bedroom"), and Kate Winslet ("Iris"). For Winslet, it was the second time that she had received an Academy Award nomination for portraying a character at a younger stage of life in a film in which the actress portraying the older character also received a nomination. Judi Dench received a Best Actress nomination this year for playing the older Iris in the film of the same name, and back in 1998, Winslet had received a Best Actress nomination playing young Rose in "Titanic" while Gloria Stuart received the Best Supporting Actress nomination for playing the older Rose.

Answer: Catherine Zeta-Jones

At the 75th Academy Awards ceremony, Catherine Zeta-Jones won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as murderess Velma Kelly in "Chicago". It was her first Academy Award nomination, but the sixth nomination for the Douglas family: Husband Michael Douglas had two nominations and two wins as a producer for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1976 and as an actor in "Wall Street" in 1988, and father-in-law Kirk Douglas had three acting nominations ("Champion" in 1949, "The Bad & the Beautiful" in 1952, and "Lust for Life" in 1956) and was also the recipient of an Honorary Oscar in 1996. Based on the 1975 Broadway musical, "Chicago" told the story of two 1920s flappers (Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger) who were arrested for murder and defended by a sleazy, money-hungry lawyer (Richard Gere).

The other Best Supporting Actress nominees were Kathy Bates ("About Schmidt"), Julianne Moore ("The Hours"), Queen Latifah ("Chicago"), and Meryl Streep ("Adaptation"). It was the 13th Academy Award nomination for Meryl Streep, who passed Katharine Hepburn as the most nominated actor or actress at that point in time.

Answer: Renee Zellweger

The third Academy Award nomination was a charm for Renee Zellweger who picked up the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as gruff and independent Ruby Thewes in "Cold Mountain". She had previous nominations, both in the Best Actress category, for "Bridget Jones's Diary" in 2002 and "Chicago" in 2003. Zellweger also became the first actress to win the acting "Big Five" awards (Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics' Choice) in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role as Thewes.

The American Civil War drama "Cold Mountain" featured non-Americans Jude Law and Nicole Kidman as W.P. Inman and Ada Monroe, a southern would-be couple whose relationship was disrupted by the war. Mountain woman Thewes came to stay with the cultured Monroe to help run her farm while the deserter Inman tried to make his way back to Monroe's home.

The other contenders in the Best Supporting Actress category were Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Sand and Fog"), Patricia Clarkson ("Pieces of April"), Marcia Gay Harden ("Mystic River"), and Holly Hunter ("Thirteen").

Answer: Cate Blanchett

With her second Academy Award nomination, Cate Blanchett won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator". She was previously nominated in the Best Actress category for "Elizabeth" in 1999, and she became the first actor or actress to win an Academy Award for portraying another Academy Award winner. "The Aviator" was a biographical drama about Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) and covered the years from his success in Hollywood and aviation to his disabling affliction with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Besides Hepburn, the film also featured Errol Flynn (Jude Law), Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani), Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), and other famous names from the early years of Hollywood. The other Best Supporting Actress nominees were Laura Linney ("Kinsey"), Virginia Madsen ("Sideways"), Sophie Okonedo ("Hotel Rwanda"), and Natalie Portman ("Closer").

Answer: Rachel Weisz

With her first Academy Award nomination, Rachel Weisz picked up the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the feisty activist Tessa Quayle in "The Constant Gardener". She was the first performer to win an Oscar for a film based on a John Le Carre novel.

In the film, Tessa embarked on a marriage of convenience with a mild-mannered diplomat and hobby botanist Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) so that she could travel with him to Kenya to investigate a drug trial using poor Kenyan test subjects.

Their relationship developed into a loving marriage, and when his wife mysteriously died, Quayle left his comfort zone to investigate her death. The other Best Supporting Actress contenders were Amy Adams ("June Bug"), Catherine Keener ("Capote"), Frances McDormand ("North Country"), and Michelle Williams ("Brokeback Mountain").

Answer: Jennifer Hudson

With her feature film debut, Jennifer Hudson won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Effie White in "Dreamgirls". She also won the acting "Big Five" (Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics' Choice awards) for her performance. Based on the 1981 Broadway musical, "Dreamgirls" was a fictionalized account of the establishment of Motown records and its number one girl group, the Supremes.

In the film, Jamie Foxx portrayed Curtis Taylor, Jr., a Berry Gordon, Jr. character who established Rainbow Records to promote black artists. Hudson, Beyonce Knowles, and Anika Noni Rose were members of the Dreamettes, the girl group that would become the Dreams when Curtis made Deena Jones (Knowles) the lead singer (ala Diana Ross).

The other nominees in the category were Adriana Barraza ("Babel"), Cate Blanchett ("Notes on a Scandal"), Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine"), and Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel").

At 10 years and 284 days old, Breslin was the fourth youngest nominee in the category at that time; Tatum O'Neal (1973's "Paper Moon"), Mary Badham (1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and Quinn Cummings (1977's "The Goodbye Girl") were fellow 10-year-olds who were younger than her by days when they received their nominations.

Answer: Tilda Swinton

At the 80th Academy Awards ceremony, Tilda Swinton won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as ruthless attorney Karen Crowder in "Michael Clayton". It was her first Academy Award nomination. In the film, George Clooney starred as the titular fixer for a law firm who became a target of the firm after he began investigating the death his friend who was one of the senior partners. Crowder was the general counsel for the firm who managed the less-than-legal actions.

The other Best Supporting Actress contenders were Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There"), Ruby Dee ("American Gangster"), Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement"), and Amy Ryan ("Gone Baby Gone").

At 85 years of age, Ruby Dee was the second oldest acting nominee to that date; at that point in time, Gloria Stuart was the oldest at 87 years of age for her role in 1997's "Titanic".

Answer: Penelope Cruz

With her second Academy Award nomination, Penelope Cruz picked up the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the emotionally explosive Maria Elena in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". She had previously been nominated in the Best Actress category for "Volver" in 2007, and she was the first actress from Spain to win an Oscar.

The first Spanish actor to win an Oscar was Cruz's future husband, Javier Bardem who picked up the Best Supporting Actor award a year earlier; the two would marry in 2010.

In the Woody Allen film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", American friends Vicky and Cristina (Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson) traveled to Barcelona for the summer and became involved romantically with an artist (Javier Bardem) and his volatile ex-wife Maria Elena.

The other nominees for Best Supporting Actress were Amy Adams ("Doubt"), Viola Davis ("Doubt"), Taraji P. Henson ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), and Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler").

Answer: Mo'Nique

With her first Academy Award nomination, Mo'Nique won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as abusive mother Mary Lee Johnston in "Precious". She also won the acting "Big Five" (Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics' Choice awards) for her performance.

In "Precious", Johnston was the horrendous mother of a morbidly obese and sexually abused teenager, Precious (Gabourey Sidibe), who had two children by her now-absent father. A teacher (Paula Patton) and social worker (Mariah Carey) helped Precious to get a new start on life by confronting her mother and walking out on the abusive environment.

The other nominees in the category were Penelope Cruz ("Nine"), Vera Farmiga ("Up in the Air"), Maggie Gyllenhaal ("Crazy Heart"), and Anna Kendrick ("Up in the Air").