Things may change at the 2014 ceremony but, to date, Leonardo DiCaprio has never walked away with an Oscar. Considered to be one of the greatest actors of his generation, the Django Unchained star has been nominated four times – once for Best Support Actor (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in1994) and on three occasions for Best Actor (The Aviator in 2004, Blood Diamond in 2006 and now The Wolf of Wall Street in 2014).
Julianne Moore is always the bridesmaid, never the bride. She’s been nominated for an Academy Award four times and in 2003 she was even nominated twice in two different categories – Best Actress for Far From Heaven and Best Supporting Actress for The Hours. The star recently told UK chat show host Graham Norton: “My daughter felt so bad for me one year that she made me some awards.”
Perhaps one of the most underrated actors of his generation Edward Norton has never won an Academy Award and he has only been nominated twice. In the Nineties he got two Best Actor nods – for Primal Fear in 1996 and American History X in 1998. He won neither.
Sigourney Weaver is another actress who has been nominated multiple times – twice in one year – and has yet to put an Oscar on her mantelpiece. In 1989 she was nominated for Best Actress for her work in Gorillas In The Mist and for Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl. She failed to impress the Academy in 1987 either when she lost out on a Best Actress Oscar for Aliens to Marlee Matlin who scooped the honor for Children of a Lesser God.
Maybe Robert Downey Jr. was overlooked by the Academy because of the years he spent in and out of jail and rehab, battling his drug addiction. But surprisingly he didn’t win the Best Actor Oscar for the 1992 film Chaplin and he lost again in 2009, despite being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Tropic Thunder.
In the four-year period from 1989 to 1993, Michelle Pfeiffer was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar three times. But she didn’t win despite putting in stellar performances in Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Love Field.
Even more surprising than the fact Samuel L. Jackson has never won an Oscar is the fact that he has only been nominated for an Academy Award once. Jackson had that honor in 1995 when he was recognized for his work in Pulp Fiction.
