Since its creation nearly a century ago, the Oscars has seen many talented actors receive nominations across the Academy’s different acting categories. The Oscars are recognized as the most coveted awards in the movie industry. Since its first award ceremony in 1929, many actors have had the honor of winning the Oscar for their acting abilities in various acclaimed movies.
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The Academy has four different categories where a person’s acting abilities are recognized: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Dozens of actors, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr, received several nominations before ever winning an Oscar. Others have a mix of nominations and wins between all four of the available categories.
10 Peter O’Toole
Received 8 Academy Award Nominations Across 4 Decades
Irish-British actor Peter O’Toole holds the distinctive record of having the most Oscars nominations, without any wins. He made his film debut in the 1962 epic movie Lawrence of Arabia, considered to be one of his best roles, where he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor. O’Toole went on to achieve a further seven Best Actor nominations across his career, including for Becket and The Lion in Winter, where he famously played Henry II in both movies.
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|
Year |
Movie |
Category |
Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1962 |
Lawrence of Arabia |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1964 |
Becket |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1968 |
The Lion in Winter |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1969 |
Goodbye, Mr. Chips |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1972 |
The Ruling Class |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1980 |
The Stunt Man |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1982 |
My Favorite Year |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
2006 |
Venus |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
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While he ties with actress Glenn Close for the most Oscar nominations without a win, Peter O’Toole is the only actor to have received the most nominations in the Best Actor category without winning the award.O’Toole once jokingly referred to himself as “the biggest loser” for his failure to win an Oscar across four decades of nominations. Despite his lack of success at winning the award, in 2002, O’Toole was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his achievements in the movie industry; during his acceptance speech, he humorously stated he finally had an Oscar for himself.
9 Jack Lemmon
Won 2 Academy Awards Out of 8 Nominations
Jack Lemmon was an American actor who was skilled in both comedy and dramatic roles; he has been regarded by many as “the best tragi-comedian of all time.” He rose to prominence in the 1954 comedy It Should Happen To You before he received his first Oscar nomination in 1956. For his performance in Mister Roberts, Lemmon received his first and only nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which he won for his role as a morale officer, Ensign Pulver.
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|
Year |
Movie |
Category |
Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1956 |
Mister Roberts |
Best Supporting Actor |
Won |
|
1960 |
Some Like It Hot |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1961 |
The Apartment |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1963 |
Days of Wine and Roses |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1974 |
Save The Tiger |
Best Actor |
Won |
|
1980 |
The China Syndrome |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1981 |
Tribute |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1983 |
Missing |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
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Lemmon had continued success in comedy movies, receiving his first Best Actor nomination in 1960 for Some Like It Hot, in which he co-starred alongside Marilyn Monroe; he received further nominations in the comedy movies The Apartment and Days of Wine and Roses. Lemmon won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1974 for Save The Tiger, which proved his skills in drama movies. His award for Save The Tiger, made Jack Lemmon the first actor to win Academy Awards in both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories. Lemmon achieved a further three Best Actor nominations before his death in 2001.
8 Robert De Niro
Won 2 Academy Awards Out of 9 Nominations
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Across his career, Robert De Niro has been involved in many classic Hollywood movies. He is widely recognized for his roles in movies such as Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter and Raging Bull, all of which have been ranked on the AFI’s list of the Top 100 Movies of All Time. De Niro won his first Oscar in 1975 for his role as a young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, for which he won Best Supporting Actor; this achievement made De Niro and Marlon Brando the first actors to win Academy Awards for portraying the same character in separate categories.
Between 1977 and 1992, De Niro received five Oscar nominations for Best Actor, winning in 1981 for his performance as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. He received his first Oscar nomination as a producer for his work on the 2019 gangster movie, The Irishman, in which he portrayed Frank Sheeran. De Niro received his ninth Oscar nomination in 2024 for Best Supporting Actor in Killers of the Flower Moon, setting a record as the actor with the longest time-length between his first and most recent Oscar nominations; his 2024 nomination came 49 years after his first Oscar win.
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7 Marlon Brando
Won 2 Academy Awards Out of 8 Nominations
Considered one of Hollywood’s greatest actors, Marlon Brando achieved eight Oscar nominations across 3 decades. Between 1951 and 1973, he was nominated seven times for the Best Actor Academy Award and won twice for his performances as Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront in 1954 and as Vito Corleone in The Godfather in 1973. While Brando appeared at the 27th Academy Awards to accept his award for On The Waterfront, he caused controversy in 1973 for refusing to accept his award for The Godfather.
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The Godfather is considered one of the best movies in Marlon Brando’s career, and he was expected to win the Oscar for his performance as Vito Corleone in 1973. Brando became one of three winners to refuse an Academy Award, but despite the controversial rejection, he received a further Best Actor nomination for Last Tango in Paris in 1974 and his only Best Supporting Actor nomination for A Dry White Season in 1990.
6 Al Pacino
Won 1 Academy Award Out of 9 Nominations
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Al Pacino rose to prominence for his role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather, for which he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1973. Similar to his co-star Marlon Brando, Pacino did not attend the award ceremony, despite the nomination. However, per Newsweek, he revealed this was due to his internal struggles with fame at the time. He received five Oscar nominations throughout the 1970s, two of them for the same role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather franchise; his performance in The Godfather Part II, earned him a nomination for Best Actor.
|
Year |
Movie |
Category |
Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1973 |
The Godfather |
Best Supporting Actor |
Nominated |
|
1974 |
Serpico |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1975 |
The Godfather Part II |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1976 |
Dog Day Afternoon |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1980 |
…And Justice For All |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1991 |
Dick Tracy |
Best Supporting Actor |
Nominated |
|
1993 |
Glengarry Glen Ross |
Best Supporting Actor |
Nominated |
|
1993 |
Scent of a Woman |
Best Actor |
Won |
|
2020 |
The Irishman |
Best Supporting Actor |
Nominated |
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Following a career decline in the 1980s, Pacino made a comeback with a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in Dick Tracy. In 1993, Pacino became the first actor to receive two nominations for two movies in the same year; he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Glengarry Glen Ross and won Best Actor for his role in Scent of a Woman, which is regarded as one of the most defining movies of his career. His most recent nomination was for The Irishman, where he received his fourth nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
5 Paul Newman
Won 1 Academy Award Out of 10 Nominations
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With a career on stage and screen spanning more than 50 years, Paul Newman received a total of 10 Oscar nominations across five decades. He received his first nomination for his role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, alongside Elizabeth Taylor. He went on to receive 6 nominations between 1962 and 1983, including for his role as “Fast” Eddie Felson in The Hustler.
|
Year |
Movie |
Category |
Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1959 |
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1962 |
The Hustler |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1964 |
Hud |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1968 |
Cool Hand Luke |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1969 |
Rachel, Rachel |
Best Picture |
Nominated |
|
1982 |
Absence of Malice |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1983 |
The Verdict |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
1987 |
The Color of Money |
Best Actor |
Won |
|
1995 |
Nobody’s Fool |
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
2003 |
Road to Perdition |
Best Supporting Actor |
Nominated |
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Following a further two nominations in the early 1980s, Newman finally won an Oscar for Best Actor in 1987 for The Color of Money. Serving as a sequel to 1961’s The Hustler, Newman famously won the Oscar for reprising his previously-nominated role of “Fast” Eddie Nelson. Newman received his final Best Actor nomination in 1995 for Nobody’s Fool and his only Best Supporting Actor nomination in 2003 for Road Perdition.
4 Denzel Washington
Won 2 Academy Awards Out of 10 Nominations
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Denzel Washington has served as an actor, director and producer for multiple acclaimed movies, including The Great Debaters and Fences. Achieving worldwide recognition for his work in Malcolm X and The Tragedy of Macbeth, he was listed by The New York Times as the greatest actor of the 20th century.Washington has achieved a total of 10 Oscar nominations across five decades, receiving his first nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1988 for Cry Freedom; the following year, he won the award for his performance in Glory.
Between 1993 and 2013, Washington was nominated four times in the category for Best Actor, winning in 2002 for his role as Alonzo Harris in the crime thriller Training Day. He received two separate nominations in 2017 for both Best Actor and Best Picture for his work in Fences. Following two further Best Actor nominations, Washington is set to appear as Macrinus in Gladiator II, which may set an Oscar milestone for the first time in 28 years.
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3 Spencer Tracy
Won 2 Academy Awards Out of 9 Nominations
American actor Spencer Tracy ties with Laurence Olivier with the most Best Actor Oscar nominations across their careers. Appearing in 75 movies across his career, Tracy worked with many acclaimed Hollywood actors, including Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, and Katharine Hepburn, whom he shared the screen with a total of nine times.
Spencer Tracy received nine Best Actor Oscar nominations, winning twice for Captains Courageous and Boys Town in 1937 and 1938 respectively. With his two Oscar wins, Spencer Tracy became the first actor to win two consecutive Oscars in the same category and was the only actor to achieve this for 55 years until 1993. Tracy received a final posthumous Oscar nomination for Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner in 1967; he completed filming for this movie just 17 days before his death.
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2 Laurence Olivier
Won 1 Academy Award Out of 11 Nominations
Laurence Olivier is often regarded as one of the greatest British actors in history, having achieved success on both stage and screen. He rose to international attention for his roles as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1939) and Maxim de Winter in Rebecca, where he received Oscar nominations for Best Actor for both movies. Olivier achieved a total of 11 Oscar nominations across his career, five of which were for Shakespeare adaptations. His Oscar-nominated performances in The Entertainer and Othello are ranked as some of the best movies of his career.
Olivier received a nomination for Best Director and won Best Actor for his performance as Hamlet, making him the first actor to direct himself to an Oscar win.
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Most notably, in 1948, Olivier produced, directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Hamlet, which became the first British film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Olivier received a nomination for Best Director and won Best Actor for his performance as Hamlet, making him the first actor to direct himself to an Oscar win. Olivier was nominated sxi more times, receiving his final nomination in 1979 for The Boys in Brazil.
1 Jack Nicholson
Won 3 Academy Awards Out of 12 Nominations
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Jack Nicholson holds many prestigious records at the Oscars. Receiving four nominations for Best Supporting Actor and eight nominations for Best Actor, Nicholson is the most nominated actor in the history of the Academy Awards and is one of 10 actors to receive Oscar nominations across five decades. Receiving his first nomination in 1970, Nicholson won his first Oscar for Best Actor for his role in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, which is considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made.
Nicholson won a second Oscar in 1984 for Terms of Endearment, in the Best Supporting Actor category. He received further nominations between 1986 and 1993 for his work in movies, including Prizzi’s Honor and A Few Good Men, before winning Best Actor for a second time in 1998 for As Good As It Gets, considered by many to be one of the best movies of his career. Retiring from acting in 2010, Jack Nicholson holds the record for being one of only six actors to win Oscars in both acting categories and remains the most recognized Oscar nominee in history.
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Sources: AFI, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times
Oscars
The Oscars, also known as The Academy Awards, is an annual awards show celebrating workers in the film industry for their artistic and technical abilities. The Oscars are often considered the most prestigious awards show in the industry and date back to 1929. The 96th Academy Awards will be held on March 10, 2024, and be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC.
Location Los Angeles, CA Dates March 10, 2024 Network ABC