Jennifer Connelly

WINNER: Jennifer Connelly

WON FOR: 'A Beautiful Mind'

SHOULD HAVE WON FOR: 'Requiem for a Dream.' But she wasn't even nominated for her amazing performance in Darren Aronofsky's devastating drug drama, perhaps because the Academy couldn't figure out whether she belonged on the ballot as a lead or a supporting actress. (Ellen Burstyn, who had her own storyline within the film, nabbed a Best Actress nomination, losing to Julia Roberts in 'Erin Brockovich.') Oscar corrected the oversight with a Supporting Actress nomination for Connelly's damp-eyed and entirely conventional turn as the supportive wife of Russell Crowe's disintegrating genius, and everyone went home happy.