10 Oscar-Less Actors Who Deserve That Little Gold Man Already!
Photo Source: Focus Features
Hollywood’s awards shows are like life: You win some, you lose some.
After all, the Academy Awards produce more losers than winners each
year; only one of five contenders can take home that little gold man.
The actors below may humbly claim it’s an honor just to be nominated,
but we’re taking the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to task
with this roundup of current competitors who deserve to be crowned
Oscar winners. (This is, of course, by no means a definitive or complete
list! Only a handful of actors with one or more nominations appeared in
movies in 2018.) So without further ado, the Oscar should go to...
Ask
any awards pundit which Oscar-less actor has been closest to winning
multiple times, and they’ll likely name Adams. Her performances in
“Junebug,” “Doubt,” “The Fighter,” “The Master,” and “American Hustle”
were so astonishing, they must have been just barely edged out of the
competition. Watch out for Annapurna Pictures’ “Vice,” in which Adams
steals the show as Lynne Cheney.
Angela Bassett
Bassett may only have one Oscar nod to her name, for her ferocious Tina Turner in 1993’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” But come on, Academy—crown the queen of Wakanda! Her work in everything from “Waiting to Exhale” to TV movie “The Rosa Parks Story” deserves truckloads of trophies. And who can forget how she got Stella her groove back?
This
year’s “The Seagull” and “Life Itself” are two more reminders of
Bening’s inimitable charisma and intelligence onscreen. The four-time
nominee—for “The Grifters,” “American Beauty,” “Being Julia,” and “The
Kids Are All Right”—is considered to be one of today’s worthiest leading
ladies, so much so that even her non-nominated performances prove
Oscar-worthy (the “20th Century Women” snub still stings!).
Blame
it on bad luck or Oscar voters: Close is the most-nominated actor alive
who has yet to win. Five of her six nominations (for “The World
According to Garp,” “The Big Chill,” “The Natural,” “Fatal Attraction,”
and “Dangerous Liaisons”) occurred in the ’80s; since then, her only
recognition has been for “Albert Nobbs” in 2012. Another fun fact: her
first three were for supporting actress, her latter three for leading.
Is 2018’s Sony Pictures Classics contender “The Wife” where this pattern
ends?
Bradley Cooper
Cooper earned Oscar acting nods three years in a row for “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” and “American Sniper,” but he’s in contention this year for more than just performing; Warner Bros.’ hit remake of “A Star Is Born” marks the star’s big-screen directing debut, plus he co-wrote the script and even collaborated on songwriting with his co-star, Lady Gaga.
Long
considered one of Hollywood’s most versatile and diligent character
actors, Dafoe is finding his way onto shortlists again this year for CBS
Films’ “At Eternity’s Gate,” in which he stars as Vincent van Gogh.
He’s another example of a performer whose work doesn’t need to be minted
by Oscar to prove award-worthy; look beyond “Platoon,” “Shadow of the
Vampire,” and last year’s “The Florida Project” for examples of Dafoe’s
bizarre brilliance.
Angela Lansbury
Lansbury the Legend also has three Oscar nods to her name (“The Manchurian Candidate,” “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” and “Gaslight”) but the “Mary Poppins Returns” star belongs on this list also for failing to earn favor with the Television Academy—a whopping 18 Emmy nominations and no wins? What gives, Academies?
Joaquin Phoenix
A
contender in three 2018 projects—“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on
Foot,” “Mary Magdalene,” and “The Sisters Brothers” (opposite fellow
Oscar-worthy star John C. Reilly)—Phoenix has come narrowly close to the win in “Gladiator,” “Walk the Line,” and “The Master.”
Robert Redford
Redford
makes it onto this list with a caveat; although better known as an
actor, he is indeed an Oscar winner for directing 1980’s “Ordinary
People.” The veteran star’s résumé is long, yet his only acting
nomination is 1973’s “The Sting,” which could be rectified this year for
what Redford has called his last role in Fox Searchlight Pictures’ “The
Old Man & the Gun.”
Most impressive on this list, perhaps, is its youngest contender: Ronan has three nods to her name at only age 24, for 2007’s “Atonement,” 2015’s “Brooklyn,” and 2017’s “Lady Bird.” Her fabulous titular role in Focus Features’ “Mary Queen of Scots” has been hailed as yet another of the Irish star’s brilliant turns. Could the Academy come knocking a fourth time?
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