Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role 2011
Melissa Leo The Fighter 2011
SEX WORKER ROLE
Cookie in Streetwalkin’ 1985
Character Is A Prostitute
Melissa Leo in Streetwalkin’ 1985
Fresh off of an Emmy nomination for her role as Linda Warner on the ABC soap opera “All My Children,” Melissa nabbed her first lead role in a film. She portrays a street-smart Times Square hooker in the flick “Streetwalkin’.” Hollywood has glamorized women walking the streets as prostitutes in past movies like “Pretty Woman.” However, “Streetwalkin'” depicts the gruesomeness and bleak realism of working in the sex trade industry. At the end credits, you can even listen to its theme song, written primarily for this movie, called, what else but “Streetwalkin’.”
The Los Angeles Times would write about Melissa’s performance:
“Several actors make vivid impressions, starting with the lovely, auburn-haired Leo as the trapped, vulnerable street novice. But make no mistake about it: Streetwalking’ (a very hard R) is first and foremost a bloodbath.”
Watch clip from the film “Streetwalkin'”
To read more about other Oscar-winning actresses playing characters working in the sex trade industry, please continue perusing Oscar Hookers