With a combined 30 career Oscar nominations, these actors hope to break their losing streak
Seasoned actors like Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, and Mahershala Ali, who share seven Oscars among them, make winning the gold trophy look easy.
Other actors spend their careers in pursuit of the elusive accolade. It took Viola Davis two decades before her supporting role honor in Fences (2016). It took Joaquin Phoenix longer, losing three lead actor nods before taking home an Oscar for Joker in 2019, and last year a teary-eyed Ke Huy Quan took home his first supporting actor statue for Everything Everywhere All at Once after four decades in the industry.
As actors, directors, and crew members suit up for one of the biggest nights in Hollywood, several nominees are looking to break their losing streak. This year’s Academy Awards is marked by two films most viewers actually trekked to the theaters to see. With Oppenheimer in an eruptive lead with 13 nominations and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Thing closely behind with 11, Robert Downey Jr. or Mark Ruffalo, respectively, are both likely to take home the gold in the supporting actor category, with Rolling Stone’s David Fear begging, “Don’t make us choose.” Killers of the Flower Moon is close behind with 10, whereas Barbie garnered 8.
Ahead of the 96th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, here are six actors with multiple nominations who are still waiting to clutch the highly coveted gold statue.
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Bradley Cooper
Image Credit: Jason McDonald/Netflix Cooper has been here many, many times before. Before banking three nominations for Leonard Bernstein’s biopic Maestro, he sat in the Academy Award theater seats for nine other nominations. He was recognized for his lead acting roles in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Sniper (2014), and A Star is Born (2018), as well as his supporting role in American Hustle (2013). He also received nominations as a producer on American Sniper, Joker, Nightmare Alley, and A Star is Born, with an additional nod for adapted screenplay in A Star is Born. (Exhale.) And yet, no Oscar statues to add to his trophy cabinet. Along the Maestro press tour, Cooper admitted to spending six years learning to conduct six minutes and 21 seconds of music for Maestro, and even teared up before Bernstein’s descendants. What some have nicknamed “Oscar bait” for appealing to the biopic-loving Academy voters, Cooper will represent Maestro’s best picture, original screenplay, and best actor nominations Sunday.
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Annette Bening
Image Credit: Netflix More than three decades after her first nod, Bening is returning to the Dolby Theater for her fifth nomination. In 1990, she snagged her first Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in The Grifters, and later landed three lead actress nominations for American Beauty, Being Julia, and The Kids Are All Right. For her fifth nod, the veteran actress stars in Nyad as the 60-year-old swimmer who reflects on the marathon swim from Cuba to Florida. Despite a 4-0 loss streak, Bening told Rolling Stone she’d be happy to take home an Oscar, but knows how it feels to lose, “I’ve been there and I’ve done that, and that’s also not so bad.”
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Mark Ruffalo
Image Credit: Atsushi Nishijima/ Searchlight Pictures Ruffalo joins Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Ed Harris, and others with four Oscar nominations and nothing to show for it. Ruffalo received the nods all in the supporting role category for The Kids Are All Right, Foxcatcher, Spotlight, and now Poor Things. As the first-class cad in Lanthimos’ dark comedy, Ruffalo’s Duncan takes Emma Stone’s Bella on a journey of sexual discovery. Ruffalo has garnered voter’s attention, Rolling Stone’s critic David Fear wrote, and may be Downey Jr.’s biggest competition.
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Robert Downey, Jr.
Image Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures Downey Jr. is yet another Oscar-less Marvel hero. He earned a lead and supporting Oscar nomination for starring as the silent film star in Chaplin and Kirk Lazarus in the Hollywood satire Tropic Thunder, respectively. Although affectionately recognized as the face of the Marvel franchise, Downey Jr. steps away from the sarcastic Tony Stark and into the stone cold chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in Oppenheimer. It’s his first major screen role since Avengers: Endgame, and several critics believe he’s a top contender for the best supporting actor ticket.
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Carey Mulligan
Image Credit: Jason McDonald/Netflix Mulligan’s turn as the emotive starlet and frail wife to Cooper’s Lenny in Maestro earned the actress her third leading role nomination. She earned her first nod as the bright-eyed Oxford hopeful in An Education in 2010, and a second nomination as the vengeful Cassandra in Promising Young Woman in 2021. That same year, Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell picked up a “so heavy and so cold” trophy for the film’s original screenplay, and last year teamed up with Mulligan again for Saltburn. An Education, Promising Young Woman, and Maestro have all received a best picture nomination. Sunday’s highly anticipated award show will determine if Mulligan will or won’t finally receive her flowers.
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Ryan Gosling
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Picture Everyone remembers Ryan Gosling’s speechless reaction to winning best original song at the Critics Choice. The actor plans to perform the award-winning “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars, with a rumored 65 male backup dancers. Gosling, along with America Ferrera, will represent Barbie in the supporting actor and actress categories, and if it was up to him Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig would’ve received best actress and best director nominations. “There is no Ken without Barbie,” Gosling said in a statement released in January, after the two women failed to be recognized in their respective categories. Gosling earned his first two nominations in Half Nelson and La La Land. In order to take home a win for Barbie, he might need to tap into some Kenergy.
With a combined 30 career Oscar nominations, these actors hope to break their losing streak
Seasoned actors like Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, and Mahershala Ali, who share seven Oscars among them, make winning the gold trophy look easy.
Other actors spend their careers in pursuit of the elusive accolade. It took Viola Davis two decades before her supporting role honor in Fences (2016). It took Joaquin Phoenix longer, losing three lead actor nods before taking home an Oscar for Joker in 2019, and last year a teary-eyed Ke Huy Quan took home his first supporting actor statue for Everything Everywhere All at Once after four decades in the industry.
As actors, directors, and crew members suit up for one of the biggest nights in Hollywood, several nominees are looking to break their losing streak. This year’s Academy Awards is marked by two films most viewers actually trekked to the theaters to see. With Oppenheimer in an eruptive lead with 13 nominations and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Thing closely behind with 11, Robert Downey Jr. or Mark Ruffalo, respectively, are both likely to take home the gold in the supporting actor category, with Rolling Stone’s David Fear begging, “Don’t make us choose.” Killers of the Flower Moon is close behind with 10, whereas Barbie garnered 8.
Ahead of the 96th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, here are six actors with multiple nominations who are still waiting to clutch the highly coveted gold statue.
-
Bradley Cooper
Image Credit: Jason McDonald/Netflix Cooper has been here many, many times before. Before banking three nominations for Leonard Bernstein’s biopic Maestro, he sat in the Academy Award theater seats for nine other nominations. He was recognized for his lead acting roles in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Sniper (2014), and A Star is Born (2018), as well as his supporting role in American Hustle (2013). He also received nominations as a producer on American Sniper, Joker, Nightmare Alley, and A Star is Born, with an additional nod for adapted screenplay in A Star is Born. (Exhale.) And yet, no Oscar statues to add to his trophy cabinet. Along the Maestro press tour, Cooper admitted to spending six years learning to conduct six minutes and 21 seconds of music for Maestro, and even teared up before Bernstein’s descendants. What some have nicknamed “Oscar bait” for appealing to the biopic-loving Academy voters, Cooper will represent Maestro’s best picture, original screenplay, and best actor nominations Sunday.
-
Annette Bening
Image Credit: Netflix More than three decades after her first nod, Bening is returning to the Dolby Theater for her fifth nomination. In 1990, she snagged her first Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in The Grifters, and later landed three lead actress nominations for American Beauty, Being Julia, and The Kids Are All Right. For her fifth nod, the veteran actress stars in Nyad as the 60-year-old swimmer who reflects on the marathon swim from Cuba to Florida. Despite a 4-0 loss streak, Bening told Rolling Stone she’d be happy to take home an Oscar, but knows how it feels to lose, “I’ve been there and I’ve done that, and that’s also not so bad.”
-
Mark Ruffalo
Image Credit: Atsushi Nishijima/ Searchlight Pictures Ruffalo joins Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Ed Harris, and others with four Oscar nominations and nothing to show for it. Ruffalo received the nods all in the supporting role category for The Kids Are All Right, Foxcatcher, Spotlight, and now Poor Things. As the first-class cad in Lanthimos’ dark comedy, Ruffalo’s Duncan takes Emma Stone’s Bella on a journey of sexual discovery. Ruffalo has garnered voter’s attention, Rolling Stone’s critic David Fear wrote, and may be Downey Jr.’s biggest competition.
-
Robert Downey, Jr.
Image Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures Downey Jr. is yet another Oscar-less Marvel hero. He earned a lead and supporting Oscar nomination for starring as the silent film star in Chaplin and Kirk Lazarus in the Hollywood satire Tropic Thunder, respectively. Although affectionately recognized as the face of the Marvel franchise, Downey Jr. steps away from the sarcastic Tony Stark and into the stone cold chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in Oppenheimer. It’s his first major screen role since Avengers: Endgame, and several critics believe he’s a top contender for the best supporting actor ticket.
-
Carey Mulligan
Image Credit: Jason McDonald/Netflix Mulligan’s turn as the emotive starlet and frail wife to Cooper’s Lenny in Maestro earned the actress her third leading role nomination. She earned her first nod as the bright-eyed Oxford hopeful in An Education in 2010, and a second nomination as the vengeful Cassandra in Promising Young Woman in 2021. That same year, Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell picked up a “so heavy and so cold” trophy for the film’s original screenplay, and last year teamed up with Mulligan again for Saltburn. An Education, Promising Young Woman, and Maestro have all received a best picture nomination. Sunday’s highly anticipated award show will determine if Mulligan will or won’t finally receive her flowers.
-
Ryan Gosling
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Picture Everyone remembers Ryan Gosling’s speechless reaction to winning best original song at the Critics Choice. The actor plans to perform the award-winning “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars, with a rumored 65 male backup dancers. Gosling, along with America Ferrera, will represent Barbie in the supporting actor and actress categories, and if it was up to him Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig would’ve received best actress and best director nominations. “There is no Ken without Barbie,” Gosling said in a statement released in January, after the two women failed to be recognized in their respective categories. Gosling earned his first two nominations in Half Nelson and La La Land. In order to take home a win for Barbie, he might need to tap into some Kenergy.