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Entertainment November 25, 2016
There are still three months to go until the Oscars are handed out but the Best Actress race already has two clear frontrunners.
Emma Stone and Natalie Portman are shaping up for a close sprint to the finish according to the majority of odds makers, Oscar experts and critics.
Although their new movies, Emma’s “La La Land” and Natalie’s “Jackie,” are yet to open to the public, they have already been widely seen by awards voters and critics who have been hailing Stone and Portman’s work as the best female performances of the year.
In recent weeks, both actresses have been fighting for acting’s ultimate prize like election contenders by meeting voters at private screenings of their films around Hollywood and giving countless interviews to promote their new projects.
READ MORE: Watch Emma Stones Awesome Impersonation of Britney Spears
Natalie, 35, has already won an Oscar for “Black Swan” while Emma, 28, was a nominee for “Birdman.”
The talented pair will not just be fighting it out for acting trophies but for box office dollars too as their movies will be released within a week of each other. “Jackie” is out on Dec. 2 and “La La Land” on Dec. 9.
In the romantic musical “La La Land,” Stone sings, dances and dates Ryan Gosling. She plays a struggling actress with big dreams who endures a string of humiliating rejections until her luck starts to turn, first by finding love with a jazz pianist played by Gosling and then winning a chance at stardom.
The drama “Jackie” takes place in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and casts Portman as the grieving First Lady Jackie Kennedy. She first wanders around the White House popping pills and downing booze as she struggles to cope until resolving to focus on securing her late husband’s legacy as a great leader.
READ MORE: Natalie Portman Stars as Jackie O. in New Movie (VIDEO)
Born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Emma Stone relocated to Los Angeles as a teenager to chase her acting dreams and got her big break in 2007’s “Superbad,” going on to win acclaim in a range of films from “Easy A” to “The Help” and “The Amazing Spider-Man.” She received a best supporting actress nomination for playing a recovering drug addict in 2014’s “Birdman.”
Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem to an Israeli father and American mother and, having moved to the States as a young child, has dual American and Israeli citizenship. She made her movie acting debut at 13 in “Leon” and was still in high school when she starred in blockbuster “Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace.” Natalie combined studies with stardom and completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Harvard University. She was Oscar nominated for the 2004 drama “Closer” and won the Best Actress Oscar for 2010 psychological thriller “Black Swan.”
Whichever actress wins the Oscar in February, both women are already big winners in the movie business.
