Oscars 2025: Isabella Rossellini Earns Nomination With Just 8-Minute Screen Time; A Look At Shortest Roles Nominated

Isabella Rossellini's eight-minute role in Conclave earns her an Oscars 2025 nomination, joining the ranks of actors with notably short performances in Academy Award history.

Hyderabad: Isabelle Rossellini received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 97th Academy Awards. However, what is fascinating is her screen time in the film Conclave, which landed her an Academy nomination. The actor with a total screen time of eight minutes has been able to steal the spotlight, joining the ranks of shortest roles of actors that found a place in Oscar nominations in the supporting cast.

Rossellini had a full and glorious acting career spanning almost forty years, earning her critical acclaim with Blue Velvet. However, the Oscars nod came to her in her seventies. Conclave, a Vatican thriller directed by Edward Berger, got her an Oscar nomination for one of the shortest film appearances seen this year: under ten minutes as Sister Agnes.

Her nomination plays into the more general tendency of short, impactful roles receiving Oscar nominations. While her total screen time in Conclave might be less than ten minutes, what her performance achieves is vital to the narrative. However, Rossellini faces fierce competition from other nominees including Ariana Grande in Wicked, Monica Barbaro in A Complete Unknown, and Zoe Saldana in Emilia Perez.

To one's amusement, Rossellini's nomination is still not the shortest role ever recognized by the Academy. The honour goes to Beatrice Straight, whose role lasted five minutes and two seconds as Louise Schumacher in Sidney Lumet's Network (1976). It set a standard of sorts for the past 50 years about performances that could earn one an Oscar despite the less screen time.

Another short yet impactful nominee of supporting actress can be credited to Dame Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love (1998). The film hadDench for only 5 minutes and 52 seconds-long, but that was more than enough time for her to collect an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Her performance of the queen - stern but loveable - left a lasting impression on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

On the other end of the spectrum, Hermione Baddeley holds the record for the shortest performance recognised by the Academy: only 2 minutes and 19 seconds of screen time. She made her reputation as a nominee in 1959 for Best Supporting Actress in Room at the Top, a drama produced in England. Even though she only appeared for a brief time, and in a very small role as Elspeth, lead character Alice Aisgill's best friend, she received an Oscar nomination nonetheless. She did not win, but the nomination itself is a reminder of short but effective performances on screen.

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