Winning an Academy Award is a dream of every young and aspiring actor out there. And although the big event has been marked with several controversies in recent years, including ‘the Will Smith incident’, it’s still the most prestigious award show an actor can win. However, the categories are limited, and only one person per category can win, which means not everyone gets their change to have an Oscar acceptance speech.
In this list, we’re bringing you our top picks of actors and actresses that haven’t (surprisingly) won an Oscar yet.
Emily Blunt
After her amazing performances in The Edge of Tomorrow and The Quiet Place series, it’s quite surprising to find out that Emily Blunt has not received an Oscar yet. What’s more, the British actress hasn’t even been nominated for the prestigious award. In 2019, Blunt and Krasinski, her husband, have even boycotted the ceremony after not receiving an individual nomination for neither The Quiet Place nor Mary Poppins Returns.
This comes as sort of a surprise given that the actress has received multiple nominations and wins for the above-mentioned movies across all other major award shows in that year. She won the ‘Best Actress’ category at the prestigious 2018 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards for Mary Poppins Returns, which made her just the second actor to have received a SAG without being nominated for an Oscar.
Johnny Depp
The legendary Captain Jack Sparrow joins our list of movie stars that have never received an Oscar, which is rather surprising given the big variety of characters he’s portrayed so far. Depp has, however, won one Golden Globe for his performance in Sweeney Todd. Having been nominated for an Oscar a total of three times throughout his career, he has always been beaten by other stars.
Thankfully, according to Depp himself, he couldn’t care less. Acting for the fans and not for the critics, Depp realizes that as long as his fans and audiences are happy with his movies and performances, that’s all that matters. It will be interesting to see what Depp’s next movie steps will be after his recent court win against Amber Heard, but the world is certainly ready for a new Johnny Depp movie.
Amy Adams
Adams has been struggling to turn her 6 Oscar nominations to a win since her first nomination for Junebug in 2005. Her performance in the Arrival was impactful to say the least, and while the movie itself managed to snatch up 7 Oscar nominations, the ‘Best Actress’ category wasn’t one of them. The Woman in the Window, a mysterious crime drama released last year on Netflix, only reinforced her excellence in dramatic roles.
The drama was acquired by Netflix from 20th Century Fox, and although Adams’ performance is generally considered to be the highlight of the movie, The Woman in the Window didn’t drive enough new subscribers or free trial users in the company for Netflix to consider it a success. Free trials and similar offers are frequently used tools among big businesses, such as no deposit bonus online casinos or top software companies, which are designed to drive new masses into a business by providing free incentives. All in all, while The Woman in the Window might not have matched Netflix’s expectations, Adams delivered a note-worthy performance.
James McAvoy
After Split hit the cinemas in 2016, the movie sparked a lot of discussion among both critics and general audiences. Portraying a character with a dissociative identity disorder and 23 alter egos, McAvoy delivered a jaw-opening performance that has the world talking. However, not only did he not win any Oscar or Golden Globe for his spectacular performance, but he also didn’t even manage to score a nomination.
Many speculate that the reason for this is due to the movie’s difficult topic of one’s mental state in combination with the scary nature of the movie. The Academy supposedly prefers other stories and favors “good” characters. One might be skeptical and think that a big organization like the Academy would not favor one movie over another for the wrong reasons, but there have been multiple scandals over the years that show the opposite.
Helena Bonham Carter
Although many of us associate Carter with being Voldemort’s right hand, this English actress is so much more than just Bellatrix Lestrange. Sporting 2 Oscar nominations after multiple decades in the industry, the actress hasn’t managed to turn neither of her Oscar nominations to a win.
Her incredible range of roles and the fact that she often chooses odd and bizarre characters is just a part of Helena Bonham Carter’s magic. The actress is well-respected among her colleagues as well as among millions of fans around the world, and her legacy will be remembered regardless of whether she wins an Oscar or not.
Tom Cruise
With Top Gun: Maverick currently breaking one box-office record after another, even the last person on Earth that has doubted Cruise’s acting skills has changed their mind. With more than 60 movies, including the original Top Gun movie and the Mission: Impossible series, in his arsenal, the 60-year-old actor has not yet managed to win an Oscar for any of his action-packed performances.
Not that it matters since Cruise is already one of the most respected actors in Hollywood, and this respect has only grown since Top Gun: Maverick was released. The ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ star is already busy making the last installment of the Mission: Impossible series that will be split into two separate movies, and he’s doing what he knows best: entertaining.
