The Academy Awards are by far the most prestigious badge of honor someone in the movie industry could wear. From actors, to directors and producers, from sound technicians, to script writers and floor scrubbers. Alright, maybe the chain doesn’t stretch that far, but the idea is that even the most “insignificant” of Oscar nominations is like a stamp of approval from the unreachable world of critics, and an addition to anyone’s portfolio that can open up a multitude of new doors. After all, how many times have you seen an actor’s name pop on the screen during a trailer, above a sub-header that proudly announces in shiny characters that this person is an “Academy Award Winner/Nominee?” Exactly like that, any nomination, win and category will bring the incumbent prestige all actors work their whole lives for. However, no matter how glorifying an Oscar nomination is, sometimes enough is enough. There are only so many times you can be the “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” of the movie industry. The following Top 10 Actors Who Deserve An Oscar, as the title suggests, have pulled an Icarus numerous times already: they flew too close to the sunny golden statue, and got their wings burned.
1. Glenn Close – 6 Nominations
I know you must be disappointed that we’re not starting off the list with the elephant in the room, but shockingly, the prize for most Oscar nominations with no wins goes to Glenn Close. She’s an irrefutable veteran in the cinematographic world, having earned her first nomination in 1983, with The World According to Garp, The Big Chill and The Natural ensuring her presence on the list for Best Supporting Actress three years in a row. I know they say third time is a charm, but perhaps in Glenn Close’s case, the seventh time will bring the much craved golden statue in her hands.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio – 5 Nominations
Alright, this is what you’ve probably been waiting for. Although Glenn Close does have it worse than DiCaprio statistically wise, she can’t complain that she’s had her face stamped on countless of memes and spread around the Internet as a running gag that only gets more tragically comical each time she returns from a gala with empty hands. So, not only does poor DiCaprio have to put up with having the Oscar brutally snatched from his hands every time he lands a nomination, he can’t even browse the Internet without seeing a post where he holds his baby for the first time and follows up with a rehearsed acceptance speech. If it’s of any comfort, Leo, beneath all the jokes, we’re all rooting for you.
3. Amy Adams – 5 Nominations
Joining the fivers club of nominations with no wins is Amy Adams, who might as well change her name to Best Supporting Actress, since for the past decade she’s visited and revisited the category numerous times. Her most recent nomination was in 2014, for the role in American Hustle, though that didn’t end with Adams taking the statue home to display on her shelf, either.
4. Ed Harris – 4 Nominations
For Ed Harris, it’s 4-0 for the Academy Awards. His first nomination came with the superb part played in Apollo 13, a nomination that many people were really keen on seeing shift into the materialization of an Oscar statuette. Despite how close he was to achieving success by winning, he unfortunately left empty handed, and things only continued to get worse, as three other winless nominations piled up on top of his career.
5. Johnny Depp – 3 Nominations
Perhaps from an amateur standpoint, Johnny Depp seems like almost definite Oscar material. He’s flamboyant, eccentric and has made a name for himself by taking extremely difficult parts to play. The Academy Awards agree – but only partially. While they’ve definitely given him nominations for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Peter Pan and Sweeney Todd, they decided to keep the statuette away from him. The good thing is that, similarly to DiCaprio, Depp received perhaps the most relevant of approval already: the love of an audience that propelled him to becoming one of the world’s most popular actors.
6. Edward Norton – 3 Nominations
By all means, Norton was welcomed in the movie industry with a successful debut, managing to check “Oscar nomination” off his checklist for the very first movie he starred in, Primal Fear. But it seems that the Academy is keen on keeping him waiting, since his following two nominations for American History X and Birdman didn’t conclude with a win either.
7. Laura Linney – 3 Nominations
Laura Linney is the perfect example that sometimes an actor is what makes the whole movie. All of her nominations so far, for Count On Me, Kinsey, and The Savages, only received two other nods other than Linney’s. This should be set in stone as a definite proof that she is a phenomenal actress and that she is worthy of the golden statuette, but it seems that critics haven’t been fully convinced yet.
8. Michelle Pfeiffer – 3 Nominations
Just from personal experience, I can attest that I’ve seen quite a few movies featuring Michelle Pfeiffer and she was as outstanding as the movies she starred in were good. While it’s true that her moment of glory was between the 80’s and early 90’s, since she hasn’t put out any Oscar worthy performances since, it’s not too late for her to make a comeback and be rewarded for her career.
9. Brad Pitt – 3 Nominations
For those who don’t actively follow the Academy Awards, it might come off as a shock that Brad Pitt, one of Hollywood’s most prominent stars, hasn’t ever won an Oscar. Well, technically he did, but as a producer for 12 Years a Slave. His acting acting skills have yet to be rewarded with more than nominations, and given how he’s still at the peak of his career, that’s more likely than you might think.
What do you say? Are you also looking forward to see these actors leave the Academy Awards with the infamous statuette in their hands? If you do, that’s perfectly normal, since these are the Top 9 Actors Who Deserve An Oscar.
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