The 25 Most Shocking Oscar Snubs of All Time

By Thomas Delatte on February 9th, 2020

The most prestigious awards ceremony which recognizes the previous year’s best achievements in cinema is the Academy Awards, also referred to by the name of the award given to the winners, the Oscars.

Besides being the most popular award show every year, the Academy Awards carry with them a level of respect in which getting a nomination itself is an achievement. How many times have you seen Academy Award nominee used as a salutation before an actors name during a movie’s opening credits? You will never see Golden Globe nominee or Critic’s Choice Award nominee attached to a person’s name. If just being nominated is an amazing accomplishment, what does that mean if you actually win one? It means everything in Hollywood, especially to the winner.

Winning an Academy Award means more than any other award because of how prestigious it has become over the years. It leads to more money, more opportunities, more respect, and can turn an actor into a leading star. In terms of Best Actor/Actress categories, simply winning one means you will be able to work for years to come without losing out on roles. It is not a guarantee but movie studios always want to have Academy Award winners attached to their films, it helps increase their paychecks, which means everyone makes more money.

But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not always get it right and every year there ends up being an Oscar snub that puzzles everyone about the legitimacy of it all. That is also when scandals and controversies can occur. It can be someone who was nominated for the award and ended up losing or someone who never even received a nomination.

Many times, whether it is an actor, actress, director, or film, that is considered the greatest of the year, the potential nominee becomes a media darling, or favorite, to win an Academy Award. This is especially true if they win other awards like the Golden Globes, Screen Actor’s Guild, or the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). The Academy Awards is the only award show that could snub someone even if they win 95% of all the other awards given out during that time of year. It happens more often than it should and that is why we wanted to cover it today.

To be clear, this is a list of Oscar snubs that are among the most popular choices. Everyone has their own opinions about what is considered to be great but we will remain unbiased and simply refer to the movies, directors, actors, and actresses that are considered to be the most universally known snubs ever.

25) Peter O’Toole, 1962

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Actor
Film Role: T.E. Lawrence
Film Nominated For: Lawrence of Arabia
Award Winner, Film: Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch), To Kill a Mockingbird

24) The Color Purple, 1986

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Picture
Award Winner, Film: Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack)

23) Tom Cruise, 1996

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Actor
Film Role: Jerry Maguire
Film Nominated For: Jerry Maguire
Award Winner, Film: Geoffrey Rush (David Helfgott), Shine

22) Judy Garland, 1939

Nominated: No
Category: Best Actress
Film Role: Dorothy Gale
Film: The Wizard of Oz
Award Winner, Film: Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara), Gone With the Wind

21) Kate Hudson, 2001

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Supporting Actress
Film Role: Penny Lane
Film Nominated For: Almost Famous
Award Winner, Film: Marcia Gay Harden (Lee Krasner), Pollock

20) Julianne Moore, 1998

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Supporting Actress
Film Role: Amber Waves
Film Nominated For: Boogie Nights
Award Winner, Film: Kim Basinger (Lynn Margaret Bracken), L.A. Confidential

19) Jack Nicholson, 1974

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Actor
Film Role: J.J. “Jack” Gittes
Film Nominated For: Chinatown
Award Winner, Film: Art Carney (Harry Coombes), Harry and Tonto

18) L.A. Confidential, 1998

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Picture
Award Winner, Film: Titanic (James Cameron, Jon Landau)

17) Malcolm McDowell, 1971

Nominated: No
Category: Best Actor
Film Role: Alex DeLarge
Film: A Clockwork Orange
Award Winner, Film: Marlon Brando (Vito Corleone), The Godfather

16) Raging Bull, 1980

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Picture
Award Winner, Film: Ordinary People (Ronald L. Schwary)

15) Amy Adams, 2010

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Supporting Actress
Film Role: Charlene Fleming
Film Nominated For: The Fighter
Award Winner, Film: Melissa Leo (Alice Eklund-Ward), The Fighter

14) Jim Carrey, 1999

Nominated: No
Category: Best Actor
Film Role: Andy Kaufman
Film: Man on the Moon
Award Winner, Film: Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham), American Beauty

13) Denzel Washington, 1993

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Actor
Film Role: Malcolm X
Film Nominated For: Malcolm X
Award Winner, Film: Al Pacino (Lt. Colonel Frank Slade), Scent of a Woman

12) Ralph Fiennes, 1994

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Supporting Actor
Film Role: Amon Goeth
Film Nominated For: Schindler’s List
Award Winner, Film: Tommy Lee Jones (U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard), The Fugitive

11) Stanley Kubrick, 1968

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Director
Film Nominated For: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Award Winner, Film: Carol Reed, Oliver!

10) Leonardo DiCaprio, 1997

Nominated: No
Category: Best Actor
Film Role: Jack Dawson
Film: Titanic
Award Winner, Film: Jack Nicholson (Melvin Udall), As Good As It Gets

9) Fargo, 1997

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Picture
Award Winner, Film: The English Patient (Saul Zaentz)

8) Kate Winslet, 2004

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Actress
Film Role: Clementine Kruczynski
Film Nominated For: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Award Winner, Film: Hilary Swank (Mary Margaret “Maggie” Fitzgerald), Million Dollar Baby

7) Martin Scorsese, 1976

Nominated: No
Category: Best Director
Film: Taxi Driver
Award Winner, Film: John G. Avildsen, Rocky

6) Alfred Hitchcock, 1958

Nominated: No
Category: Best Director
Film: Vertigo
Award Winner, Film: Vincente Minnelli, Gigi

5) Saving Private Ryan, 1999

Nominated: Yes
Category: Best Picture
Award Winner, Film: Shakespeare in Love (David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman)