SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE BLACK WOMEN WHO NABBED 2026 GOLDEN GLOBES NOMS

It is a truth universally acknowledged (by anyone paying attention) that awards season is at its best when it gives Black women a reason to show up, show out, and politely remind the rest of Hollywood what range actually looks like. Over the years, the Golden Globes have occasionally gotten it right—honoring performances by women like Viola Davis, Angela Bassett (did the thing), and Whoopi Goldberg that didn’t just dominate their categories but reshaped how we talk about prestige, power, and presence on screen.

These moments were never flukes; they were inevitabilities that took the industry a while to catch up to.

Which brings us to 2025, a year that, if you ask me, belonged to Black actors. This was a season of incredible performances, the kind that made 2025 feel richer, sharper, and a lot more fun to argue about; musicals that doubled as emotional endurance tests, dramas built on simmering dissatisfaction, supporting roles that hijacked entire films, and TV performances so compelling they made dysfunction look aspirational.

So when the 2026 Golden Globe nominations arrived, it felt like confirmation. The Black women recognized this year didn’t simply understand the assignment; they reworked it entirely—bringing wit, gravity, vulnerability, and a kind of star power that doesn’t beg for attention but somehow commands it anyway.

Here’s a rundown of all the nominees and why I'm obsessed with every performance.

Tessa Thompson

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) for Hedda

Stream on: Amazon Prime

Hedda is good because Nia DaCosta is great. And Tessa Thompson is even better. The DaCosta-directed adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play stars Thompson in the titular role as Hedda Gabler, an ambitious, repressed housewife still hung up on her prodigious ex-lover, Eileen and bored by her prosaic husband, George.

Thompson’s turn in Hedda is a masterclass in restrained chaos. She plays a woman bound by expectation yet constantly simmering with contradiction. Thompson is so magnetic, and oozing with so much charisma, that you can’t look away. And you can’t help but root for one of the messiest women in cinematic history.

Cynthia Erivo

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) for Wicked: For Good

Stream on: Amazon Prime

The long-awaited second half of Wicked, follows Elphaba after she’s fully embraced her role as Oz’s most misunderstood villain—politics, propaganda, and betrayal included. There's flying monkeys, moral compromise, and consequences.

Cynthia Erivo once again steps into the green-skinned shoes and owns them. Her nomination here makes her the first Black woman ever to earn multiple nods in this category, a historic moment that feels so overdue. This time, her voice soars with more grit and tender nuance than ever before, showing us that powerful vocals can also carry powerful storytelling.

Chase Infiniti

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) for One Battle After Another

Stream on: HBO Max

Most actors spend their lives chasing a breakthrough film role—Chase Infiniti landed hers on the first try. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, the 25-year-old makes her feature debut as Willa Ferguson, the daughter of two former revolutionaries, played by Teyana Taylor and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Infiniti meets the moment with startling poise. As the film’s emotional anchor, she brings a raw, searching intensity to Anderson’s chaos. Her magnetic presence elevates every scene she’s in, carving out emotional depth in a film already brimming with layered storytelling, leading her to both Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards nominations, with an Oscar nod all but guaranteed.

Teyana Taylor

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture for One Battle After Another

Stream on: HBO Max

Teyana Taylor is a singer, songwriter, choreographer, director who's also currently in culinary school and designs graphic T-shirts and merchandise, and now critically and commercially acclaimed actress. In the action-thriller, One Battle After Another, she plays Perfidia Beverly Hills, a member of a revolutionary group, the French 75 who gives birth to — then abandons — her daughter, Willa. Sixteen years later, Willa finds herself at the center of a massive conspiracy that brings some of her mother’s old allies out of hiding.

Taylor has been impressing for years, but her Golden Globe nod feels like a homecoming and recognition for a performance that’s equal parts fierce and profound. She's an absolute force — driven, determined, sexy, smart. And she more than holds her own opposite Oscar-winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn.

Ayo Edebiri

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) for The Bear

Stream on: Hulu/Disney+

The hit show, which follows classically trained chef Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto as he attempts to take over his late brother’s Chicago sandwich shop, first premiered in June 2022. Fans and critics alike instantly took to its lead's performance, but there’s another actor who stole the screen: Ayo Edebiri, who plays Carmy’s sous chef, Sydney Adamu.

Edebiri’s work in The Bear has been extraordinary, whether she’s stealing scenes on  camera, or shaping the emotional storytelling behind it. Edebiri's deadpan reactions reveal a real sweetness in Sydney, a character that because of Edebiri's talents as both an actor and director has beautifully evolved over the seasons. While calling The Bear a “comedy” might be questionable, there’s no doubt that Edebiri’s phenomenal work deserves recognition—and award wins.

Rashida Jones

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television for Black Mirror

Stream on: Netflix

Rashida Jones enters the long running anthology series Black Mirror in season seven’s “Common People,” in which Jones stars as Amanda Waters, a teacher who, after suffering a brain tumor, gets a second chance at life through a health tech startup app, Rivermind, only to be met with ever-increasing subscription upcharges to maintain a reasonable quality of life.

Jones is no stranger to quiet brilliance, and her turn in Black Mirror is a slow-burning showcase of that exact strength. It's an eerie episode, even by Black Mirror standards, anchored by an incredibly sympathetic performance. I never wanted to hug a fictional character so bad in my life.

If awards season is about validation, then this group hardly needs it. The work speaks loudly, clearly, and often better than the industry will ever admit. The 2026 Golden Globe nominations may be catching up, but these performances have been setting the pace all year—and I personally cannot wait to see what these ladies do next.