It worked. Anderson says the film took only 18 days to shoot.
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She played Shelly, a gentle Las Vegas dancer whose decades-long show is about to end. The performance earned Anderson her first Golden Globe nomination. Four Oscar winners sat in the same category, including Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman.
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Coppola told Entertainment Weekly that Anderson is the Marilyn Monroe of our time. She reportedly reached that conclusion after watching Anderson’s 2023 documentary.
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The Door That Stayed Shut
Anderson also picked up a Screen Actors Guild nomination. Then Oscar nominations came out on a Thursday morning, and her name was missing.
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The film, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista, finished with zero nominations.
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Anderson stayed gracious. She told Elle a nomination was never something she expected.
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She framed the bigger picture another way. She said being recognized for her work, not for tawdry moments, felt like the best payback after Hulu’s Pam & Tommy.
The Daily Beast

The Reason She Put Down the Makeup
Anderson’s quieter turning point came earlier. At Paris Fashion Week in 2023, she sat front row at several shows with a bare face.
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She told Elle her makeup artist and close friend, Alexis Vogel, had died of breast cancer. After that, Anderson said, going without makeup just felt right.
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She called the change freeing, fun and a little rebellious. Jamie Lee Curtis cheered her on, calling it an “act of courage and rebellion.”
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marieclaire

What We Know
Pamela, A Love Story debuted on Netflix on January 31, 2023, alongside her memoir Love, Pamela.
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She appeared makeup-free at several Paris Fashion Week shows in 2023.
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She earned her first Golden Globe nomination for The Last Showgirl.
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She also received a Screen Actors Guild nomination.
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She did not receive an Oscar nomination on January 23, 2025.
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Read Updated reports she has also worked in writing and animal-rights advocacy.
Why This Matters

Hollywood has long boxed in women the moment a single image takes hold. Anderson’s path shows how stubborn that box can be.

In 2022, she watched a scripted series retell her most painful chapter without her involvement. Months later, she was telling it herself in a documentary and a memoir.

She was not alone that awards season. Demi Moore, another star of the same era, earned a best actress nomination for The Substance. Two 1990s icons were judged on their work in the same race.
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That is the quiet shift here. Women once defined by tabloids are now being measured by performance, even when the final trophy stays out of reach.

Anderson has said it plainly. “Doing the work is the win.”