Odds to Win Best Actor & Best Actress at The 2021 Oscars

• The 93rd Annual Academy Awards take place on Sunday, April 25th, 2021
• This year’s Best Actor race has a clear frontrunner in Chadwick Boseman, while the Best Actress competition is more open-ended
• See odds and best bets below for both big-ticket categories

We are just days away from the biggest night in Hollywood. The 93rd Academy Awards will be presented this Sunday, April 25th, 2021 at the Dolby Theater and Union Station in Los Angeles. The late Chadwick Boseman is heavily favored in the Best Actor odds at The Oscars.

The awards, which will also be telecast as usual on ABC, come on the heels of a tumultuous year in film. The movie industry has gone through a lot as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, amongst other heavy global issues.

This year’s Oscars nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress feature some of Hollywood’s biggest names. While one race appears particularly close, another is all but certain. Let’s take a look at this year’s contenders for both categories, as well as their odds.

Odds to Win Best Actor 2021 Oscars

All odds as of April 21st

Chadwick Boseman Heavily Favored

First up, the race for Best Actor features a handful of impressive stars. Most notably, Chadwick Boseman received his first Oscar nomination posthumously in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Boseman, who died from colon cancer last August, is only the fifth actor of all time to be nominated for Best Actor after passing away. Of them, only Peter Finch has won– for his role in 1976’s Network. Even James Dean was not awarded for his back-to-back posthumous noms in 1955 and 1956.

Will Boseman be able to match Finch’s record-breaking honor? One look at the odds shows a probable chance. Boseman’s odds of -1667 are miles away from his next competitor, Anthony Hopkins at +700.

The odds are certainly in his favor. His odds have been the best in this category since February– a month before the nominations were even announced.

The other performances in this category are great, but Boseman already won the Golden Globe for this performance. Traditionally, this is a good indication of an Oscar win as well.

But for those uncertain about Boseman’s win and looking for a decent longshot bet in the Best Actor odds, check out Riz Ahmed. At +1400, he’s not exactly the likeliest choice. But his performance in The Sound of Metal was altogether impressive, landing him the distinction of being the first Muslim to be nominated for Best Actor.

Pick: Chadwick Boseman (-1667)

Odds to Win Best Actress 2021 Oscars

Carey Mulligan Looking For First Oscar

While Boseman’s win is basically in the bag, the category for Best Actress is a bit more interesting to watch at this point due to its tighter race.

Interestingly, while Andra Day took home the Golden Globe for her work in The United States vs. Billie Holliday, her odds are much further out than most of the competition in the Oscar odds.

Carey Mulligan’s odds for her Promising Young Woman performance have been strong throughout the whole road to the Oscars, while competitor Viola Davis’ odds have been more erratic. Back in February, the pair were neck in neck before Davis’s odds worsened. Now, the pair are close once again, with Mulligan slightly in the lead.

Day, as well as Frances McDormand, has been fairly consistent throughout the past couple of months– but neither of the pair seems positioned to win. Additionally, Vanessa Kirby’s are so far out in the field that her win would be one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history at this point.

Mulligan’s effective performance has been a hot topic for months now. While Davis certainly made an impression in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, she was out shadowed by Boseman. Mulligan is the one to watch.

Pick: Carey Mulligan (+125)

Other Oscars Artices:

• Best Picture Odds and Picks
• Best Supporting Actor & Actress Odds and Picks

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