Nomadland's Frances McDormand wins a rare third Oscar for acting

Frances McDormand
(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Frances McDormand has joined a prestigious Hollywood club with her latest Academy Award win.

McDormand on Sunday won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Nomadland, the third Academy Award of her career. She previously won in this category in 1997 for Fargo and again for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2018.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This win by McDormand was far from a lock, as Best Actress was the most competitive category at the 2021 Oscars. McDormand's fellow nominees Andra Day, Viola Davis, and Carey Mulligan were all very much in the mix after each won major prizes at previous awards shows, and some pundits thought McDormand would come up short for the award if only because she won it so recently.

But that wasn't enough to hold McDormand back from another victory — putting her just one Oscar shy of tying Hepburn's record. Talk about good company to be in, right?

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.