Laura Linney (for The Savages) is the only US contender on the shortlist. The other nominees are from England (Julie Christie, Away From Her), Australia (Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth), Canada (Ellen Page, Juno) and France (Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose).

Christie won this award in 1965 for Darling when she was 21, and she well merits another Oscar for her moving yet unsentimental performance as a woman with Alzheimer's. Page, who turned 21 yesterday, has an outside chance as the pregnant teen in Juno, but Christie's strongest competition comes from Cotillard, whose impassioned portrayal of Edith Piaf carried the unilluminating, structurally messy biopic, La Vie en Rose.

THE ODDS

1/2 Julie Christie (Away from Her)

2/1 Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)

10/1 Ellen Page (Juno)

40/1 Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth)

66/1 Laura Linney (The Savages)