Ranker

Anime Underground

Button Mash

Graveyard Shift

Total Nerd

Unspeakable Times

Weird History

Weird Nature

Weirdly Interesting

Sports

Music

Entertainment

Living

Culture

Food

Makeup

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Holidays

Watchworthy

HBO Max

Lists of fun facts and differing opinions about Hollywood's biggest, most self-congratulatory night.

There are many actresses who haven&#39;t won an Oscar. For 95 percent of the acting population, there is probably a good reason they haven&#39;t taken home one of film&#39;s most prestigious honors being on the <a href="/list/every-oscar-winning-film-ever/drake-bird">Academy Awards winners list</a>. Only two actresses per year can win either the Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress Oscars, leaving eight other nominees with nothing - and all of the other actresses in the biz out in the cold.&nbsp;

But does the Academy always get it right? There are plenty of actresses who haven&#39;t won an Oscar despite the fact that they&rsquo;ve turned in amazing performances. Whether it&rsquo;s due to stellar competition, bad luck, or an out-and-out snub, some artists have never gotten the recognition they deserve.&nbsp;

Amy Adams, Rachel McAdams, and Glenn Close are all big draws at the box office who haven&#39;t received the same respect of the Academy that they have from audiences. While they&#39;ve all been nominated for Oscars, they&#39;ve never taken home the big prize.&nbsp;Other top actresses without Oscars include Michelle Pfeiffer, Annette Bening,&nbsp;Sigourney Weaver, Helena Bonham Carter, and Christina Ricci. This list of female Hollywood celebrities who have no Academy Awards also includes black Actresses, like Angela Bassett, and famous classic stars, like Greta Garbo&nbsp;and Judy Garland. With six nominations, Thelma Ritter has the most nominations without winning the Oscar.&nbsp;&nbsp;

There are a surprising number of big name actresses who haven&#39;t won an Oscar. It&#39;s up to you to determine which of these women is the greatest.

poll

Julie Andrews

Every year the Academy evaluates a year's worth of brilliant performances and picks what they believe to be the best of the best, nominating these for the most prestigious acting awards in cinema: the Oscars. This in itself is an honor - just to be nominated for an Academy Award. But only one person can win each year, and the women listed here have all taken home Oscar gold for Best Actress in a Leading Role - so which <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-actress-oscar-love-curse/donn-saylor?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Best Actress Oscar</a> winners are the best?Of the leading women <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-have-egots/celebrity-lists?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">who have won</a> Best Actress, who is the&nbsp;best&nbsp;Best Actress? Is it the most nominated women of all time Meryl Streep, with 15 nominations? Is it a classic actress like Katharine Hepburn (who has the most wins, with four)? What about Audrey Hepburn, or Grace Kelly? Maybe a more modern choice like Hilary Swank, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, or Julianne Moore?With so many options choosing the best is hard, but that's where you come in. Vote up the very best actresses of all the Best Actress Academy Award winners below!

Oscars

Aileen Wuornos

This list contains information about the best actress performances, ranked by your votes. Over the years there has been so many great performances that won best actress awards for the women who portrayed classic characters. Some of these <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/2019-best-actress-oscar-predictions/grayson-titan?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best actress Oscar</a> performances were for roles based on real people while others were based on fictional characters.What are some of the best actress performances? Annie Wilkes from Misery made our list. Kathy Bates won a Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of this number one fan. Misery was based on the 1987 Stephen King book of the same name. Vivien Leigh's iconic portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/dark-tales-from-behind-the-scenes-of-gone-with-the-wind/erin-mccann?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">with the Wind</a> also made our list. Leigh took home the Best Actress Oscar in 1939.Several Best Supporting Actress performances also made this list. Octavia Spencer's performance of Minny Jackson in the film The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name, earned her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2011. Other supporting actress roles that are featured on this list include Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator (Cate Blanchett) and Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon).Which best actress performance is your favorite? Be sure to vote on this list to make sure the right role ends up in the top spot, and also share your thoughts in the comments section.

Al Pacino

Sometimes, the Academy sets out to right an Oscar mistake, finally giving top awards to the most deserving of actors and directors... but not for their best work. Which stars have won Academy Awards, but a few years too late? For actors and directors who've made it big in Hollywood, there's no award like <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/child-actors-nominated-for-oscars/celebrity-lists?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">an Academy Award</a>. No accolade is more prestigious than the Oscar: it is the high water mark of a career and no actor is the same after a win or even a nomination. Unfortunately sometimes the Academy gets it wrong.This occasionally results in make up Oscars - honoring the great work of top actors or directors, for a film that maybe wasn't their best outing. Other times, the Academy might give a farewell Oscar to an iconic actor who is retiring and hasn't yet won. From Scorsese to Elizabeth Taylor, the Oscars have honored some questionable films and roles, in an effort to make the Oscar dreams of film legends finally come true.Whatever the case these are the actors and directors who won an Oscar... but for the wrong film. Vote up the directors and&nbsp;actors who should've won Oscars for other films in their bodies of work, but got consolation Oscars instead.

The best Oscar opening numbers all in one place. The Oscars opening monologue often ends up stealing the opening number's thunder, it's those first Academy Award moments that set the tone of the ceremony. With the Oscars on everybody's mind, it's time to look back on some of the best Academy Awards opening sequences as we ponder what future Oscar opening skit. This compilation of the best Oscar openings contains all the song, dance, and pageantry you'd expect from the Academy Awards. From stalwart (and frequent) Oscar host Billy Crystal, veteran award show host Hugh Jackman (whose Craigslist dancers may have put on the best Oscar dance montage in the history of the Academy Awards), and even some of the newer (riskier) Academy Awards hosts like James Franco and Anne Hathaway, this list of the top Academy Award opening skits has a little something for everyone. Each of these Academy Awards hosts had their own point of view of Hollywood to get across and the results are the best and worst Oscar opening numbers. What Oscar host had the best opening monologue? Which Academy Awards host had the best Academy Awards opening sequence? Who was responsible for the worst Oscars opening? This video list should give you an idea of which Oscar hosts stepped up and were part of the best Academy Awards opening skits, and which of them failed to step up to the bar set by <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/all-oscar-hosts/oscar-grouch">Academy Awards hosts</a> past. If there's an Academy Awards opening number you know of that's not on this list of the best Oscar openings ever, make sure to add it so others can vote on whether or not it's truly the greatest Academy Awards opening sequence ever.

The Best of the 2010s

Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decides, in its infinite (and campaign-influenced) wisdom, upon a small group of films meant to represent the best the year in question had to offer. The winners are remembered, of course; the Best Picture award&nbsp;either enhances a film&#39;s&nbsp;reputation or irreparably harms it, depending on what it was going up against.

But what about the whole batch? Which year had the best overall group of Best Picture nominees? Vote up the most impressive groups from the 2010s.

NOTE: The years in question refer to the year in which the Oscar ceremony took place, not the year in which the movies were released.

The Academy Awards are cinema’s most prestigious prize. Although there are moments of humor, the ceremony is typically a buttoned-up, serious affair. An Oscar can change the entire life for a winning actor, or generate millions of extra dollars at the box office for a motion picture. However, you have to remember that the ceremony is live, and even though the people attending are mostly superstar Hollywood celebrities, they're still human. Here are the best Oscar moments of all time.These Oscar moments consist of a little bit of everything. If you’re looking for a list that concentrates on just the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-oscar-acceptance-speeches-of-all-time/ranker-film?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best acceptance speeches</a>, you'll find that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-oscar-acceptance-speeches-of-all-time/the-wrap">here</a>. Of course, there are a few memorable speeches included, no Oscar list would be complete without a mention of Sally Field, and how much everyone likes her.This list also celebrates the awkward moments. Remember when John Travolta called Idina Menzel, &quot;Adele Dazeem&quot;? How about when poor Frank Capra walked up to the stage when Frank Lloyd was actually the winner?There are special Oscar moments on this list as well. From the wonderful time when John Wayne got to say his own kind of farewell to his colleagues and fans before passing away a few months later, to when Woody Allen made his lone appearance at the Oscars to pay tribute to his native New York six months after 9/11. There are also the unforgettable outfits - thank you Cher and Bj&ouml;rk for being true fashion statement makers. Make your voice heard, vote up the most memorable Oscar moments of all time.

Streaming

If you&#39;re looking for critically-acclaimed films to watch, here are the best Oscar-winning movies on Netflix. Featuring Best Picture winners and some of the greatest films of all time, this list of Oscar winners streaming now on Netflix is updated regularly with newly added and popular movies.&nbsp;

Vote up the best Academy Award-winning films on Netflix, and add your favorite Oscar winners if they&#39;re missing from the list.&nbsp;

Jack Nicholson

Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors the very best in film - at least as they see it. It seems each year these nominations are wildly contended by viewers and critics alike. Critical darlings and fan favorites slip trough the cracks and make for some crazy Oscar snubs come award season - and this Oscar snub list has them all.Naturally some Oscars snubs are far worst than others, and we also have the benefit of hindsight, but can you believe Citizen Kane didn't win Best Picture? Neither did Shawshank Redemption. 2001: A Space Odyssey wasn't even nominated and neither was The Shining or Do the Right Thing. Then there are the poor actors, actresses, and directors who work hard, turn in excellent performances, and campaign for Oscar gold only to never to make the cut. Academy Award snubs are a matter of opinion, but some just can't be ignored.This isn't to say each of these snubs should have definitely won that year, but the films, actors, and directors listed here definitely deserved a nomination. Jack Nicholson in The Shining&nbsp;probably shouldn't have beaten Robert De Niro in Raging Bull&nbsp;for 1970's Best Actor award, but he certainly should have been on the ballot. These are the biggest Oscar snubs of all time! Vote up the people and films you feel were wrongfully snubbed by the Academy, or deserved to win if they did garner a nomination.

Awards

Ingrid Bergman

The Academy Award is among the most prestigious honors offered to people who work in film. This list ranks all <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-film-actors-and-actresses-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">actors and actresses</a> who have ever been awarded at least two Oscars for acting, in the categories of Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, or Best Supporting Actress. Who is the best two-time Oscar winning actor of all time? Vote up the greatest actors or actresses that have won multiple Academy Awards based on their most impressive and memorable works. Each recipient is listed here with information about the films for which he or she won.&nbsp;

It's a Wonderful Life

Often, time will serve as the best indicator of greatness. Sure, there are award ceremonies, big box office, and rave reviews to indicate whether a film is worthy of praise or not. But the true test is to judge a movie ten, twenty, thirty, forty years down the line. Are people talking about the film in terms of being a classic? Does the story hold up? Is it a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/what-movies-can-you-watch-over-and-over-again--v1" target="_blank">rewatchable film</a>?&nbsp;How about the direction, cinematography, acting? Sometimes, the most deserving films don’t win awards. Heck, sometimes the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-movies-of-all-time" target="_blank">best films of all time</a>&nbsp;aren’t even nominated. This is a list of 28 great movies that didn’t win a single Academy Award.Oscar snubs happen every year, but it’s still hard to believe that masterpieces like The Shining, Singin’ in the Rain, and Do the Right Thing did not win a single Academy Award. The Shining is often cited as the greatest horror film ever made. Singin’ in the Rain is #1 on the<a href="http://www.afi.com/100Years/musicals.aspx" target="_blank"> American Film Institute’s list</a> of the Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time. And Spike Lee’s joint Do the Right Thing is considered one of the most seminal films on race relations in the history of cinema.We can now see the greatness and power of those films. However, The Shining did not receive a single Academy Award nomination, Singin' in the Rain did not receive a nod for Best Picture in 1953, and neither did Do the Right Thing in 1989.This list is not about who should have won at the Oscars. Whether or not we think that The Shawshank Redemption should have beat Forrest Gump in the Best Picture category in 1995 is irrelevant. This list is simply pointing out that these (mostly) time-tested movies that people still discuss and put on “best of” lists did not earn a single Academy Award in any category.Maybe they got robbed, maybe they really were just second best that year. Either way, some of the films that made this list will shock you. Be sure to make your voice heard by voting up the best films that deserved to win at least one Oscar.

2020

The <a href="https://oscar.go.com/nominees" target="_blank">2020 Academy Award nominations&nbsp;</a>celebrate a year of achievement in film, but not everyone who gave a great performance or directed an amazing movie could be nominated. Here is a look at the year&#39;s biggest snubs. Vote up the performance, director, film, or other achievement that deserved&nbsp;Oscar love in 2020.&nbsp;

Maximus Decimus Meridius

Over the years, there have been so many <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-actors?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">great actors</a> and actresses <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-have-egots/celebrity-lists?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">who have won</a> Oscars for portraying classic characters. Some of these best actor Oscar performances were for roles based on real people, while others were based on fictional characters.Who are some of the best characters to win an Oscar? Randle Patrick McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest made our list. Jack Nicholson won a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of this not-so-crazy patient in 1975. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was based on the 1962 <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/ken-kesey-books-and-stories-and-written-works/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Ken Kesey book</a> of the same name. Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of Vito Corleone in the film The Godfather also made our list. Brando took home the Best Actor Oscar in 1972.Several Best Actress performances also made this list. Julia Robert's portrayal of Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name, earned her an Oscar for Best Actress in 2000. Other Best Actress roles that are featured on this list include Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) from Black Swan and Clarice Starling (Jody Foster) from The&nbsp;Silence of the Lambs. Halle Berry was the first African American woman to win an Oscar for her performance as Leticia Musgrove in Monster's Ball. &nbsp;Which best actor Oscar-winning performance is your favorite? Vote up your favorite role, and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

It’s hard to make a movie. Wait, no, that’s an understatement. It’s almost impossible. Even if you&nbsp;have a perfect script, there are almost infinite unquantifiable&nbsp;forces working against you,&nbsp;screwing up your vision, from problems with cast and crew to permit issues, weather, financing, and endless post-production delays. It’s a wonder any film is ever completed, let alone good enough to win an award. Hell, even if you manage to make an awards-worthy film, you have to make creative choices to get to the finish line. Such choices may include cutting cumbersome exposition, or simply throwing the audience into a world of absolutes, devoid of&nbsp;exposition. Despite the&nbsp;accolades, there are plenty of unexplained things in Oscar winning movies, a lot of which boil down to lapses in logic. Characters disappear or&nbsp;know things&nbsp;they shouldn’t, and sometimes, well, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/things-movies-get-wrong-about-vietnam-war/christopher-myers">stuff just happens</a>.Academy Award movies with unexplained plot points aren’t new;&nbsp;they’ve been around since the little golden statues were first handed out. While it stands to reason&nbsp;Academy Award winners&nbsp;that probably didn’t deserve it would have purposeless scenes&nbsp;or characters who could suddenly <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKvMgETJxecC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=sequence+structure+paul+usc+screenwriting&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjCiL6ziJ3RAhWJgFQKHcrcDGEQ6AEIIzAA#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">connect the A and B plots</a>, a lot of&nbsp;Oscar winning films with unexplained moments are considered to be among&nbsp;the best&nbsp;ever made. So <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/scifi-movies-with-unexplained-moments/jacob-shelton">why are they so confusing</a>?

Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issues the be-all and end-all of acting awards in the United States: the coveted Oscar. Only one man and one woman get to win the Academy Awards for leading roles every year, but which of the performances turned in by the talented and highly-praised actors below are <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-truly-hard-seltzer-flavors/bottoms-up?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">truly the best</a> of the best? This list ranks the best Oscar-winning performances by <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-film-actors-and-actresses-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">actors and actresses</a> in leading roles over the last 50 years - since 1966.These performances were (according to the Academy) the absolute best that each year had to offer. But which of those is the absolute best? Is it the iconic portrayal of Vito Corleone turned in by Marlon Brando in The Godfather? Maybe it's Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice? Or is it a more recent recipient? Maybe Julianne Moore in Still Alice&nbsp;or Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything? Use your votes to decide!Below you'll find the best leading performances since the 1966 Academy Awards - honoring <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-movies-of-1965/ranker-film?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">films released in 1965</a>, through to today. Vote up your the leading performances by an actor or actress you think were the best and see your picks rise to the top!

Ted Tally

Every year the Academy evaluates a year's worth of brilliant original screenplays and picks what they believe to be the best of the best, nominating these for the most prestigious writing awards in cinema: the Oscars. This in itself is an honor - just to be nominated for an Academy Award. But only one person can win each year, and the men and women listed here are all Academy Award winners for Best Adapted Screenplay - but which Best Adapted Screenplay winners are the best?Of the screenwriters <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-have-egots/celebrity-lists?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">who have won</a> in this category, who is the greatest? &nbsp;Is it a classic writer like Francis Ford Coppola (Godfather I, II, and III)? Maybe a more contemporary writer like William Monahan (The Departed) or Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)? Maybe it's writer&nbsp;who penned a contemporary classic like Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List).&nbsp;What about the other top Hollywood writers who can count themselves among the ranks of Oscar-winning screenplay writers? With so many options choosing the best is hard, but that's where you come in. Vote up the very best writers of all the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners below!

Performances

The actor is everything in film. Sure, the writer provides the words, and the director supplies the vision, but it&#39;s the actor who represents the characters and brings them to life. A bad acting performance can completely mar the best of dialogue, just as a superior performance can lift the most lifeless of words. We cherish the film actor, we revel in their celebrity, and often bathe in their beauty. However, there can only be one Academy Award winner for each category every year. This is a list of those other roles that weren&#39;t recognized, the best performances that did not win an Oscar.

This list is not about who should have won. No one is here to argue that Bradley Cooper should have beat out Eddie Redmayne for Best Actor in 2015. We&#39;re not taking anything away from Redmayne&#39;s brilliant depiction of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. But the fact that Cooper gave such an outstanding performance in American Sniper must be recognized. That&#39;s what this list is truly about. Call it Ranker&rsquo;s list for acting redemption.

Some of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-film-actors-and-actresses-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">actors and actresses</a> on this list, were not even nominated for Oscars. Their performance, for whatever reason, was not recognized by the finicky members of the Academy. Perhaps, it was because of genre bias? Both comedy and horror films rarely get the recognition they deserve. For example, most film buffs think that Jack Nicholson should have received a nod for his terrifying performance in The Shining and who can argue that Dustin Hoffman didn&#39;t turn in a perfect performance in Tootsie?

Let us know in the comments section if we missed any of your favorite big screen performances that failed to take home an Academy Award and be sure to vote up the performances below you think should be recognized for their outstanding quality, despite not winning on Oscar night.

Tom Schulman

Every year the Academy evaluates a year's worth of brilliant original screenplays and picks what they believe to be the best of the best, nominating these for the most prestigious writing awards in cinema: the Oscars. This in itself is an honor - just to be nominated for an Academy Award. But only one person can win each year, and the men and women listed here are all Academy Award winners for Best Original Screenplay - but which Best Original Screenplay winners are the best?The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn't make the distinction between Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay until the 13th year of the ceremony. So the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay didn't come about until 1940.Of the screenwriters <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-have-egots/celebrity-lists?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">who have won</a> in this category, who is the greatest? Do you think that honor belongs to Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters, Midnight in Paris)? What about the other <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/top-hollywood-douchebags/analise.dubner?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">top Hollywood</a> writers who can count themselves among the ranks of Oscar-winning screenplay writers?&nbsp;With so many options choosing the best is hard, but that's where you come in. Vote up the very <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-writers-of-all-time/ranker-books?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best writers</a> of all the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners below!

This list includes all Oscar hosts ever.&nbsp;Since the Academy Awards ceremonies began in 1929, 73 different people have hosted or co-hosted the event. Some have hosted multiple times, but none holds a candle to Bob Hope. The actor/comedian hosted the Oscars the most with&nbsp;a record 18 different times, beginning in 1940. Other multiple hosts or co-hosts include Billy Crystal (8 times), Johnny Carson (5 times), Jack Lemmon (4 times), and Whoopi Goldberg (4 times). If you&#39;re wondering <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/who-should-host-the-oscars/ranker-film" target="_blank">who&#39;s hosting the Oscars this year</a>, last year, or the last 10 years through history, just read below.&nbsp;

Oscar hosts have included <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-film-actors-and-actresses-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">actors and actresses</a>, film directors, musicians, and comedians. Oh, and an animated Disney character. Yes, in 1958, Donald Duck cohosted the Academy Awards alongside Bob Hope, David Niven, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, and Rosalind Russell. Donald didn&#39;t actually appear on stage, only on film, but this marks the only time any animated character has officially hosted the Oscars. This list of Oscar hosts by year has all the information you&#39;ll need about the guys and gals who have hosted this star-studded affair.

Who are the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-oscar-hosts/oscar-grouch?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best Oscar hosts</a>? This list will help determine the best of the best when it comes to previous Oscar hosts and Academy Awards hosts over the years.

Tommy DeVito

Over the years, many <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-actors?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">great actors</a> and actresses have been awarded the title of &quot;Best Actor&quot; for their portrayal of classic characters in film. Some of these Oscar-winning performances were based on real people, while other performances that won Oscars were based on fictional characters.&nbsp;Who are some of the best character portrayals that have earned actors Oscars? Forrest Gump from Forrest Gump made our list. Tom Hanks won a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of this multi-talented man. Forrest Gump was based on the 1986 Winston Groom book of the same name. Anthony Hopkins's iconic portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in the film The <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/silence-of-the-lambs-is-hilarious/erin-mccann?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Silence of the Lambs</a> also made our list. Hopkins took home the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-actors-with-more-than-one-oscar/ranker-film?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Best Actor Oscar</a> in 1991.Several Best Supporting Actor performances also made the cut. Gregory Peck's performance as Atticus Finch in the film To Kill A Mockingbird, based on the novel by Harper Lee, earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1962. Other supporting actor roles that are featured on this list include Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas, played by Joe Pesci, and Rod Tidwell from Jerry McGuire, played by Cuba Gooding Jr.Which best actor performance is your favorite? Vote up your favorite Oscar-winning character below!&nbsp;

The Oscars

pageType

graphexclude_novalue

exclude_RLblocks

ticker_exclude

tier_3

site_wide_RL_exclude

amazon_alexa

pushable

year

ranker_prime

This year&#39;s crop of best <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-film-actors-and-actresses-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">actors and actresses</a> are a mixed bag of incredible talent. Ranging from seasoned vets to newbies in the industry, the talent pool for this year&#39;s Oscar race is quite deep. Many of the 2020 Oscar&nbsp;nominees have decades of work behind them, while others are fairly new to audiences. Here is a look back at the careers of this year&#39;s nominees. Vote up the actor or actress who has changed the most since their early roles.&nbsp;

What Every 2020 Academy Awards Nominee Looked Like In Their Early Acting Roles

Best People Lists, Top 10 People- Find any People List at Ranker

Person

People

Famous People List: The Top People Lists and Top 10s

people

Erin Maxwell

Region

American

Tom Hanks - Best Supporting Actor

Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, Hanks is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is widely regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks made his breakthrough in film with leading roles in the comedies Splash (1984) and Big (1988). He won two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994). Hanks collaborated with film director Steven Spielberg on five films: Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), Bridge of Spies (2015), and The Post (2017), as well as the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, which launched him as a director, producer, and screenwriter.

Joaquin Phoenix - Best Actor

Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor, producer, and activist. For his work as an actor, Phoenix has received a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations.
Phoenix started acting in television series with his brother River Phoenix and sister Summer Phoenix. His first major film release was in the film SpaceCamp (1986). During his period as a child actor he was credited as Leaf Phoenix, his self-given name. He later went back to his birth name, Joaquin, and received positive reviews for his supporting work in a wide range of films, most notably for the film adaptation of the novel To Die For (1995) and the period film Quills (2000). He received international attention for his portrayal of Commodus in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has subsequently earned Best Actor nominations for portraying musician Johnny Cash in the biopic Walk the Line (2005) and for his role as Freddie Quell, a sex-obsessed alcoholic World War II veteran in the drama film The Master (2012), which won him the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. He and River Phoenix are the only brothers nominated for acting Academy Awards.His other films include the satire film Buffalo Soldiers (2001), the science fiction thriller Signs (2002), the animated film Brother Bear (2003), the historical drama film Hotel Rwanda (2004), the psychological thriller The Village (2004), the documentary Earthlings (2005), the romantic drama Two Lovers (2008), the drama The Immigrant (2013), the romantic science fiction drama Her (2013), the crime comedy-drama film Inherent Vice (2014), and the existential thriller You Were Never Really Here (2017), for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. He is set to portray the Joker in the 2019 film Joker.
Aside from his acting career, he has ventured into directing music videos, as well as producing films and television shows. He has recorded an album, the soundtrack to Walk the Line, for which he won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Phoenix is a social activist, lending his support to a number of charities and humanitarian organizations. He is on the board of directors for The Lunchbox Fund, a non-profit organization which provides daily meals to students of township schools in Soweto of South Africa. Phoenix is also known for his animal rights advocacy. He has been a vegan since the age of three and campaigns for PETA and In Defense of Animals.

Renée Zellweger - Best Actress

Renée Zellweger

Renée Kathleen Zellweger  (; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. Zellweger was one of the highest-paid actresses in the world by 2007, and was named Hasty Pudding's Woman of the Year in 2009.Zellweger had her first starring role in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994). She subsequently earned early acclaim with her appearance in Empire Records (1995), and gained wider recognition for her role in Jerry Maguire (1996). For Nurse Betty (2000), she won her first Golden Globe, and for her portrayals of Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and Roxie Hart in Chicago (2002), she garnered two consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She reprised her role as Bridget Jones in two equally successful sequels (2004–2016).
Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a loquacious farmer in the American Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003). She played the wife of boxer James J. Braddock in Cinderella Man (2005) and author Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter (2006). Roles in smaller scale films, such as Appaloosa (2008), My One and Only (2009), and Case 39 (2009), were followed by a six-year hiatus from the screen. In 2019, she began starring in the Netflix thriller anthology series What/If.

Anthony Hopkins - Best Supporting Actor

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins  (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992, and was nominated three additional times. Hopkins has also won three BAFTAs, two Emmys, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and in 2008, he received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.After graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1957, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and was then spotted by Laurence Olivier who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre. In 1968, he achieved renown, playing Richard the Lionheart in The Lion in Winter. In the mid-1970s, Richard Attenborough, who would direct five Hopkins films, called him "the greatest actor of his generation."
Hopkins portrayed Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, its sequel Hannibal, and the prequel Red Dragon. Hopkins was nominated for three other Academy Awards for the films, The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995), and Amistad (1997). Other notable films include: 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), The Elephant Man (1980), Howards End (1992), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Legends of the Fall (1994), Meet Joe Black (1998), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and Thor and its sequels. In 2015, he starred in the BBC television film The Dresser, and in 2016 and 2018, he starred in the HBO television series Westworld.

This year's crop of best actors and actresses are a mixed bag of incredible talent. Ranging from seasoned vets to newbies in the industry, the talent pool for ...