The Best Performances To Not Win An Oscar
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Snubbed. Robbed. Overlooked. Vote up the actors whose performances deserved an Oscar, and vote down the ones where the Academy probably got it right.
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The Role: Hate, rage, and anger transition to peace, understanding, and atonement for Derek Vinyard (Ed Norton) in Tony Kaye's 1998 hard-hitting drama American History X. We watch Derek go from pumped-up Nazi sympathizer, to a man seeking redemption after a harrowing prison stint. Norton convincingly captures every emotion. We feel something for him at each point in the film, even the segments when he's spewing hate-filled rhetoric. Norton received his second Oscar nod for the role in 1998.
Winner for Best Actor in 1998: Roberto Benigni, Life Is Beautiful
- Credits (Film): Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, American History X, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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The Role: De Niro plays alienated loner Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's 1976 character study Taxi Driver. Bickle is a delusional psychopath, but his heart is in the right place. De Niro somehow forces us to sympathize with Bickle's monstrous side, even if we really hope that he doesn't make it out alive. The method actor earned an Oscar nomination for the role and took home the Best Supporting Actor trophy the previous year, for his portrayal of young Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather II.
Winner for Best Actor in 1976: Peter Finch, Network- Credits (Film): Goodfellas, The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Deer Hunter
- Birthplace: New York City, USA, New York, Greenwich Village
The Role: Daniel Day-Lewis goes method on Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Martin Scorsese's 2002 historical drama. Cutting is a barbarous and fierce villain, intent on keeping foreigners out of New York, during a time in the 1800s when America had its arms wide open. Lewis captures the character's ruthlessness in the dirty way he fights in the street, and in the calculating way he maneuvers politically. Despite not winning for this role, we shouldn't feel too bad for Lewis, who has been nominated for five Oscars, and taken home three.
Winner for Best Actor in 2003: Adrien Brody, The Pianist
- Credits (Film): Gangs of New York, The Last of the Mohicans, There Will Be Blood, Lincoln, Gandhi
- Birthplace: London, England, UK
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Ed Norton, 'Primal Fear'
The Role: Ed Norton knocks it out of the park as an altar boy accused of an awful act in his 1996 feature film debut Primal Fear . Think you can tell a sweet, innocent young man from a manipulative slayer? Norton's performance will make you question your own sanity. This was the first of three Oscar nominations for the actor.
Winner for Best Supporting Actor in 1997: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jerry Maguire
The Role: DiCaprio proved he was more than just a pretty face when he took on the role of mentally challenged Arnie Grape in the 1993 drama What's Eating Gilbert Grape. This was the first of many Oscar nominations for DiCaprio, and perhaps his best performance of all.
Winner for Best Supporting Actor in 1993: Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive- Credits (Film): Titanic, Inception, The Departed, Django Unchained, Gangs of New York
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
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The Role: "Stella! Stella!" Marlon Brando takes on the brutish Stanley Kowalski in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize winning play. It was only Brando's second feature film role, but it was already clear that the method actor could show great range within a singular character. This would be the first of Brando's eight Oscar nominations (he won two).
Winner for Best Actor in 1951: Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen- Credits (Film): The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Superman, On the Waterfront, Superman Returns
- Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
