The 2025 Golden Globe nominations went their own way, as this infamous awards show does every year. Emilia Perez may have been the subject of social media scorn for the past month, but these voters—who, yes, do tend to forecast a good chunk of Oscar nominees—bestowed Netflix’s audacious contender with 10 nominations, a record for a comedy or musical. Sing Sing may have just won a bunch of Gotham Awards and dominated the Spirit Award nominations, but the Globes almost completely ignored it, save a best-actor nod for Colman Domingo. You get the idea—there are lots of snubs and surprises this year, as ever, including a few that may shape the way we look at the rest of the awards race. Below, the Awards Insider team breaks down the biggest shockers of the morning, on both the film and the TV side of things.
SURPRISE: The Chaos of Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Both Kate Winslet and Pamela Anderson have been aggressively campaigning for modestly reviewed films that lack serious juice in the awards race, at least domestically, relative to their competition. Yet those efforts paid off today with surprise best-actress nominations for them both—one in a long line for the decorated Winslet, of course, but the first ever for Anderson, whose performance in The Last Showgirl has been hailed as a career best. Winslet, meanwhile, was recognized for her passion project Lee, a biopic of the photographer Lee Miller which she also produced. The road to the Oscars for both remains challenging, given the stiff competition, but getting nominated at the Globes at least keeps them in the conversation. (Winslet has recently been supported on the campaign trail by Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Jodie Foster, while Anderson’s Oscar-winning costar Jamie Lee Curtis remains her strongest advocate.)
Yet these nominations came at the expense of performances that have generated more acclaim from critics thus far, and were expected to figure in here: Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun, in which she gives a revelatory performance as a recovering alcoholic, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Hard Truths, a tragicomic character study anchored by its ferocious lead turn. While Ronan is quickly fading from view, with The Outrun struggling to gain much U.S. traction, Jean-Baptiste is coming off of major wins from both the New York and Los Angeles film critics’ groups, which should be enough to keep her in the thick of things. But the Globes featured every single eventual lead-acting Oscar nominee last year, so it’s more than fair to call this snub a significant setback. —David Canfield
SNUB: Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
We’d consider this to be the biggest snub of the day. Danielle Deadwyler’s bold performance in The Piano Lesson is the highlight of that film, but she was left off the best supporting actress list this year. This feels eerily familiar: in 2023, Deadwyler was also snubbed at the Globes for her lead performance in the film Till. Still, all hope is not lost, because Deadwyler did land an Indie Spirit nomination for The Piano Lesson—and maybe the Academy will feel more love towards the film. —Rebecca Ford
SURPRISE: Kate Winslet, The Regime
Oh, you thought a best drama actress nomination was all for Winslet today? She’s also nominated for an unheralded project on the TV side: The Regime, a divisive HBO satire that the Emmys almost entirely ignored. It’s worth remembering that Winslet has won five Golden Globes when considering her haul this morning, since neither of her 2024 projects has found much attention otherwise. But it’s also relevant that her performance in The Regime, as a wannabe dictator of a fictional European country, is unlike anything in her filmography, a wildly comic swing that’s impossible to pin down from one scene to the next. Certainly, between Lee and The Regime, the Globes have highlighted the star’s impressive—if long-acknowledged—range as a performer. —DC
SNUB: Sing Sing
Sing Sing came into this week with a lot of momentum after faring well at the Gothams and landing on AFI’s top 10 list. But the film’s only Globes nomination was for its lead actor, Colman Domingo. The project was glaringly left off the list for best film, drama, and supporting actor for breakout Clarence Maclin. To keep up its momentum, Sing Sing will have to continue to perform well with other voting groups in the coming months. —RF
SURPRISE: Allison Janney, The Diplomat
Allison Janney only appeared in the final two episodes of The Diplomat’s fizzy second season, but she made them count: As the imposing but seemingly flailing Vice President Grace Penn, the former West Wing star made a commanding return to political TV—shining especially in her icy scenes opposite Keri Russell. With season two’s cliffhanger setting up bigger things for her character, Janney’s Diplomat ride is already off to a very promising start. (The show performed well overall at the Globes, with additional nominations for best drama and best actress, for Russell.) —DC
SURPRISE: The Substance Overperforms
