Will Fantasia Barrino be the 2nd Black Golden Globe winner in her category? Here’s how she could prevail
According to the current combined predictions of Gold Derby users, Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) is the frontrunner to win the Golden Globe for Best Film Comedy/Musical Actress with 10/3 odds. However, one of her fellow nominees, Fantasia Barrino (“The Color Purple”), has the potential to become the second Black actress to win that category. The first — and to date, only — was Angela Bassett for “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (1993). Could another finally join her exactly 30 years later?
In “The Color Purple,” Barrino plays Celie Harris Johnson, an African-American woman struggling to live in the South during the early 20th century. She’s currently in third place with 5/1 odds behind Stone and Margot Robbie (“Barbie”) with 4/1 odds. “Barbie” and “Poor Things” are both among the six nominees for Best Film Comedy/Musical. Meanwhile, “The Color Purple” surprisingly missed out on a nomination there.
Some may argue that the film’s snub could hurt Barrino’s chances of winning. But several winners in this category have still managed to prevail without their movies contending in the top category. They even managed to do so up against performances in Best Film Comedy/Musical nominees. The last six to do so were from this century alone, and that doesn’t even count 2019 when Awkwafina won for “The Farewell” over Ana de Armas in “Knives Out” because “The Farewell” was not eligible for Best Film Comedy/Musical due to it being in a foreign language.
In 2000 Renée Zellweger won for “Nurse Betty” over Juliette Binoche in “Chocolat.” In 2003 Diane Keaton won for “Something’s Gotta Give” up against Scarlett Johansson in the Best Film Comedy/Musical winner that year, “Lost in Translation.” In 2004 Annette Bening won for “Being Julia” up against Emmy Rossum in “The Phantom of the Opera” and Kate Winslet in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” In 2007 Marion Cotillard won for “La Vie en Rose” up against three performances from Best Film Comedy/Musical contenders: Nikki Blonsky in “Hairspray,” Elliot Page in “Juno” and Helena Bonham Carter in the eventual winning film, “Sweeney Todd.” In 2014 Amy Adams won for “Big Eyes” up against Emily Blunt in “Into the Woods.” And in 2020 Rosamund Pike won for “I Care a Lot” up against two performances from Best Film Comedy/Musical contenders: Kate Hudson in “Music” and Maria Bakalova in the eventual winner, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”
It’s worth mentioning, of course, that an earlier example of this happening was Bassett in “What’s Love Got to Do with it” over Meg Ryan in “Sleepless in Seattle.” Bassett likely benefited from giving a dramatic musical performance as she was playing rock and roll icon Tina Turner. Barrino may not be playing a real person in “The Color Purple,” but she does get to sing her heart out in the movie musical.
So far within this century, six musical performances have won the Globe for Best Film Comedy/Musical Actress, most of them in roles that skewed dramatic like Barrino’s. They are Nicole Kidman for “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), Renée Zellweger for “Chicago” (2002), Reese Witherspoon for “Walk the Line” (2005), the aforementioned Marion Cotillard for “La Vie en Rose” (2007), Emma Stone for “La La Land” (2016), and Rachel Zegler for “West Side Story” (2021).
Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) is currently expected to win Best Film Drama Actress with 17/5 odds. If she and Barrino both win Globes in their respective categories, it would be the first time in history that both film lead actress prizes went to people of color. Plus as Barrino is currently on the bubble for a Best Actress Oscar nom (she’s in seventh place with 18/1 odds), a Golden Globe win could help increase her chances of making the cut.
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