Renée Zellweger

WINNER: Renée Zellweger

WON FOR: 'Cold Mountain'

SHOULD HAVE WON FOR: 'Chicago,' which had nabbed six Oscars the previous year - including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones - while Zellweger, the movie's driving force, saw Nicole Kidman take the Best Actress prize for what was clearly a supporting role in 'The Hours.' Zellweger did a quick about-face with 'Cold Mountain,' exaggerating her own Southern accent into cornpone absurdity as a pragmatic, scrappy young woman who helps a homesteader survive a harsh winter on the frontier. The fact that the homesteader was played by Kidman, Zellweger's Best Actress rival just one year earlier, just made for a great story on the road to Oscar.