Top 10 Best Actresses Who Never Won An Oscar

Despite making her big-screen debut in 1986, Naomi Watts didn’t make much of a splash until her appearance in 1999’s “Mulholland Drive”. Since then she’s worked with everyone from Peter Jackson to Clint Eastwood, but has yet to land that all-elusive Oscar. Don’t get us wrong, she’s been recognized for her work before - having been nominated for her performances in “21 Grams” and “The Impossible” respectively - but if we’re being honest she was a long shot in both years; losing out to Charlize Theron in 2003 and Jennifer Lawrence in 2012. With that being said, there’s still plenty of time for the British native to win her first Academy Award.

With roles in a slew of 90’s classics such as “Boyz n the Hood”, “Malcolm X” and “What’s Love Got to Do with It” - the latter of which earned her first and to date only Oscar nomination - Angela Bassett appeared poised for a career littered with trophies. And while she’s picked up her fair share of hardware she’s yet to win the big one. We can’t help but wonder if it’s because she’s been more invested in her TV work of late. We are referring of course to her role in the anthology series “American Horror Story”. While she’s been working for a while, her window for winning Hollywood’s top prize is far from closed.

Amy Adams is dangerously close to becoming the female version of a pre-“Revenant” Leonardo DiCaprio. What we mean by this is that she’s been nominated for a slew of Academy Awards and has somehow managed to lose every year. Adams has been nominated five; yes you heard that correctly, five times. It started with a stirring performance in 2005’s “Junebug”. From there she scored nominations for “Doubt”, “The Fighter”, “The Master” and 2013’s “American Hustle”. In the event that she does manage to win an Oscar we have a funny feeling it won’t just be because she deserves it, but because the Academy owes her one.

There’s an argument to be made that Winona Ryder is more famous for her non-Oscar nominated performances than for the ones that have gotten her some Academy love. From “Heathers” and “Edward Scissorhands” to “Girl, Interrupted” and “Stranger Things” Ryder has turned in a boatload of awesome performances throughout her four decades-long career. And while she earned nominations for her turns in “The Age of Innocence” and “Little Women” she’s still waiting for the day that an Oscar presenter opens an envelope and reads out her name.

After two straight years in which she was nominated for an Academy Award, Jessica Chastain has yet to make it back to cinema’s biggest show. Turns in “The Tree of Life” and “The Help” catapulted her to the top of the Hollywood A-list and when she absolutely killed the role of Maya in 2013’s “Zero Dark Thirty” it appeared she was on the fast track to Oscar glory. Alas, her turns in the aforementioned films only managed to net her a single Golden Globe award. Not to worry, Chastain is still starring in and crushing major film roles, so the likelihood that she finishes her career with one or more Oscars is still pretty high.

The fact that this actress is still waiting for her first Academy Award is downright bewildering. Helena Bonham Carter has been nominated for seven Golden Globes, five BAFTA’s and two Oscars. Yet, she’s only managed to win one, and it wasn’t from the Academy. How can that be? Well, the problem with an actress like Bonham Carter is that similar to Winona Ryder, her non-Oscar performances are the ones that get the most attention. “Fight Club”, “Big Fish”, her turn as Bellatrix Lestrange in the “Harry Potter” films. All of these were great roles, but not exactly Oscar-friendly. However, still in her early 50’s, Helena Bonham Carter is nowhere close to finished.

A brilliant actress whose work spanned almost four decades and lead to three Academy Award nominations for her work in “Rebel Without a Cause”, “Splendor in the Grass” and “Love with the Proper Stranger”, the story of Natalie Wood is at its core, a tragic one. During the filming of the 1981 sci-fi picture “Brainstorm”, Wood drowned while on a boat trip with her husband and fellow actor Robert Wagner. She was 43. More than 35 years later the events surrounding her death continue to be shrouded in mystery.

At this point Bening has pretty much won everything there is to win except for an Academy Award. She’s won a BAFTA, a couple of Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards but… no Oscars! Sure she’s been nominated for four; and if we’re speaking candidly should have won the year she was nominated for Best Actress for her role in “American Beauty”, but for one reason or another she hasn’t been able to get the job done. We hope that she can remedy this sometime in the near future, as we believe that she more than deserves to have an Oscar adorning her mantelpiece.

Glenn Close has earned Oscar nominations for her performances in “The World According to Garp”, “The Big Chill”, “The Natural”, “Fatal Attraction”, “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Albert Nobbs”. For those of who lost count, that’s six. Six nominations, and no wins. This makes Glenn Close the only living member of the “six Academy Award nominations and no wins” club; as fellow members Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter passed away years ago. With Close in her early 70’s it appears her chances of winning cinema’s ultimate prize are dwindling. However, if there’s one thing Hollywood loves, it’s drama; and boy would it be dramatic to see Close win an Oscar at this stage in her career!





Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:



Michelle Pfeiffer





Robin Wright





Sigourney Weaver

Known best for her performance in “The Wizard of Oz”, a role that earned her the now-defunct Juvenile Academy Award, Garland never did managed to take home cinema’s top prize. She scored a couple of nominations in the latter part of her career for her turns as Esther Blodgett and Irene Hoffmann-Wallner in “A Star Is Born” and “Judgment at Nuremberg” respectively, but couldn’t come away with a win. Seeing as how she passed away in 1969 the chances of her walking away with as Oscar are unlikely, to say the least. Despite her lack of Academy hardware Garland remains one of classic cinema’s most enduring figures.