They are actors without an Oscar even if they deserved an award unlike other peers. There is no particular order to them. These actors and actresses were nominated at least for a Best Supporting role, some of them several times, but despite their talent, they didn’t get it yet. Except one of them (Richard Burton), all the others are pretty recent, a 20-25 years span is a whole life for just a part of you.
James Woods
Robert De Niro, James Woods, William Forsythe and Burt Young in Once Upon a Time in America 1984
[source for all pics: imdb.com]
James Woods was born on 18 April, 1947, somewhere in Utah. He has been nominated twice, once for supporting (Ghosts of Mississippi, 1996) and once for Best Actor (Salvador, 1986). He was perfect in two medium-small acts, so he deserved to be nominated and even win, in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), and in Pretty Persuasion (2005). It is said he has an impressive IQ and he plays Texas Holdem like a Pro. I doubt it, or it’s only because when I watched him playing he was deliberately uninspired.
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver with Winona Ryder in Alien: Resurrection ( 1997)
Sigourney, borned at 8 October, 1949 in Manhattan, new York City, NY, has been three times nominated for Oscar: Twice Best Actress in a Leading Role for Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988) and Aliens (1986), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Working Girl (1988). She deserved to win especially in Aliens and Working Girl.
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz in Vanilla Sky (2001)
Tom Cruise is still without an Oscar, but he is one of the richest actors alive. Born on 3 July, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, he is extremely talented and versatile. He has been nominated twice for Best Actor (Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jerry Maguire, 1996 and Born on the Fourth of July, 1989), and once for supporting (Magnolia, 1999, a movie directed by Joaquin Phoenix’s friend, Paul Thomas Anderson). In Magnolia he was spectacular, and in Born on the Fourth of July he almost had it, but he lost for Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot. Tom Cruise is better than a lot of Oscar awarded males. He was perfect in Collateral, 2004, or at least I can’t think of a better role not being too corny.
Johnny Depp without an Oscar
Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
One of the most versatile actors in Hollywood, Johnny Depp was born on 9 June, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky. He, like Leo, seems to not need the golden statue, he’s rich, famous, talented, trendy, on top of all news. He was nominated three times for Best Actor: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Finding Neverland (2004) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). He deserved to win in all of them. Anyway, whatever the critics say about a movie he’s in, he effortlessly acts perfect in all of them.
Edward Norton
Kate Winslet and Edward Norton in Collateral Beauty (2016)
Not being one of my favorite actors in the world, Edward Norton is more talented than others who got the Oscar. Born in 18 August 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, he was nominated three times: once for Best Actor (American History X, 1998), and twice for supporting (Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, 2014, and Primal Fear, 1996). He’s difficult, he’s arrogant and not always a guarantee for a great movie, that doesn’t means he’s bad. He is not bad at all, I like his playing more than I dislike it. Undoubtedly he deserves an Oscar as soon as possible.
Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman in Sid and Nancy (1986)
Gary Oldman is one of the most talented guys in Hollywood, capable of total transformations, like De Niro used to be until he started to play himself. Just remember him in Sid and Nancy (1986), or in True Romance (1993)… Again, like De Niro, he also accepts some roles under his value, where the script is only a filling and his talent is lost. He was born at 21 March 1958, in New Cross, London, England, UK. He has been nominated only once for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). A pity.
Glenn Close
Uma Thurman and Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
At just 1.65 m tall, Glenn Close manages to fill the screen with her tremendous talent. Born on 19 March 1947, Greenwich, Connecticut, she got six nominations, three for Best Actress and three for supporting. Best Actress for her performances in: Albert Nobbs (2011), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Fatal Attraction (1987). I’m sure you agree that in Dangerous Liaisons or in Fatal Attraction she was perfect. It was bad luck. She was challenged by Melanie Griffith for Working Girl, Meryl Streep for A Cry in the Dark, Sigourney Weaver for Gorillas in the Mist, and the Oscar went to Jodie Foster for The Accused. Tough! She was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role three times in a row for her acting in : The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983) and The Natural (1984).
Richard Burton definitively without Oscar
Richard Burton in Cleopatra (1963)
Unfortunately, it will be very hard for him to hope to an Oscar since he’s dead. Richard Burton is a Hollywood legend. He was born on 10 November 1925, at Pontrhydyfen, Wales, UK and died on 5 August 1984, in Céligny, Geneva, Switzerland. He was no less than seven times nominated for Oscar, six times for leading and once for supporting. He was nominated Best Actor for: The Robe (1953), Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and Equus (1977). He started with a nudge for supporting in My Cousin Rachel (1952). I can’t take him out of my mind in Look Back in Anger (1959), or in The Night of the Iguana (1964). He is considered one of the greatest British actors of all time. He was married five times, two of them with Elizabeth Taylor.
Robert Downey Jr
Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
RDJ, the Buddhist Jew[sic], was born at 4 April 1965, in Manhattan, New York City. He is very special and very versatile. People like him in roles of abused characters on the verge of an extreme or another. Less Than Zero (1987), One Night Stand (1997), Charlie Bartlett (2007), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), are just a few examples. Wander Boys (2000) can be another example because is one of my favorites except his Chaplin (1992) impersonation, truly deserving the award on top of his Best Actor nomination. He also got a nomination for Tropic Thunder (2008). I profoundly dislike the trash like the Avengers or Iron Man movies, especially Iron Man 3, where he was overrated.
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix and Katherine Waterston in Inherent Vice (2014)
His name is actually Joaquin Rafael Bottom, he has a New York Jewish mother and a Californian father of British descent. Being born on 28 October 1974, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is just a coincidence, his parents were hippies in a mission there. Three times nominated, he was touched by bad luck for not winning when he impersonated Johnny Cash in Walk the Line (2005). His co-star, Reese Witherspoon, out-classed Judi Dench in Mrs Henderson Presents, Charlize Theron in North Country, Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice, and Felicity Huffman in Transamerica, winning the award for Best Actress. He lost again Best Actor in a Leading Role award for The Master (2012), to Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln. In my opinion, a misunderstanding; his greatest contender was Denzel Washington in Flight! He also got nominated for a brilliant performance as a supporting act in Gladiator, 2000.
Helena Bonham Carter
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Armie Hammer in The Lone Ranger (2013)
Helena Bonham Carter, born on 26 May 1966, in Golders Green, London, England, was born in a family with a lot of aristocrats. She is very talented and often works with Johnny Depp. She played in seven movies made by Tim Burton, of whom she has split in the late 2014, after 13 years of domestic partnership plus two children. Nominated one time for Best Actress in Henry James’ The Wings of the Dove (1997) and once for supporting in The King’s Speech (2010), she deserves more.
Jessica Chastain
Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year (2014)
Jessica Chastain is an emerging talented actress born at 24 March 1977, in Sacramento, California. She has been nominated for Oscar only twice, once for supporting in The Help (2011), and once for leading in Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Unfortunately she wasn’t considered by the Academy for the her best performance to date, in Miss Sloane (2016). Instead, Meryl Streep was nominated for Florence Foster Jenkins, mostly from habit. Jimmy Kimmel joked about that at the infamous 2017 Oscar Awards Ceremony.
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient (1996)
The versatile Brit, born on 22 December 1962, in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, tends to be more known for his Harry Potter franchise’s villain, Lord Voldemort, than for his roles with more substance. Anyway, he received his first Oscar nomination for a supporting role in Schindler’s List, in 1993. Something more serious was yet to come, for his great performance in Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient (beautifully written by Michael Ondaatje), in 1996. He is highly noticeable in almost every role he plays: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), In Bruges (2008), A Bigger Splash (2015), or many, many others.
Honorable mentions at this list are Brad Pitt, Laurence Fishburne and Samuel L. Jackson. Between these three, Brad Pitt is in possession of one statuette, but for producing, not for his acting talents. He was nominated twice for leading (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2008 and Moneyball, 2011). He wasn’t necessarily misjudged by his fellow actors then, but he deserved the Best Supporting Actor award when he was nominated for his exquisite act in 12 Monkeys, 1995. Fishburne and Jackson can wait. It seems the first is more talented than the second.
As a conclusion, there are a lot of actors and actresses deserving the award, and they haven’t been nominated yet. Think of Rhys Ifans, or Mark Strong, other actors without an Oscar, for example.
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