Actors Who Haven’t Won an Oscar
After Olivia Colman upset the heavily favored Glenn Close to win the best actress Oscar on Sunday, Close became the new record-holder among actresses for most Oscar nominations without a win.
Colman gave a gracious acceptance speech, admitting she wished the veteran actress took home the big prize: “Glenn Close, you’ve been my idol for so long and this is not how I wanted it to be.”
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Close now has seven nominations and no wins for “The Wife,” “Albert Nobbs,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Dangerous Liaisons,” “The World According to Garp,” “The Big Chill,” and “The Natural.”
Close had been tied with the late Thelma Ritter and the late Deborah Kerr for most nominations without a win, with six. On Sunday, Amy Adams joined Ritter and Kerr for having six nominations without a win following her loss for “Vice.” She was previously nominated for “Junebug,” “Doubt,” “The Fighter,” “The Master,” and “American Hustle.”
Here are other actors who have never won an Oscar before:
Bradley Cooper
The actor-turned-director was up for an actor trophy for his role in “A Star Is Born,” but lost last night to Rami Malek. Cooper was also nominated for “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Sniper,” and “American Hustle.”
Willem Dafoe
Dafoe was up for the same lead actor prize opposite Cooper and Malek for his critically acclaimed role as Vincent van Gogh in “At Eternity’s Gate.” He was also up for “Platoon,” “Shadow of the Vampire,” and “The Florida Project.”
Viggo Mortensen
Mortensen was another contender vying for his first Oscar in the same field. The star has been nominated for “Green Book,” “Eastern Promises,” and “Captain Fantastic.”
Will Smith
The actor has earned two Oscar noms for “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Ali,” and was famously shut out for his role in 2015’s “Concussion” — one of the snubs that sparked #OscarsSoWhite.
Tom Cruise
Despite countless memorable roles, Cruise is only Oscar-nominated for “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Magnolia,” and “Jerry Maguire.”
Gyllenhaal, nominated only once for “Brokeback Mountain,” famously lost the supporting actor Oscar to
Sam Elliott
The veteran actor received his first nomination this year for “A Star Is Born,” ultimately losing to Mahershala Ali in the supporting actor field.
Like his “Pirates of the Caribbean” character Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp is still in search of gold. The chameleonic actor was up for Oscars for “Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Finding Neverland,” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
Michelle Williams
The former child star has nominations for “Blue Valentine,” “My Week With Marilyn,” “Brokeback Mountain,” and “Manchester by the Sea.”
Samuel L. Jackson
Although he has appeared in over 125 films, Samuel L. Jackson has only been nominated for one Oscar for his role in the 1995 film “Pulp Fiction.”
Ed Harris
Harris is also a part of the four-time nominee club for his work in “Pollock,” “Apollo 13,” “The Truman Show,” and “The Hours.”
Annette Bening
The veteran actress has Academy Award nods for “The Grifters,” “American Beauty,” “Being Julia,” and “The Kids Are All Right.”
Brad Pitt
Although he has an Oscar for producing 2014 best picture winner “12 Years a Slave,” one of Hollywood’s biggest stars has never won an acting Oscar. He’s been nominated for “Moneyball,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and “Seven Monkeys.”
Angela Bassett
Surprisingly, Bassett has only been nominated for a single Oscar, thanks to her pivotal role in “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
Saoirse Ronan
The 24-year-old already has three Oscar nominations under her belt: “Lady Bird,” “Atonement,” and “Brooklyn.” She earned her first Oscar nom (for “Atonement”) at the age of 13.
Laura Linney
The “Ozark” star also has three nominations and no wins to her name, for “The Savages,” “Kinsey,” and “You Can Count on Me.”
Woody Harrelson
Harrelson, who’s known for his eclectic film roles, was up for an Oscar last year for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” He has two other nods for “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “The Messenger.”
Matt Damon
Damon won an Oscar with Ben Affleck in 1998 for penning “Good Will Hunting,” but has lost all acting Academy Awards: “The Martian,” “Invictus,” and “Good Will Hunting.”
Laura Dern
Two-time nominee Dern lost out to Jodie Foster for “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1992, when she was nominated for “Rambling Rose,” and Patricia Arquette for “Boyhood” in 2015, when she was nominated for “Wild.”
Ethan Hawke
Hawke received a nod for the his role in “Training Day” in 2002 and again for Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” in 2015. Hawke’s two additional nominations weren’t for acting, but for adapted screenplay for “Before Midnight” and “Before Sunset.”
Salma Hayek
Hayek received one nomination — in 2003, for “Frida” — but she was up against some seriously tough competition in Julianne Moore, Renee Zellweger, Diane Lane, and Nicole Kidman, who won for “The Hours.”
Peter O’Toole
O’Toole, who died in 2013, is the most nominated actor without a win, with eight nominations for “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Becket,” “The Lion in Winter,” “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” “The Ruling Class,” “The Stunt Man,” “My Favorite Year,” and “Venus.”
Albert Finney
The final actor in Sunday’s In Memoriam segment was nominated for “Tom Jones,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” “The Dresser,” “Under the Volcano,” and “Erin Brockovich.”
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