The Academy Awards will be handed out in a mere 28 days. Much has been said about the 16 first-time nominees in the acting categories, but one actress who has been in this position multiple times before is Michelle Williams. Williams has come a long way from Dawson’s Creek. Her Best Actress nomination for The Fabelmans is her FIFTH nomination in nearly 20 years. Her first was in 2005 for Best Supporting Actress for Brokeback Mountain. Williams is not favored to win this year, but let’s see who else in the last 94 Academy Awards has heard their name called at least three times, but hasn’t won, yet.
Tom Cruise
3 nominations for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia
Lately, Tom Cruise has been synonymous with big popcorn blockbusters that aren’t talked much about during Oscars season. But before he became the action hero, he was showing off his acting skills in classics like in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July and Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire. Cruise has been nominated for 3 acting Oscars so far, but he’s up for Best Picture this year for Top Gun: Maverick as a producer of the film. His last acting nomination was at the end of the millennia with 1999’s Magnolia.
Ed Harris
4 nominations for Apollo 13, The Truman Show, Pollock, The Hours
Ed Harris is one of those dependable, recognizable faces in very serious dramatic films and sometimes even big blockbusters (Top Gun: Maverick). It’s hard to believe that Harris has been up for an Oscar 4 times, but hasn’t yet snagged one.
Warren Beatty
4 nominations for Bonnie and Clyde, Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Bugsy
Another acting legend that you think won an Oscar along the way of a 60-year career, but he has not yet won an acting Oscar. He did win for Best Director for Reds in 1981, however, but his last acting nomination was 30 years ago for 1991’s Bugsy.
Peter O’Toole
8 nominations for Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year, Venus
Peter O’Toole, the late legendary actor of films like Lawrence of Arabia was nominated for 8 Oscars in a span of over 40 years from 1962 until 2006. He did finally receive an Honorary Oscar in 2002.
Annette Bening
4 nominations for The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia, The Kids Are All Right
Annette Bening is one of those actresses that you think has already won an Academy Award. But not just yet. Bening has been nominated 4 times with her last nomination being in 2010’s The Kids Are All Right.
Saoirse Ronan
4 nominations for Atonement, Brooklyn, Lady Bird, Little Women
Saoirse Ronan is only 28 years old, but she’s already been nominated for 4 Oscars. She’s got a lot of time to eventually win one.
Amy Adams
6 nominations for Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, Vice, American Hustle
The ever ubiquitous Amy Adams has been nominated for six Academy Awards. Recently it seemed as if she was up for an award every year as 4 of her nominations came in the 2010’s.
Glenn Close
8 nominations for The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Hillbilly Elegy, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs, The Wife
Glenn Close is another one of the iconic actresses who seems like they’ve won all of the awards already. But Close is tied with Peter O’Toole for the most acting nominations without a win. Close’s first nomination was in 1982’s The World According to Garp and her most recent being nearly 40 years later with 2020’s Hillbilly Elegy.
Full list of actors and actresses who have been nominated for at least 3 Oscars, but no win, yet:
Actors
Charles Bickford: 3
Clifton Webb: 3
Edward Norton: 3
James Mason: 3
Johnny Depp: 3
Kirk Douglas: 3
Marcello Mastroianni: 3
Mark Ruffalo: 3
Matt Damon: 3
Nick Nolte: 3
Tom Cruise: 3
Viggo Mortensen: 3
William Powell: 3
Woody Harrelson: 3
Arthur Kennedy: 4
Bradley Cooper: 4
Charles Boyer: 4
Claude Rains: 4
Ed Harris: 4
Mickey Rooney: 4
Montgomery Clift: 4
Warren Beatty: 4
Willem Dafoe: 4
Albert Finney: 5
Richard Burton: 7
Peter O'Toole: 8
Actresses
Angela Lansbury: 3
Debra Winger: 3
Diane Ladd: 3
Edith Evans: 3
Eleanor Parker: 3
Gladys Cooper: 3
Gloria Swanson: 3
Joan Allen: 3
Laura Linney: 3
Michelle Pfeiffer: 3
Natalie Wood: 3
Piper Laurie: 3
Sigourney Weaver: 3
Agnes Moorehead: 4
Annette Bening: 4
Barbara Stanwyck: 4
Greta Garbo: 4
Jane Alexander: 4
Marsha Mason: 4
Michelle Williams: 4* (The Fabelmans is her 5th nomination)
Rosalind Russell: 4
Saoirse Ronan: 4
Irene Dunne: 5
Amy Adams: 6
Deborah Kerr: 6
Thelma Ritter: 6
Glenn Close: 8
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