10 actors who have surprisingly never won an Oscar
The 2026 Academy Awards (Oscars) have been doled out to a list of deserving actors, directors, production companies, designers and more – but there are a few household names that you’ve never seen up on stage to take home the golden statue.
This year saw the likes of Sinners actor Michael B Jordan and Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley take home their first Oscars award for their remarkable performances on the big screen.
However, there have been actors throughout the decades that you’d be forgiven for thinking would have won a prestigious award for their contribution to amazing films in the industry.
Sadly, they haven’t and it’s time to shine a light on just 10 of them.
Tom Cruise
From Mission: Impossible to Top Gun, you can’t deny that Cruise has had a positive impact on the film industry since the 80s.
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I mean, Interview With A Vampire?
To be fair to the Academy, Cruise did get nominations in 1989 for his role in Born on the Fourth of July, 1996 for Jerry Maguire, in 1999 for Magnolia, and last year for Top Gun: Maverick.
But a win? Nope.
Amy Adams
Amy Adams has been in top hits in the nearly 30 years she has been active on the big screen.
From American Hustle, Junebug, The Fighter, Vice, and The Master, to 2010’s Doubt, she has seen six nominations come and go but hasn’t managed to nab one award just yet.
Diane Warren
Songwriter Diane Warren has seen 17 nominations for Best Original Song since 1988, and currently holds the title of the longest losing streak in the Oscars history.
That’s kind of an award in itself, no?
She did however, pick up an honorary Academy Award at the Governors Award in 2022.
To this, she told The Times that awards do not define her work.
She said: “It’s not validation. It would just be fun. And now I just keep beating my own record, I guess. Right now, I’m tied with my friend Greg Russell; we both have lost 16 times. But I’ve never taken awards as validation.
"The work is validation. When people love the songs, that’s validation. Who doesn’t want to win, right? But you can’t live and die by that because it’s out of your control.
"What’s in my control is to do the best work I can.”
Samuel L. Jackson
Now, this is probably a shock to many who read this, but Samuel L. Jackson hasn't had one award at the Oscars and has only ever been nominated once for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Pulp Fiction.
Forget Snakes on a Plane, his long running role in the MCU, Star Wars, Glass, Django Unchained, and so much more.
Not one of those flicks earned him an Oscar.
Bradley Cooper
With 12 nominations since his first nod in 2013, Cooper has lost out many times.
However, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been on worthy projects.
For example, the Siver Linings Playbook was met with so much love, as it showed him play a man with bi-polar disorder, band together with Jennifer Lawrence, and move into a new life that accepts him for who he is.
Cooper has won 4 Critics’ Choice awards and a BAFTA too, so it’s not like he’s completely lost out on being recognized for his work.
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe has been on the big screen for as long as I can remember, and you might remember him as an absolute mad man in 1990’s Wild at Heart, another mad man in Spider Man and again, a mad man in The Lighthouse.
He’s just great at playing deranged – however, he has gone on to showcase his range in things like The Florida Project, Poor Things, and Inside.
But with four nominations and no wins, it’s a little shocking to know that he hasn’t yet won a golden man.
Angela Bassett
Oh, what a crime it is that Marie Laveau didn’t get Bassett worldwide fame for her American Horror Stories performance.
Or her 1993 What’s Love Got To Do With It Tina Turner biopic, that was a harrowing, yet empowering true story based on the renowned singer.
This one might be controversial, but her role in Vampire In Brooklyn was hilarious too.
But it was her MCU role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that saw her miss out on an award in 2022.
She went on to tell Oprah: “It was, of course, a supreme disappointment. And disappointment is human.”
Alfred Hitchcock
The world-renowned, and controversial director, was nominated for Best Director five times, but never took home the prize.
Sure, he received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 68, but that’s not the same as an Oscar.
However, famously, Hitchcock was never one to care too much about the recognition, and said a quick ‘thank you’ on stage for his memorial award before slinking off.
Glenn Close hasn't won (Photo by Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images)
Glenn Close
Close has seen a bright and loved career, having featured in flicks like Fatal Attraction (I blame Michael Douglas’s character for everything), 101 Dalmatians, The Deliverance, Four Good Days, and more.
However, she was nominated for her other works since 1983, including The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Hillbilly Elegy, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Knobbs, and The Wife.
However, Close isn’t one to get down about the losses.
She told the Associated Press in 2021: “First of all, I don’t think I’m a loser. Who in that category is a loser? You’re there, you’re five people honored for the work that you’ve done by your peers. What’s better than that?”
Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan has been a household name since she was a child on the set of Lovely Bones, and since then, she has been nominated for an Oscar four times.
Her first nomination came in 2008 for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Atonement, and then she went on to be nominated for Best Actress for her performances in 2015’s Brooklyn, 2017’s Lady Bird, and 2019’s Little Women.
Considering Buckley has just won, maybe this will start the ball rolling for another Irish actress... hint, hint.
Topics: Bradley Cooper, Celebrity, Tom Cruise, Oscars, Film and TV
Britt Jones