The Academy Award, popularly known as the Oscars, is the most prestigious award that someone from within the film fraternity can win. It is every actor’s dream to etch their name in the annals of film history, a recognition of their mastery over the art form that takes a significant amount of time to refine. Over the years, several actors have won the award, thus setting themselves apart from the rest. In this article, we will take a look at five such actors whose Oscar records will not be broken anytime soon.
The film industry has seen the rise and fall of actors. While not everyone can make it big, those who have managed to do so have left their mark forever.
It is worth noting that an Oscar alone does not determine one’s talent, as it is merely a reward for the work that they put in. A lot of prodigious actors never found that recognition from the Academy or had to wait for years before they did.
In recent years, the Academy has come under fire for a lot of reasons. One of the primary criticisms aimed at them was the lack of diversity, and since then, the organizers have tried to be more inclusive. In this article, though, we will take a look at 5 actors who hold enviable Oscar records.
1. Daniel Day-Lewis
Sir Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors to ever grace the screens in the history of cinema. He has a veritable list of awards, but his multiple Oscars take the cake!
Day-Lewis earned a total of twelve Oscar nominations throughout his career, all in the best actor category. Out of them, he won on three occasions, which is a testament to his skills. The first time the British actor won the award was in 1990 for his role in My Left Foot. It was a biographical film about Christy Brown, who had cerebral palsy.
Day-Lewis won his second Oscar in 2008 for There Will Be Blood and his third and final award in 2013 for playing Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, in the film Lincoln. He retired from acting in 2017.
2. Jack Nicholson
Like Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson is also a venerable actor in Hollywood. Nicholson became widely popular for his role in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, The Shinning.
The Batman star has won twelve nominations in his career so far and three Oscars in the Best Actor category. He won his first-ever Academy Award in 1976 for his role as the protagonist, Randle McMurphy, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Nicholson won his second Oscar in 1984 for Terms of Endearment and his third in 1998 for As Good As It Gets.
3. Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep is one of the most decorated actors of our time. Her body of work speaks volumes about her prowess as the leading lady of Hollywood. Streep has collected over 200 awards ranging from Tonys to Oscars, and she is far from calling it time for her career.
With 21 Oscar nominations under her belt, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most nominations by an actor in any category. However, she has won only three so far: one for the best supporting actress and two for the best actress.
Streep won her first Academy Award for Kramer V Krammer as the Best Supporting Actress. She won her second Oscar in 1983 for her role in Sophie’s Choice, her first in the Best Actress category. Streep won her third and final one in 2012 for playing Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in The Iron Lady.
4. Frances McDormand
Frances McDormand has four Oscars to her name, but one of them sets her apart from the rest. She won three of them for playing the leading roles in Fargo, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Nomadland.
However, McDormand is also the only actor to win an award outside the acting categories. She won her fourth Oscar for her role as the producer of Nomadland, which won Best Picture in 2021.
5. Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn is the best actress of all time, without a doubt. Even the American Film Institute called her the greatest actress in classic Hollywood.
During her acting career, Hepburn won twelve nominations. She won four of them, with her first Oscar being for her role in Morning Glory in 1934. Katharine Hepburn went on to win three more for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1968, The Lion in Winter in 1969, and her last one for On Golden Pond in 1982.
This article provides a list of actors who have set the bar when it comes to acting. It is not an exhaustive list by any means, but these records are unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
