One of the greatest Oscar crimes EVER was passing the statue over this woman's BRILLIANT performance in House of Sand & Fog in lieu of rewarding Renee Zellweger's Cold Mountain turn. Aghdashloo imprinted her character on my brain in a permanent way that has seldom been duplicated before or since. I can't say I'm wholly familiar with her full body of work but her talents displayed in HSF totally blew me away.
2003 (76th)
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Shohreh Aghdashloo -- House of Sand and Fog {"Nadi"}
Patricia Clarkson -- Pieces of April {"Joy Burns"}
Marcia Gay Harden -- Mystic River {"Celeste Boyle"}
Holly Hunter -- Thirteen {"Melanie"}
* Renée Zellweger -- Cold Mountain {"Ruby Thewes"}
Actually, looking at that list, it's hard to believe RZ beat any of them.