THEN AND NOW: 15 best actress Oscar winners

Bates starred in the adaptation of the famed Stephen King novel as Annie Wilkes, a superfan of author Paul Sheldon (James Caan), whom she kidnaps and forces to continue writing his series of romance novels starring the character Misery.

She also won a Golden Globe for this performance.

Bates, 73, was nominated for three more Oscars, all in the supporting actress category: In 1999 for "Primary Colors," in 2003 for "About Schmidt," and in 2020 for "Richard Jewell."

In 2022, Bates is set to appear in the adaptation of the beloved 1970 novel "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," alongside Rachel McAdams, Benny Safdie, and Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret.

Foster won her second best leading actress Oscar for her role as the iconic FBI agent Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs." Her costar Anthony Hopkins also won for his performance as the cannibalistic genius Hannibal Lecter.

Foster's first win came in 1989 for "The Accused." She was also nominated for her supporting role in the 1976 film "Taxi Driver."

Foster, 59, is still garnering Oscar buzz. Although she wasn't nominated for the Academy Award, she won a Golden Globe in 2021 for her performance in "The Mauritanian" as real-life lawyer Nancy Hollander, who defended a man wrongfully imprisoned inside Guantánamo Bay after getting accused of orchestrating 9/11.

Thompson played the main character Margaret Schlegel in the film adaptation of the 1910 novel "Howards End."

She was nominated again the very next year for her lead performance in "The Remains of the Day," reuniting her with "Howards End" director James Ivory and for her supporting performance in "In the Name of the Father," a rare double nomination.

Thompson, 62, is one of the most beloved and decorated British actresses of all time, but her most recent Oscar win is actually for best adapted screenplay for the 1995 adaptation of "Sense and Sensibility." She was also nominated for her performance in the film as Elinor Dashwood.

She gained some Oscar buzz when "Saving Mr. Banks" was released in 2013. In the film, she played "Mary Poppins" author P.L. Travers, and she was nominated for a BAFTA, but ultimately missed the cut.

Hunter was actually another case of the double nomination: The same year she won best actress, she was also nominated for best supporting actress for "The Firm."

Hunter's first nomination was in 1987 for "Broadcast News."

Hunter, 63, might be best known to audiences now as Elastigirl from "The Incredibles" and "Incredibles 2," but she's still churning out noteworthy performances. Her snub in 2017 for her performance in "The Big Sick" was considered egregious by some, though she did snag a Screen Actors Guild nomination.

Lange had previously won best supporting actress in 1983 for "Tootsie" — that same year, she had also been nominated for best actress in "Frances." She was nominated three more times before she won for "Blue Sky" for playing an unpredictable military wife, Carly Marshall, who is struggling with the strict rules of living on a US Army base and its social politics.

Lange, 72, is best known now for her TV work, specifically, for her collaborations with Ryan Murphy.

She's been nominated for seven Golden Globes in the best actress in a miniseries or motion picture – television category, which is the most ever nominations for the category. She won one for "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1995. She also won best supporting actress – series, miniseries or motion picture made for television in 2011 for the first season of "American Horror Story."

She won the Emmy for that season as well, and received four more Emmy nominations for various seasons of "American Horror Story" and for "Feud: Bette and Joan," playing Joan Crawford.

Sarandon had been nominated in 1981, 1991, 1992, and 1994 for "Atlantic City," "Thelma & Louise," "Lorenzo's Oil," and "The Client," respectively, before taking home the statue for "Dead Man Walking." She plays Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who connects with a prisoner on death row, played by Sean Penn.

Sarandon, 75, co-starred with the 1995 best actress winner Jessica Lange in "Feud," in which Sarandon played Bette Davis. They both ended up losing to "Big Little Lies" star (and fellow Oscar winner) Nicole Kidman.

McDormand had been nominated in 1989 for "Mississippi Burning." Less than a decade later, she'd earn her first win for "Fargo," in which she played Minnesotan police chief Marge Gunderson.

McDormand would get nominated twice more, in 2001 and 2006, for her supporting roles in "Almost Famous" and "North Country," respectively.

McDormand, 64, won in 2018 for her role as a grieving mother in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," and again in 2021 for playing Fern, a woman in the van-life movement, in "Nomadland." As she co-produced "Nomadland," she also took home a statue when the film won best picture.

Hunt starred as Carol, a waitress, and the only woman who Melvin (Jack Nicholson) could seem to tolerate in the entire world. Both won Academy Awards for their work in the film.

At the same time, Hunt was also starring in popular sitcom "Mad About You," and won the Emmy four years in a row from 1996 to 1999, which meant she won an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year.

Hunt, 58, was nominated for best supporting actress in 2013 for "The Sessions," in which she plays Cheryl, a sex surrogate hired by a 38-year-old poet named Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes). who is confined to an iron lung and therefore has never had sex ... hence, Cheryl.

Hunt also returned to her role as Jamie in the 2019 revival of "Mad About You."

A 100% success rate is nothing to scoff at. In "Shakespeare in Love," Paltrow played would-be actress Viola de Lesseps, with whom William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) eventually falls in love.

In addition to making her a fashion icon, winning the Oscar led Paltrow to become one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars.

Paltrow, 49, has been in plenty of iconic movies since her Oscar win, like "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "The Royal Tenenbaums," "Contagion," and, of course, the "Iron Man" films as Pepper Potts.

But she essentially retired from acting full-time in 2017, choosing instead to focus on her lifestyle brand, Goop.

Swank won an Oscar from her first nomination in 2000 for her performance as Brandon Teena, a trans man who was murdered in 1993 and whose death galvanized the trans rights movement in the US, in "Boys Don't Cry."

Five years later, Swank won again for her performance as an amateur boxer in "Million Dollar Baby."

In 2022, both of these roles have been reexamined. Swank herself said a trans actor should've starred in "Boys Don't Cry," while many disabled people consider the ending of "Million Dollar Baby" to be ableist.

In addition to those films, Swank, 47, also starred in a Netflix sci-fi series called "Away," in which she plays an astronaut who must leave her family for three years to go on a trip to Mars. It was canceled after one season in October 2020.

Roberts took on the role as real-life lawyer Erin Brockovich for the biopic, which followed the story of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and its contamination of groundwater with carcinogens in Hinkley, California.

Roberts had previously been nominated in 1990 for "Steel Magnolias" and 1991 for "Pretty Woman."

Roberts was nominated for best supporting actress for the film adaptation of the play "August: Osage County," which follows the dysfunctional Weston family, who all return home to care for their mother, played by Meryl Streep, after their father is reported missing.

Berry played Leticia, a waitress in Louisiana struggling to provide for her son while her husband Lawrence awaits execution on death row. She inadvertently gets involved with a corrections officer who will (eventually) be present for Lawrence's death.

Berry, 55, directed her first movie in 2020, "Bruised," which was released on Netflix. Berry also starred in the film, which focuses on a former UFC fighter Jackie Justice who returns to the sport in order to provide for her son.

Kidman had been nominated once prior to her win in 2003, for her performance in the 2001 musical "Moulin Rouge!"

The next year, she won for "The Hours." Her costars Ed Harris and Julianne Moore were nominated, as well.

Kidman's other two nominations were for "Rabbit Hole" in 2010 and "Lion" in 2016.

Kidman, 54, has already won the Golden Globe and was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for "Being the Ricardos," which made the Oscars the next logical step.

Theron was unrecognizable as Wuornos in "Monster," which she also produced.

Yet again, Theron, 46, underwent an impressive transformation to play a real person — this time, former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly in the 2019 film "Bombshell," which followed the downfall of Fox CEO Roger Ailes.

Theron was also nominated in 2006 for "North Country."

Witherspoon played June Carter Cash, wife of Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix), in "Walk the Line," which followed the life of the Man in Black himself, and how he fell in love with Carter Cash. It was her first win and first nomination.

Witherspoon, 45, received her second nomination for "Wild," in which she plays author Cheryl Strayed, who wrote a book about her experience hiking the 1,100 mile Pacific Crest Trail.