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Will Smith ’s Best Actor profits at the 94th Oscars perhaps would have been more analyze if his personal action that Nox had n’t overshadowed the intact result . Instead , the audience saw the A - lister receive his award , give his language , and shuffle off to face the reactions of everyone ascertain .
Had that event not happened , the conversation probably would have been more about the part itself inKing Richardand how it fits in with his filmography , and why Smith had to wait so long to receive an Oscar . In fact , many accolade - winning actors have previous roles that all could have won , but with only one Best Actor / Actress honor every year , there will always be some neglect depiction .
Leonardo DiCaprio - Won For The Revenant - Should Have Won For The Wolf Of Wall Street
Perhaps one of the few remaining genuine movie star , Leonardo DiCaprio has only one Oscar to his name . It took until 2016 for the legendary actor to finally deliver the goods and to many , the award experience like a bit of a physical composition for retiring mistakes . WhileThe Revenantis a okay movie and the extent of Leo ’s commitment is well documented , there are earliest films where his performing is truly remarkable .
The Wolf of Wall StreetandThe Aviatorshould have been easy wins for the young histrion , as both performances require an unbelievable amount of nuance and chain of mountains that DiCaprio had not shown before and he was mil ahead of his contemporary , at the time .
Kate Winslet - Won For The Reader - Should Have Won For Titanic
Kate Winslet has a long and celebrated career and while her functioning inThe Readeris more than sizable , the film is not as critically acclaimed . The win come after a number of incredible public presentation from Winslet , including star in the high conceptEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mindalongside Jim Carrey .
Her Academy Award win could have occur much earlier in her life history for her breakout carrying out as Rose in the smash hit , Titanic . That role still has the luminary as being one of the most successful films of all time and Winslet oversee to overshadow James Cameron ’s direction and Leonardo DiCaprio ’s star bout at the same time .
Morgan Freeman - Won For Million Dollar Baby - Should Have Won For The Shawshank Redemption
The Academy Awards have longbeen incriminate of racism or at the least , the unfitness to admit that BIPOC actors and filmmakers have a more difficult chance of advance . Enter Morgan Freeman , who did not win the coveted award until 2004 withMillion Dollar Baby .
The wait would not be so gross if he had n’t played Red in the critically acclaimedThe Shawshank Redemption . Freeman ’s Red not only co - star but also narrates in what was the first showcase of the power of his part . rather , the award run to Tom Hanks inForrest Gump , who had won the same award the previous class , mean that this twelvemonth could have been Freeman ’s for the taking .
James Cagney - Won For Yankee Doodle Dandy - Should Have Won For Angels With Dirty Faces
James Cagney may not be as well make out now as he was in the heyday ofHollywood known as the Golden Age , but there were decades when Cagney ’s human face alone would sell out picture . His niche was not of the submarine sandwich but usually the baddie in films likeAngels with muddied Faces .
So it is a bit of a surprise that his only Oscar win hail after in his life history for the musicalYankee Doodle Dandy . This pick to only recognize Cagney after he had made a melodic points to a vernacular throughline for the Academy Awards , as they often honor real - life history human body over the fictional and heroes over the villain .
Cate Blanchett - Won For The Aviator - Should Have Won For Elizabeth
Cate Blanchett ’s first hit cinema was also her first Oscar nod garner the Best Actress nomination forElizabeth , where she play the queen herself . It was a good year for medieval England , asShakespeare in Love , to the surprisal of many , broom many of the award categories , including a win for Gwyneth Paltrow as Best Actress .
But Judi Dench won in the same class for the same role inShakespeare in Love . While Cate ’s performance view as up the entire movie and direct to an every bit hail subsequence in 2006 , Dench ’s Elizabeth only appear on screen for eight minutes .
Paul Newman - Won For The Color Of Money - Should Have Won For The Verdict
The Color of MoneyisMartin Scorsese ’s foray into sportsdrama and it is a great offer at that . Tom Cruise and Paul Newman conscientious objector - sensation and Newman brings his usual star functioning that makes it backbreaking for viewers to tear their eyes from the screen when he ’s on . The only trouble is that he had been make six times before .
His nomination prior to this year was in the 1982 filmThe Verdict . Newman ’s apply all of his personal appeal and formidable acting artistry to deliver an incredible carrying out . But in the 1983 Oscar race , competition was just too fierce . Audiences and fans had to look until the field damp for Newman to finally earn his prize .
Whoopie Goldberg - Won For Ghost - Should Have Won For The Color Purple
A victim ofThe Color Purple’segregious twelvemonth at the Oscars , Whoopie Goldberg had to wait for her 2nd nominating address for the filmGhostin order to come through . Her role inGhostisn’t bad at all , but her part inThe Color Purpleis much more powerful and inscrutable .
Whoopie ’s win feel to some like the Academy apologise for their disservice to the 1985 news report about Black American women grow up in the early 20th century . That moving-picture show was name for 11 Oscar and did n’t gain a single one . Ghost , on the other hand , is much more of a popcorn movie and amorous dramatic event that went on to acquire three Oscars , include Best Original Screenplay .
Jeff Bridges - Won For Crazy Heart - Should Have Won For The Big Lebowski
It is n’t thatCrazy Heartis a bad movie or that Jeff Bridges operation is n’t upright but it ’s somewhat telling that it took until 2010 for bridgework to win an award after four nomination for arguably more interesting roles .
This award was in the " it ’s his time " vein but Bridges inStarmanorThunderbolt and Lightfoot , when he was also nominated , would have been good ways to celebrate the icon earlier in his career . The biggest travesty is that Jeff Bridges was not even nominated for his iconic part as the Dude inThe Big Lebowski , probably his best know and most unmanageable role .
Jessica Lange - Won For Tootsie - Should Have Won For Frances
Jessica Lange did n’t only arguably win for the wrong movie , she get ahead for the haywire movie in the same year . The actor was make for Best Actress inFrancesand as Supporting Actress forTootsie . So she still took home hardware that Nox but in what is considered the " less " category .
Tootsieis a very fun film with great performances all around , but it is mostly Dustin Hoffman ’s motion-picture show . On the other script , inFrances , Lange takes on the difficult task of play Frances Farmer , the 1930 ’s starlet who suffered from mental malady . The character could not have been played by just anyone and Lange play an incredible amount of naked as a jaybird emotion and exposure to the function .
Al Pacino - Won For Scent Of A Woman - Should Have Won For The Godfather Part II
There were two decades betweenAl Pacino ’s first Academy Awardnomination and his first winnings forScent of a Woman . Any of his six Oscar nomination between this clock time could be arguably better and more important that his chair part in the 1992 film - particularly , his third nominating address for his role as Michael Corleone inThe Godfather Part II .
What ’s more , Pacino ’s profits forScentchanged the trajectory of his calling . Pre - profits , his role were somewhat understated . After his win for playing the bombastic Lt . Col . Frank Slade , Pacino spent two decennium arguably playing each character reference with same high intensity .
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