My Favorite Performances of 2016 (Female)

Rose Maxson - Fences
"I took all my feelings, my wants and needs and dreams, and I buried them inside you. I planted a seed and watched and prayed over it. I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom! And it didn't take me no 18 years to realize the soil was hard and rocky, and it wasn't never gonna bloom!"

Louise Banks - Arrival
"Despite knowing the journey... and where it leads... I embrace it... and I welcome every moment of it."

Honorable Mentions:
Susan Morrow - Nocturnal Animals

Sook-Hee - The Handmaiden
"I need to think. I need to become rich, sail off to a distant harbor, eat food I scarcely recognize, buy my fill of glittering baubles, and... not think of Hideko. Never think of Hideko."

Justine - Raw
"You taste like curry."

Maureen Cartwright - Personal Shopper
"Lewis, is it you? ...Or is it just me?"

Lady Hideko - The Handmaiden
"The daughter of a legendary thief, who sewed winter coats out of stolen purses. Herself a thief, pickpocket, swindler. The saviour who came to tear my life apart. My Tamako. My Sookee."

Michelle - 10 Cloverfield Lane
"Yes, I will behave... and I'm SO sorry."

Honorable Mentions:
Sarah - Swiss Army Man

Randi Chandler - Manchester by the Sea
"Let... let me finish. However... My heart was broken - cause it's always gonna be broken, and I know yours is broken, too - but I don't have to carry it."

Paula - Moonlight
"You ain't got to love me, but you gonna know that I love you."

Mia - La La Land
"People love what other people are passionate about."

Sarah Tomlin - Midnight Special
"He believes in something. You don't."

Jesse - The Neon Demon
"I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't write... no real talent. But I'm pretty, and I can make money off pretty."

Nadine - The Edge of Seventeen
"There are two types of people in the world: The people who naturally excel at life. And the people who hope all those people die in a big explosion."

Teresa - Moonlight
"Stop putting yo' head down in my house! You know my rule. It's all love and all pride in this house! Do you feel me?"

Kielyr - Captain Fantastic
"We're defined by our actions, not our words."

Holly March - The Nice Guys
"Dad, there's like whores here and stuff."

Sarah - The Neon Demon
"People see you, they notice. Do you know how lucky you are? I'm a ghost."

Rocky - Don't Breathe
"You're useless out here!"

Casey Cooke - Split
"Everything is so easy for you guys. You do one thing, you can predict the next thing. It's not the way it's gonna be in this situation."

Paula Hall - Hunt for the Wilderpeople
"I'll never stop chasing you - I'm relentless, I'm like the Terminator."

Elise Chandler - Manchester by the Sea

Maddie - Hush

Raphina - Sing Street
"You should come and visit us. You seem like a mad bastard."

Gloria - Colossal
"I'll come back and I'll kick your fucking ass!"

Judith Kuttner - The Nice Guys
"The lawsuit for the catalytic converter. Yes. That's half my day. The other half I spend on pornography."