We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community for their favorite actors who’ve surprisingly never won an Oscar. You can check out the first list here. But there were sooo many excellent responses that we had to make a second list! So here are 25 more submissions we 100% agree with:
1.
Angela Bassett
Buena Vista
“Everything she’s been in — from Waiting to Exhale to How Stella Got Her Groove Back to What’s Love Got to Do With It, where she transformed into Tina Turner. Even her role in the goofy horror comedy Vampire in Brooklyn deserves an Oscar!”
“That Black queen needs like four!”
2.
Ralph Fiennes
Searchlight Pictures
“The guy is an icon, and it’s a crime he doesn’t have an Oscar. Not just for Harry Potter, but films like Schindler’s List or Grand Budapest Hotel or basically whatever film he got a role in. He is fantastic.”
3.
Adam Driver
Netflix
“I’m sure he will get one eventually, but I’m just amazed with his work in Marriage Story and especially in BlacKkKlansman.”
4.
Sigourney Weaver
20th Century Fox
“For Alien or Gorillas in the Mist. She was also brilliant as the bad guy in Working Girl.“
5.
Eddie Murphy
DreamWorks/ Paramount
“He should have won for his amazing performance in Dreamgirls!”
6.
Willem Dafoe
Sony
“He’s acted in more than 100 movies and has been nominated only four times!”
7.
Michelle Pfeiffer
Warner Bros.
“She should have won Best Actress for The Fabulous Baker Boys and Best Supporting Actress for Dangerous Liaisons (or at least one of those).”
8.
John Travolta
Paramount
“He’s got longevity and is a triple threat. He deserved one a long time ago.”
9.
Laurence Fishburne
Lionsgate/ PVR Cinemas
“He’s been in more than 70 movies, including The Matrix series and John Wick series. It’s time he gets the recognition he deserves.”
10.
Sean Astin
New Line Cinema
“How did he NOT win a Supporting Actor Oscar for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King?! I’m still pissed about that.”
11.
Peter O’Toole
Warner Bros.
“Legend Peter O’Toole was nominated EIGHT times and never won. He was given an Honorary Oscar in 2002, which he initially tried to turn down, writing to the Academy that he was ‘still in the game’ and would like more time to ‘win the lovely bugger outright.’ He was nominated a final time in 2007, but STILL didn’t win, losing to Forest Whitaker, and then died in 2013. The man was done dirty.”
12.
Florence Pugh
Sony
“She’s young, and her career is just starting, but she’s already shown how amazing she is.”
13.
Idris Elba
Netflix
“I am just shocked that his performances in Beasts of No Nation and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom did not earn him even Oscar nominations. He’s too great of an actor to be ignored by the Academy for this long.”
14.
Harrison Ford
Paramount
“He definitely should have won an Oscar a dozen times over.”
15.
Hugh Jackman
20th Century Fox
“He’s so talented, and I can’t believe he has never won an Oscar!”
16.
Jennifer Lopez
Warner Bros.
“She should have won Oscars for her performances in Hustlers, Enough, and Selena.“
17.
Keira Knightley
Focus Features
“She is great in all her movies, but she’s hardly ever even nominated.”
18.
Don Cheadle
MGM
“He is an incredible actor. He 100% should have won for his moving performance in Hotel Rwanda!”
19.
Keanu Reeves
Warner Bros.
20.
Jim Carrey
Focus Features
“For Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Man on the Moon, or The Truman Show.”
21.
Ryan Gosling
Lionsgate
“He even learned how to play intense piano in La La Land, not to mention his amazing roles in everything else he’s in!”
22.
Kerry Washington
Columbia
“She is so underrated! Her performances in Ray, Django Unchained, and The Last King of Scotland were all deserving of an Oscar, but she’s never even been nominated!”
23.
Cary Grant
Universal
“I’m going old school so there’s no chance to remedy this. Cary Grant. He could do lighthearted comedy, drama, suspense. He could be the typical charming Cary Grant. He could turn that exact charm dark. He could completely lose the charm and be cold and heartless. I don’t think he got the credit he deserved.”
24.
Naomi Watts
Focus Features
“Overlooked for Mulholland Drive, 21 Grams, Funny Games, Eastern Promises, Birdman, etc. Watts is way overdue.”
–lx59
25.
And Marilyn Monroe
United Artists
“She was never even nominated. Snubbed, if you ask me.”
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
