When it comes to award shows, snubs are inevitable. Not everyone can be pleased with a given group of so few nominees, and there is beauty in the parity of opinion on the matter. Sometimes, however, there aresnubs so blatant and so brutalthey can seemingly be exempt from forgiveness. And when it comes to the Academy Awards in the 21st century, there have been a share of notable, monumental performances missing from the nominees in an acting category.
With the 2023 Oscar nominations set to release on Jan. 24, now is the perfect time to recall and examine these most contentious Oscar acting nomination snubs over the course of the past 22 years. So, without further ado, here are the selections for the 10 biggest and most baffling 21st century Oscar nomination snubs in an acting category.
Related:This Is Still the Biggest Oscars Snub in All of Film History
10Andrew Garfield for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – The Social Network
When David Fincher’sThe Social Networkreleased to universal acclaim in 2010, critics and audiences alike laudedAndrew Garfield’spassionate and heart-wrenching breakout supporting performance depicting real-life character, Eduardo Saverin. Garfield looked to be a comfortable candidate for the Oscar nomination after scoring honors at the BAFTA Awards, Critics Choice Awards Golden Globes and as part of the Best Ensemble nomination at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. WhenThe Social Networkwas selected for eight Oscar nominations, however, Garfield’s name was shockingly absent from the package.
Heavy-favorite, Christian Bale, would go on to win the award for his dedicated performance inThe Fighter, but for Garfield to be sidelined from the nomination in favor of any one of: Jeremy Renner (The Town), John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are Alright),and Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech) remains afrustrating mystery to many moviegoers. This snub is accentuated by the movie’s sustained prominence and timeless rewatchability, with Garfield delivering the movie’s most iconic and memorable moment during its riveting climax. A moment and a scene perfectly made for an Oscar clip during the ceremony. A scene that, on its own, has now eclipsed millions of views on YouTube and inspired re-enactment videos from numerous aspiring actors, including aviral homage from established actor, Dylan O’Brien.
9Amy Adams for Best Actress in a Leading Role – Arrival
Amy Adams’calculated and poignant performance, which is at the center of Denis Villeneuve’s box office and critical smash hit sci-fi,Arrival,evidently proved too subtle for the Academy’s liking in 2017, despite receiving nominations at the BAFTA Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes, and SAG Awards. With every precursor nomination in the bag, she was a shoo-in for the Oscar nod. This was not meant to be, as the Academy elected to nominate Meryl Streep inFlorence Foster Jenkinsfor her, at the time, 20th nod, and first-time nominee Ruth Negga inLoving.
Not bad choices by any means, and Emma Stone’s win forLa La Landwas more than expected,but it still doesn’t sit right that Adams was snubbed– especially whenArrivalpicked up eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. The movie is also beloved by many, as evidenced by passionate reviews from audiences and critics alike and high scores across Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic, Letterboxd, and more.
8Awkwafina for Best Actress in a Leading Role – The Farewell
2019 was, admittedly, a terrific year for movies. FromParasite, toOnce Upon a Time… in Hollywood, toUncut Gems, toThe Farewell.Though it can get lost in the shuffle when looking back on the depth of quality that year,The Farewellproved an effective dramedy that, above all, showcasedAwkwafina’schops as a leading lady, elevating her career arc from the supporting comedic relief pigeonhole, to someone capable of carrying a movie.
The role was ideal for Awkwafina, as she was able to blend her comedic background with an impressive array of dramatic depth and emotional range. She went on to earn a Critics Choice Award nomination and aGolden Globe win for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Her televised winning acceptance speech still wasn’t enough to propel her to an Oscar nomination, which was more likely due to theAcademy’s reluctance to nominate performers of Asian descent. Her snub clearly had people talking and the Academy voting body listening at the right time asMinaricame out the following year to Oscar’s love with six nominations, including a Best Actor nomination for Steven Yeun and a Best Supporting Actress win for Youn Yuh-jung.
Saoirse Ronan is never a bad nomination, in this case for her role in Greta Gerwig’s iteration ofLittle Women, and Cynthia Erivo deserved the recognition for playing historical figure, Harriet Tubman inHarriet,but it goes without saying the Academy missed an opportunity for a beloved, unique breakthrough performance in a movie that deserved more attention.
7Idris Elba for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Beasts of No Nation
Idris Elbais theonly actor to ever win a SAG and not be nominated for the Oscar. Alongside his SAG win, Elba also received nominations at the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globes for his supporting turn as an unnamed commandant of child soldiers in Cary Joji Fukunaga’sBeasts of No Nation– an unflinching and visceral look at civil war in an African country.
Critics hailed the filmand the performance of the cast, especially Elba, for their commitment to the harrowing material and conviction to make it feel lived in and consequential. Elba’s thick accent, hair and body transformations fulfilled all the superficial requirements for the Oscar nomination, so did his brooding yet sympathetic presence and ability to command the screen throughout worthwhile air time. He never went too big or flashy, staying within the movie’s gritty core. It’s really no wonder why he was awarded the SAG, and a shocker he didn’t even get nominated at the Oscars.
6Timothée Chalamet for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Beautiful Boy
Timothée Chalamet’sOscar-nominated leading performance inCall Me By Your Nameput his vulnerable, boyish charisma on display, and it looked to be quickly followed with a second Oscar nomination the very next year, when he turned in an uncompromising look at an individual dealing with severe drug addiction in his committed performance as real-life character, Nic Sheff, inBeautiful Boy. But maybe Chalamet’s swift takeover was a little too much too soon for some. The performance earned Chalamet consecutive nominations at the BAFTA Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes, and SAG Awards, but not that elusive Oscar nod. Chalamet has more than a couple Oscar-worthy moments in this role, including an emotional moment in a diner with Steve Carrel’s character, Nic Sheff’s father.
In a perplexing conclusion, Sam Rockwell took the nomination for his caricature performance as George W. Bush inVice.Rockwell’s limited screen time and character depth were no match for what Chalamet brought to the table, nor were they any match for his Oscar-winning supporting performance the year prior forThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.Michael B. Jordan’s name also came up a lot that year as a definite snub in the category for his complex villainy inBlack Panther,he would have also been a worthy nominee for Marvel’s only Best Picture nomination to date.
Related:Academy Awards 2022: This Year’s Biggest Oscar Snubs
5Lupita Nyong’o for Best Actress in a Leading Role – Us
Lupita Nyong’ohas had the chance to shine in a variety of roles since her debut, Oscar-winning supporting performance in12 Years a Slave.Lupita’s dual performancein Jordan Peele’sUscould not be any more different, however. She simultaneously delivered an effectively horrifying performance on one end – through the use of unblinking wide-eyes, and a broken and raspy inarticulate dialect – and an equally effective performance on the other end as a victim of traumatization.
Horror movies rarely get Oscar love, but Lupita’s performance here earned both a Critics Choice and a SAG nomination. She was squarely in the conversation for the 2020 Oscars, the same year as the above-mentioned Awkwafina, but the Oscars elected to play it safer rather than scarier, we suppose. We are still waiting for an actress in a horror movie to break the Oscar barrier. If Lupita and Toni Collette (Hereditary) can’t, then who will?
4Jake Gyllenhaal for Best Actor in a Leading Role – Nightcrawler
Jake Gyllenhaalstill has only one Oscar nomination, and it came in 2006 for his supporting role inBrokeback Mountain. All he has done since is turn in quality, awards-worthy work, but he doesn’t have the Oscar nomination tally to show for it. In one of the most egregious misses of the century, the Academy snubbed Gyllenhaal at the 2014 awards for his performance asLou Bloom inNightcrawler. Greasy, slicked-back long hair, wide eyes, weight loss and a fully-fleshed psychopathic character demonstrating restrained, controlled rage at times, total freakouts at other times, apparently wasn’t enough for the Academy. Gyllenhaal truly became Lou Bloom. He embodied the character and lived in his skin.
Just like some of the others on this list, Gyllenhaal racked up honors at the BAFTA Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes and SAG Awards. The movie was reduced to a Best Original Screenplay nomination when a package around Best Picture had certainly been in the cards. The Best Actor race was certainly tough in 2014, with countless performances worthy of nomination, but to think Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), or Steve Carell (Foxcatcher) were more deserving has our brains in a bit of a fog. The test of time tells us Gyllenhaal’s performance was certainly the most memorable and iconic of the three.
3David Oyelowo for Best Actor in a Leading Role – Selma
David Oyelowo’sbiopic powerhouse performance as Martin Luther King Jr. in Ava DuVernay’sSelmacomes in tandem with Gyllenhaal’s performance inNightcrawler.Both were snubbed at the 2014 Oscars in favor of others like Cooper and Carell. Oyelowo tallied nominations at Critics Choice and Golden Globes and was thought to be comfortable within the Best Actor discussion. The five nominees that year were ironically all white and Oyelowo’s name would be left out of the Oscar ceremony despite acritical consensus “gripping” portrayal of King, leading a historical drama that many viewed as one of the best movies of the year. The movie was nominated for Best Picture, and it would win its only other nomination for Best Original Score. But it is rare to find a Best Picture nominee with only one other nomination. Oyelowo would have been a sensible and more than deserving choice for grounding the picture in King’s authentic spirit.
2Lady Gaga for Best Actress in a Leading Role – House of Gucci
Recency bias makes it easier to holdLady Gaga’ssnub at the 2022 Oscars in contention, but that does not make it any less surprising. In an era where awards experts with an uncanny feel for predicting Oscar nominations are everywhere online, Gaga’s performance inHouse of Guccifelt like a sure thing. Yet again, Gaga’s case showed the world that a host of major precursor nominations would not hold the Academy back from looking elsewhere. Gaga did indeed pick up nominations at the BAFTA Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes, and SAG Awards.
Now, as a movie,House of Guccimet audiences and critics with mixed results. Of the performances in a movie listed here, this movie is by far the most polarizing, and Gaga’s snub could largely be due to the movie’s failure to secure a package of notable nominations. This logic doesn’t necessarily suffice, however, considering competitor Kristen Stewart’s Best Actress nomination, the only nomination forSpencer.Gaga was nominated for the same honor in 2019 forA Star is Born,but her transformation into Patrizia Reggiani provided a whole new look at the actress and her capacity. Her performanceheralded praise from just about everyone, even many detractors of the movie found Gaga to be a bright spot and awards worthy.
1Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor in a Leading Role – The Departed
Back in 2007, whenThe Departedtook home Oscar gold in the form of Best Picture, as well as Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing,Leonardo DiCaprio’sleading performance was not to be found in the package of Scorsese’s violent and snappy crime drama, because it wasn’t even nominated.
DiCaprio personified the character of Billy Costigan, an undercover police officer in Boston with edgy angst and animated expressions. His most compelling scene came alongside Vera Farmiga’s character during a psychological evaluation. DiCaprio’s hands fly in the air, his facial expressions shift from fearful and vulnerable to intimidating and guarded in a moment. DiCaprio notched every major precursor nomination, and co-star Jack Nicholson closely followed behind for Best Supporting Actor, but it was Mark Wahlberg, who with significantly less screen time than either DiCaprio or Nicholson, found himself attached to the Oscar-nominated package for Best Supporting Actor.
The funny thing is, the performance DiCaprio should have replaced was his very own. All awards season, DiCaprio had been double-nominated at every precursor until the BAFTA Awards. The other performance being his turn as the South African mercenary, Danny Archer, inBlood Diamond.It would have been historic to see DiCaprio double-nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars, but it wasn’t meant to be. Though DiCaprio had a fun accent and prudent work inBlood Diamond, The Departedis, ultimately, a better movie and a more memorable performance.
