This is my personal Top Eight list of current actors with no Oscar nominations for their entire movie career. Although I have included a few honorable mentions, I realize that there are many more people that could make this list. Three of the actors are personal favorites of mine, so I admit I am a little biased towards thinking that they have been ignored by the Oscar® voters. I originally wrote this page in 2011. Gary Oldman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Maureen O’Hara were on the list back then….since then Oldman and Leigh have received Oscar nominations while Maureen O’Hara received an Honorary Oscar® in 2015.
1. Steve Buscemi (1957-) has been appearing in movies since 1985. He has appeared in big budget blockbusters like Con Air and Armageddon as while as low budget sensations like Living in Oblivion and Ghost World. Performances that were Oscar® worthy? How about his Mr. Pink role in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs? How about either role he did in 1996?….Fargo or Trees Lounge. Certainly one of the roles in his close to 100 movies has to have been worthy of a nomination. Buscemi did win a Best Actor Golden Globe® for HBO’s Broadwalk Empire ….so at least somebody is noticing his work.
2. John Cusack (1966-) has been appearing in movies since 1983. A very underrated actor he has been appearing in some very good movies over the last thirty years. Some of his better performances were 1988’s Eight Men Out, 1989’s Say Anything, 1990’s The Grifters, 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, 1999’s Being John Malkovich, 2000’s High Fidelity and 2007’s Grace is Gone. The last few years have been somewhat rough for Mr. Cusack as many of his movies have been straight to DVD movies. But I have faith that he will bounce back and will one day get a nomination.
3. Mia Farrow (1945-) has been appearing movies since 1964 . Farrow has been in the celebrity spotlight all her life as she is the daughter of actress Maureen O’Sullivan, was married to Frank Sinatra and in a many year relationship with Woody Allen. Her movie career really started with 1969’s Rosemary’s Baby. Since the success of Rosemary’s Baby she made many movies before starring in 13 Woody Allen movies. The amazing thing to me is usually the Oscar® voters love performances in Woody Allen movies and yet they never gave Farrow a nomination. In my opinion she could have gotten a nomination for any of the following Woody Allen movies: Hannah and Her Sisters, Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Alice or September. Farrow has received 5 Golden Globe® nominations for Best Actress over the years.
4. Richard Gere (1949-) has been appearing in movies since 1975. Movies that Gere has given a strong and possibly Oscar® worthy performance: 1977’s Looking For Mr. Goodbar, 1978’s Days of Heaven, 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman, 1984’s The Cotton Club, 1990’s Pretty Woman, 1996’s Primal Fear, 2002’s Chicago, and 2009’s Amelia.
Gere has received 4 Golden Globe® nominations for Best Actor…including a win for Chicago. I still can not figure out how Gere was not nominated for Chicago. Chicago was nominated for 13 Oscar® but nothing for Richard Gere. In 2012, Gere came close to getting off this list with his performance in Arbitrage….but once again on Oscar® nomination morning his name was not called.
5. Steve Martin (1945-) has appeared in 44 movies from 1978 to 2017. I would not argue that many of his movies are Oscar® worthy ones but he has shined many times over the last thirty-seven years.
Martin has been a serious Oscar® contender twice in his career. The first time was for 1984’s All of Me and the second time was for 1987’s Roxanne. Both times he was mentioned as those actors who got snubbed when the nominations came out. Other outstanding Steve Martin performances: 1981’s Pennies from Heaven, 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles, 1989’s Parenthood and 2009’s It’s Complicated. He has picked up 5 Golden Globe® nominations for Best Actor over the years.
6. Sam Rockwell (1968-) has been appearing in movies since his debut in the 1989 horror movie Clownhouse. Over the years, Sam Rockwell has become a very active factors. He has done a wonderful job of starring in quality independent movies (Moon) while appearing in supporting roles in blockbusters (Iron Man 2, Cowboys and Aliens and The Green Mile).
Rockwell got some Oscar® buzz for his performance in 2009’s Moon and 2013’s The Way, Way Back. His best chance might be for his role in 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Rockwell won the Golden Globe for that performance and seems like a sure bet for his first nomination and to be the 4th person taking up this list.
7. Martin Sheen (1940-) has been appearing in movies since his movie debut in 1967’s The Incident. Over the years, Sheen has appeared in many classic movies and provided an awesome performances to go with the film. He helped Jack Albertson win his Oscar® in 1968’s The Subject Was Roses. He was Oscar® worthy in 1973’s Badlands, 1979’s Apocalypse Now, 1982’s Gandhi, 1987’s Wall Street, 1995’s The American President and 2006’s The Departed.
Martin Sheen has received one Golden Globe® nomination for his movie career, and that was way back in 1968 for The Subject Was Roses. For his television work he seems to get much more respect as he as earned 7 Golden Globe® nominations and 9 Emmy nominations. Too bad the Oscar® voters have not seen the same talent.
8. Donald Sutherland (1935-) has been appearing in movies since his movie debut in 1964’s Castle of the Living Dead. Not all of his movies are memorable but Sutherland has a very impressive list of movies were he gave quality performances. Some of those movies would include: 1967’s The Dirty Dozen, 1970’s MASH, 1971’s Klute (Jane Fonda won an Oscar® for her role in the movie), 1973’s Don’t Look Now, 1980’s Ordinary People (Best Picture Oscar® winner), 1981’s Eye of the Needle, and 1991’s Backdraft.
Sutherland has picked up two Golden Globe® nominations for his movie acting. He was nominated for MASH and Ordinary People. Speaking of Ordinary People, in my opinion he gave the best performance in the movie….yet he was the only one that did not get nominated. Mary Tyler Moore..yes, Timothy Hutton….yes….Judd Hirsch…yes….Sutherland….no….I just do not understand.
Personal Pick. Bruce Willis (1955-) has been starring in movies since 1987. I am a huge Bruce Willis fan but I do not think he deserves any Oscar® nominations for his action films. But he has a few other movies that should have gotten some Oscar attention. His first Oscar® worthy performance was In 1989’s In Country, Willis actually received a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Supporting Actor but no Oscar® love.In 1994 he had two strong performances in Nobody’s Fool and Pulp Fiction. Of the four leading actors in Pulp Fiction, Willis was the only one not to get a nomination. As for Nobody’s Fool, all his scenes were with Paul Newman, and Newman was nominated for Best Actor. In my opinion, in 1995 Willis gave his best performance of his career in 12 Monkeys. But once again a co-star, Brad Pitt, got the Oscar® love for 12 Monkeys and scored a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Finally in 1999 Bruce Willis was in the surprise hit of the decade…The Sixth Sense….and once again all the lead actors got nominations except for Bruce Willis. I think before Willis is done with movies he will get an Oscar® nomination.
Honorable Mentions
4 More Current Actors With No Oscar® Nominations.
Kevin Bacon, Meg Ryan, Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Impressive list, and so true. The thing about Richard Gere that is preventing him from winning an Oscar is his acceptance speech for another award he won (I think it was the Golden Globe) where he gave a very long and very controversial speech, the same way that Jim Carrey has never been nominated for an Oscar (even though he gave Oscar worthy performances in “The Truman Show”, and “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). In the end, if non of these talented actors or actresses ever get an actual Oscar they will at least receive a life time achievement Oscar (like Kirk Douglas, who was nominated 3 times and he lost every time). Great movie page as Always,
Hey Carl…I remember his long acceptance speech…and maybe that does have something to do with the fact that he does not have a nomination….as politics is huge part in the equation of getting nominations. The only issue with the Honorary Oscars they like to wait until the people are so old….last year they gave one to Eli Wallach, who is almost 95….this year it is James Earl Jones.. who will be 81 when he gets his…..why wait I ask….Harrison is almost 70….is that not old enough to give him an Honorary Oscar? Thanks for the votes and for the comment.
My pulse is racing! Yay! Steve Buscemi should have received an Oscar for Con Air and I need to complain to someone about that! That man is an amazing actor! Fargo, Armageddon he rocks in all his movies! Heck I agree with you on all ten of these fantastic actors. Martin Sheen, BRUCE WILLIS, Steve Martin! Well they haven’t received an Oscar yet but they did receive a nod from cogerson which in my opinion is just as good as a statue that’s just going to sit around collecting dust.
BTW…Didn’t Charlie Sheen get an oscar for his whole Epic, Winning rampage?!? lol
Excellent page Rogers … keep the pulses coming:)
Hey Sunshine625….thanks for checking out the other half of page. Since I wrote the hub, Steve Buscemi picked up another Golden Globe nomination for his tv work again…so at least he is getting some props. As for Bruce Willis he does have a couple of Emmys and Golden Globes for his acting. Thanks for the compliment it is very much appreciated.
RobWrite
Hi Bruce; another interesting subject. I agree with many of them. John Cusack is so talented and under-rated. I didn’t realize that Donald Sutherland had never gotten any oscar appreciation. Hard to believe in such a long career. Gary Oldman is a favorite of mine and I definitely think he does oscar calibre work.
Martin Sheen may have never gotten an oscar but he got his props on Tv doing “West Wing” one of the greatest shows ever.
Kevin Bacon and Sam Rockwell are fine actors, too. Jim Carrey did some surprisingly good dramatic work in The Majestic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show.
(I know Harrison Ford got one nomination for “Witness” but he’s another under-appreciated dramatic actor.)
Excellent page. Fun read.
Rob
Hey Rob…well luckily for Cusack he has many more years to stumble upon a nomination….I do not think Sheen, Sutherland, Farrow and Martin have that luxury. As for Oldman he got no Golden Globe love this morning so I am thinking he will be on this list next year. Jim Carrey reminds me of Steve Martin…in that he has a 5 to 10 year window of peak power and could not manage a nomination….although he did appear in some quality movies that you listed for him. Sam Rockwell is one of my favorite character actors and somebody that largely goes unnoticed by the movie going public.
They need to give Harrison Ford an Honorary Oscar soon….I do not want to see him get the Oscar when he has to have a walker to get to the stage….he is almost 70 already….thanks as always for checking out and responding to my page.
Richard Gere is a very good actor and have enjoyed his films even the one where he plays a corrupt and bad cop. Pretty Woman was such a good movie along with so many others…Martin Sheen is good along with one of your favorites, BRUCE WILLIS. Strange how some actors get nomination after nomination and so many good actors get ignored for OSCAR. Paul Newman played such a good role in The Verdict but did not win either. Personally I am finding THE OSCARS A BIT BORING THE LAST FEW YEARS…GREAT page – Waiting on Susan Hayward page.
Hey BERN1960….thanks for stopping by and checking out my newest hub. I am sorry you feel the Oscars have been a bit boring….but Billy Crystal is back and should help make this year’s ceremony much more fun than last year’s disaster. It will interesting to see how many if any of these 10 eventually earn an Oscar nomination….I think Bruce Willis will stumble into one, one of these days
Another interesting list of names Bruce.
I’m with Jeannieinabottle (and can’t get out!) sorry couldn’t resist, and Gary Oldman stands out as the biggest surprise for me. I thought he was nominated for JFK and a few others, tut tut. He certainly deserved a nomination at least for State of Grace. Brilliant actor.
Of the other actors, what no love for Donald Sutherland? an always watchable actor, he can effortlessly play good and bad guys.
When Roxanne came out in 1987 everyone thought Steve Martin was in with a nomination, it didn’t happen. And I remember the arguements on why comedic actors are ignored. Acting funny or serious it’s still a form of acting and should be treated equal.
The others on your list are all good dependable actors and I’m sure they’ll get nominated eventually. Probably when they’re in their 80’s and playing someone’s senile dad or mom. 🙂
Good stuff Cogerson, looking forward to your next list – Ten Actors/Actresses That Haven’t Got a Snowball’s Chance in Hell of ever Getting an Oscar Nomination.
Hey Steve thanks for the compliment and the comment. I think some of these people have a chance to earn an Oscar nomination but I do not think Sutherland, Sheen, and Martin(he is almost 70) will be able to get one on their own. I would say Oldman, Willis and Cusack have the best chance….and maybe Oldman can get one this year.
As for Roxanne, I was really pulling for Martin to get a nomination and I was disappointed that he was snubbed…and his movies of late do not have any chance of getting him a nomination.
As for Actors without a snowball’s chance in hell…I would have to include Arnold, Chuck Norris, JCV, Stallone(wait he already has one), Tom Green, Martin Lawrence and Orlando Bloom(and I like him).