Danny Glover
Roger Murtaugh was never going to trigger Oscar buzz, but there are plenty of other, non-Lethal Weapon roles played by Danny Glover that should’ve resulted in a nomination at the very least. Glover has been a part of countless great films over his career such as The Color Purple, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, To Sleep with Anger and The Royal Tenenbaums – and yet, zero Oscar nominations.
Stanley Kubrick
One of Hollywood’s true auteurs, by no means did Stanley Kubrick die unknown, but his power didn’t seem as evidently clear while he was making films as it is today. Nominated for twelve Oscars across Best Directing, Writing and Best Picture, Kubrick only picked up one Oscar for Best Special Effects in 1969 for 2001. The subsequent A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket would go unnoticed by the Academy.
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is the record holder for most Best Actress nominations without a win, if you can believe it. Eight nominations, zero Oscars. Not even her frenzied turn in 1987’s Fatal Attraction was enough to sway the Academy. Prior to that, she’d lost three on the bounce: The World According to Garp, The Big Chill and The Natural. 1983–1985 was not kind to this legend.
Jennifer Lopez
A lot is said of double or triple threats in Hollywood. Quite frankly, it’s hardly ever true. In the case of Jennifer Lopez, it is. She generated Oscar buzz for 2019’s Hustlers in which she played Ramona, a hardened NYC stripper who starts to rip off rich clients by drugging and stealing from them. To everyone’s surprise, Lopez didn’t even receive a nomination for the film.
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise is infamous for his expansive, manic-looking smile. And it will remain infamous until he bags himself an Oscar. Cruise has been up for Best Actor twice, for 1990’s Born on the Fourth of July and 1997’s Jerry Maguire. In 2000, he was up for Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia, only to lose to Michael Caine. His most recent, maybe most contested snub, came in 2023 for Top Gun: Maverick.
David Oyelowo
It wasn’t just that fans were robbed of an alternate universe where David Oyelowo was holding an Oscar on stage, but that he was snubbed for a nomination altogether. Oyelowo had been nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, a Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit Award and Satellite Award for his performance as Martin Luther King in Selma, but he got stiffed at the Oscars.
Ewan McGregor
One of Ewan McGregor’s most famous films, Trainspotting, came at the wrong time. The indie scene in the 1990s just wasn’t so hot with stuffy Hollywood elders as it is now. His portrayal of affable Glaswegian addict Mark Renton would’ve probably landed him a nomination today, if not a victory.
Johnny Depp
Throughout the 1990s, Johnny Depp was – by his own admission – box office poison, save for the odd Tim Burton venture. It was really only at the turn of the millennium that he became a family favourite with the advent of the Pirates franchise. Depp has received three Oscar nominations since then: first for The Curse of the Black Pearl, then for Finding Neverland and finally for Sweeney Todd. Still, Depp has never gotten a sniff of that iconic golden statuette.
Amy Adams
Amy Adams is becoming as famous for Oscar snubs as she is for the films she stars in. She has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress five times for Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master and Vice, losing to Rachel Weisz, Penelope Cruz, Melissa Leo, Anne Hathaway and Regina King, respectively. Her one nomination for Best Actress, in 2014 for American Hustle, ended in a loss to Cate Blanchett.
Jim Carrey
Though he’ll always be primarily known and remembered for being a comic actor, Jim Carrey has proven himself on more than one occasion to have dramatic credentials. But for his most critically acclaimed films such as The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Man on the Moon, Carrey has been cast aside from any Oscar nominations. He has won a Golden Globe, however, so it’s not all bad.
