Celebs
15 Actors Nominated For Oscar Who Never Won One
The thing about competitions is that while they may be many contestants and while each spectator may have a favorite, the number of winners is usually heavily limited. This is the case with Oscars, too, so this time of the year there are always heated arguments about who deserves to win best THIS or best THAT. Mathematically, it seems that actors have a bigger chance to win a statuette – each year, they can get involved in many productions, while scriptwriters or directors are usually forced to focus on their yearly opus magnum. Still, they end up nominated a multitude of times and never going back home with the so sought-after golden statuette. People will never agree on who is the worthiest of winning the grand prize – were that easier, there would be no reason for hosting such a grand event, everything would have been secured already. However, as personal as the perception of art might be, we can probably still agree that there are numerous actors who have been impressing with their craft for years, but who have never been properly compensated. Do sit down before ingesting this unbelievable list of outstanding actors who have yet never managed to get their hands on the coveted award.
Liam Neeson, 1 nomination
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If you know him from movies like Taken, you are probably not surprised at this actor not having garnered a lot of awards. Action films are not usually held in high regard by the Academy but are not the only genre to which Liam has been devoted. Just think about his role in Schindler’s List that saw him get nominated – it was certainly worth of him winning the ultimate prize! We can’t believe that he lost to Tom Hanks. Neeson might be reaching the end of his prime, but there’s still time for him to get a statuette – we’ll be hoping for that!
Gene Wilder, 1 nomination
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Most actors are most hurt by being nominated and then losing out in the final race. However, we believe Gene’s impersonation of Willy Wonka was definitely worthy of a ticket to the grand ceremony, and maybe even more! Gene Wilder has already given up on acting, but there still may be a future for him in Hollywood. Steven Spielberg has contacted him with an undefined offer – it might be Gene’s last chance to grab a statuette, were he to agree to the proposition.
Harrison Ford, 1 nomination
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Who’s never heard of Regarding Henry, The Mosquito Coast, 42, The Fugitive, Working Girl? You must have, but it seems that the Academy hasn’t! Harrison Ford – truly – has only been nominated ONCE for an Oscar. And it was back in 1985! For The Witness! It’s not like we expected him to get a prize for his role in the newest Star Wars, but still, an actor of his stature should be awarded at least on time in his career.
Bill Murray, 1 nomination
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The Academy fellows are so old that it might come to no surprise Bill Murray has not yet landed an Oscar – after all, the serious folks don’t tend to take fondly to comedy. However, after a few years’ spree of great performances, he seems to deserve a statuette – he’s more than decent in his productions. After he was bested by Mystic River’s Sean Penn in his nomination for Lost In Translation, no further tries have yet been granted to him.
Gary Oldman, 1 nomination
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Sid and Nancy, the 3 Christopher Nolan Batman films, JFK, True Romance. What connects all those? Of course, the persona of Gary Oldman, one of the most famous actors in our age. And only one nomination? That seems a typo but is not one. He’s not exactly the typical Hollywood actor, he tends to argue a bit too much, but should such aspects of personality impede him from getting a statuette? We don’t think so!
John Travolta, 2 nominations
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Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, two movies for which Travolta has been nominated, are some of the best films ever produced, each defining something about the decade in which it was made. Having played lead roles in such groundbreaking productions, how could Travolta not have won an Oscar!? Currently, he’s not really going in the direction of one, as he’s mainly involved in B class movies that go nowhere near the Academy’s regard. However, Travolta might be on his way towards an Emmy award as he’s currently flourishing in American Crime Story.
Ian McKellen, 2 nominations
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I mean, he’s Gandalf. Is there even need for more reasons? He has had successes in both superhero movies and more artsy ones such as Gods and Monsters, for which he received his first call to arms back in 1998. The other time, McKellen got nominated for The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. We have to admit it is quite a feat, having in mind that the Academy are not fans of the genre that the movie represents.
Bette Midler, 2 nominations
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You wouldn’t have thought that, would you? And she hasn’t been nominated more than two times – feels crazy on the tongue. One day the Academy are bound to recognize her lifetime achievements, but that shouldn’t be the only statuette Bette gets. If only she had some impressing movies to play in during the future years – unfortunately, nothing on her list seems worthy of mentioning.
Tom Cruise, 3 nominations
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This is another name even a laic will have heard. Tom Cruise used to be the best of the best, Hollywood’s crème de la crème. Magnolia or Jerry Maguire surely weren’t the movies to win him a statuette, though, and in his better times – maybe being so mainstream wasn’t well-perceived by the Academy? Unfortunately, it seems that Tom’s future productions will be like The Mummy, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, and Mission: Impossible 6 – all the definition of pop culture and apparently not ambitious enough to win Cruise an award.
Joaquin Phoenix, 3 nominations
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This actor isn’t one that takes kindly to the idea of Hollywood – a social outcast, we wonder if he’d attend the ceremony and collect the award if it was ever given to him. It comes to no surprise then that the Academy prefer for more typical people to land the statuette – people who play by the rules. Gladiator, Walk the Line and The Master were all enough for Joaquin to be nominated, but none saw him win the prize. Joaquin is still a fresh player in the Hollywood game, so it may be that an Oscar lies somewhere ahead in his future.
Johnny Depp, 3 nominations
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As controversial as he might be, when Johnny Depp lands an original role, he is the one able to make the most out of it. How can it be then that he didn’t even get a place at the awards ceremony when he played Whitey Bulger in Black Mass? It seems impossible that not only hasn’t he won an award yet, but he’s also had so few nominations. Jack Sparrow and Sweeney Todd, Depp’s two most outstanding roles, have both found a place in pop culture and audience’s minds, but they are not the kind of characters that the Academy tends to reward. As outstanding as Depp’s performances tend to be, he is still to win at least one statuette.
Annette Bening, 4 nominations
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The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids are Alright are the movies that saw Annette get nominated; the quality of those productions is the first to attend to this great actress’s craft’s quality. Annette Bening seems the perfect person to speak up against ageism in Hollywood as the place gets more and more uniform – and more boring to that.
Leonardo DiCaprio, 5 nominations
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We don’t have to introduce this guy – everyone has already heard about the terrible curse that has befallen this prodigious actor. After four goes at the award, Leonardo must already be quite frustrated. This time, DiCaprio has been nominated for an outstanding impersonation or the fur trapper Hugh Glass in The Revenant. Many believe that this time, no one can take the Oscar away from Leo, but we’ve already seen weirder things happen. This is going to be an exciting one!
Amy Adams, 5 nominations
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Amy Adams is only 41, but she’s already been nominated FIVE TIMES – sounds like an achievement, right? And it certainly is one. We are astonished that an actress of her class has never got an Oscar: after roles such as in Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, and American Hustle. As her next movie is going to be one from the Batman franchise, she will probably have to wait for her next nomination, but being as young as she is, she will certainly come across more chances in the future.
Glenn Close, 6 nominations
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Glenn Close seems to be a master of the art of being nominated to win an award and yet never acquiring it. The chief difference between Meryl Streep and Glenn Close in the eighties? You’ve guessed it. One HAS had a close encounter with the golden statuette. Movies such as The Big Chill, The Natural, The World According to Garp, Fatal Attraction, and Dangerous Liaisons were not enough to get Glenn an Oscar. Since the 1980s until 2011, there were no nominations for this amazing actress, but her most recent try wasn’t successful either.