Top Ten: Current Stars Who Deserve a Great Role & Still Haven't Been Nominated
Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at 2:00PM 
psssst. you still haven't been nominated for an Oscar.
Charlize is such a bitch! (I kid I kid.) But Emily Blunt has to be frustrated by know, right?
Herewith a quick top ten list for your Tuesday afternoon. Among currently working actors, who do you think would be most completely justified in righteous fury that they're still waiting for that one special role and even a single Oscar nomination? My answer to that question lies below. Please to note that this list could never be comprehensive. This isn't a list of "most snubbed" so much as 'doesn't it seem like time / past time?' and as such is highly subjective with an unwieldly title.
Here we go.
10 CURRENTLY WORKING STARS MOST OVERDUE FOR
THAT TRULY GREAT ROLE THAT EARNS THEM THEIR 1ST OSCAR NOMINATION
This list is dedicated to all the greats that Oscar ignored time and again like Donald Sutherland and Mia Farrow who have now aged into "You missed your chance. Give them an Honorary" territory.
RUNNER UP TIE: Kristen Wiig & Greta Gerwig
Funny
Did you hear that?
Funny
Yeah, the guy said"Honey, you're a funny girl."
Comediennes so rarely get Oscar nominations (Melissa McCarthy got lucky!) but when you can work such comic gold from deep pain and surprise regularly with dramatic depth (Kristen Wiig) or when you're a completely singular star who is endlessly watchable (Greta Gerwig) shouldn't you be able to win prizes?
the top ten after the jump
06 THE TENDER HEARTS CLUB [Five-Way Tie]
Ewan McGregor / Peter Sarsgaard / James McAvoy / Colin Farrell / Ben Whishaw
I do fear that the magical moment may have passed when people were besotted with their gifts / persona on a regular basis. And yet never any Oscar love despite performances as singular as Moulin Rouge (2001), Shattered Glass (2003), Atonement (2007), In Bruges (2008), and Bright Star (2009) respectively? Are they too "actressy" as male actors go (i.e. sensitive, nuanced, and with their angst largely free of machismo?) to earn the kudos they so richly deserve? Nevertheless all five still remind us from time to time, most recently in scenes in Black Mass, X-Men: Days of Future Past, True Detective, and Lilting, that they are exceptional and singular actors (despite being grouped together here). What will it take to get them that breakthrough industry respect role?
05 Channing Tatum
He has everything... except the Oscar nomination. It often takes Oscar a very long time to come around to the matinee idols among male A List Stars. Especially the ones whose primary gifts fall under the "light comedy" realm of acting -- Cary Grant and Gene Kelly only received 1 Oscar nomination each, after all! -- but recently in Foxcatcher Tatum proved he's no dramatic simpleton even when playing one.
04 Sarah Paulson
This could well be a controversial choice because she's only of late really started growing on the big screen and is still more of a TV star but in a just world where supporting Oscar categories weren't so regularly polluted with leading star turns, there would have been ample room for two nominations already for her startling understanding of empathy-free entitled exterior with low self esteem and raging interior in 12 Years a Slave and her jewel cut perfection as Carol's best friend and ex lover; every line reading was a short film unto its own with rich complexity and backstory.
03 Michael Peña
Hollywood's Most Reliable Supporting Man. He's winning and precise and charismatic and nuanced in nearly everything. And yet still undervalued and almost never listed among "great character actors". Often he's the very best thing in his movies, too (Crash, Ant-Man, End of Watch, etcetera). What would it take to get him that signature part that takes him to the next level and wins him a shiny golden statue, too?
02 Emily Blunt
The 2006 Supporting Actress lineup whiffed it big time by not including her A+ level comic support as the bitchiest of fashionistas. After The Devil Wears Prada she's been prominently featured in or plain ol' headlined the following triple-Oscar-nominated films: Sicario, Into the Woods, and Young Victoria in addition to being the arguable Best Action Heroine Since "Ripley" via Edge of Tomorrow. And yet she's still waiting for the signature role and the Oscar nomination? What's that about?!
she's a 'dime' alright.
01 Scarlett Johansson
Her filmography and ever escalating range and starpower speaks for itself: Ghost World, Lost in Translation, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Match Point, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Don Jon, Her, Under the Skin. Even if you include retired actors in "most overdue" she'd still make the top ten. Maybe when she's free of the Marvel Universe and the Black Widow (a role which she also elevated) they'll finally see the Master Thespian inside the Sex Symbol?
Who would you put on such a list?
Reader Comments (95)
shawshank: Um...Jennifer Garner? Her film career is actually pretty bad overall. Dude, Where's My Car, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Elektra, Catch and Release, The Kingdom, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, The Invention of Lying, Valentine's Day, Arthur Remake, Butter, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Draft Day, Men, Women & Children, Miracles from Heaven, Nine Lives. Yes, there's bright spots in that sea of crap (13 Going on 30, Juno and Dallas Buyer's Club), but don't pretend it's a "solid" career.
Almost forgot these people (so many great people mentioned in the comments):
Oscar Isaac - he's everywhere now, but has delivered so many varied, complex performances across a multitude of genres. I give it about 3 years before nom number 1
John Goodman - lifelong career and I feel he's heating up in terms of work (thanks to the Annie Wilkes role in "10 Cloverfield Lane")
Kristen Stewart - Still Alice got her noticed, Clouds of Sils Maria gave her street cred, hopefully third awards worthy performance will be the charm. However, she seems like she'll never fit the Academy's "type." Her career with them might echo Jennifer Jason Leigh's I feel.
Scar-Jo 3:16 should have 5 nominations under her belt so far right now.
Agree with mark...Sarah for MMMM (and Mud too), not 12 Years or Carol.
"Emily Blunt, on the other hand, has been terrific since day one, but I think she may lack that elusive Star Quality (much like several others listed here)."
I don't think she lacks star quality. I think she is quite charismatic.
ROSEMARIE DEWITT WAS SNUBBED FOR RACHEL GETTING MARRIED AND I WILL NEVER NOT BE ANGRY ABOUT IT
Emily Blunt is NOT waiting for her signature role. That role is clearly Rita "aka Full Metal Bitch".
John Goodman: talk about being the best thing in a movie! He's been relentless lately and I really thought he'd get that nod in 2012. And of course, he was robbed back in the day for Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski.
loving all these comments and passion. but the list is not really a "they were snubbed for THIS ROLE." if so that list would be very different and not skew so young.
I was trying to talk about people working a lot now who it feels like it's past time to honor. Rather than they snubbed them for _____ (unfortunately Kirsten Dunst isn't really strongly in the movie game anymore but perhaps she'll snag an Emmy?)
Such a good list, though awfully young. Ewan and Peter are the oldest and they're only 45.
To your top 11, I'd add:
Lea Seydoux, Oscar Isaac, Rose Byrne, Matthias Schoonaerts, and Andrew Garfield.
I can't argue with any of your choices, especially McGregor, Farrell, McAvoy, Blunt, and Johansson.
Dunst was one of the first names that popped into my head, but I guess I understand your reasoning for not including her. I'd love for Drew Barrymore to have another Grey Gardens-type "WOW SHE REALLY CAN ACT" moment, but on the big screen this time. Similarly, I know she's not as respected around this corner of the internet, but Cameron Diaz should have been nominated for Being John Malkovich.
Other names I'd mention:
- Dakota Fanning
- Rosario Dawson
- Evan Rachel Wood
- John Goodman
- Kevin Bacon
- Kerry Washington (if she can get off of TV)
- Will Ferrell...I'm curious as to whether he can pull a Carrell
I like complaining about Crash as much as the next person, but I probably would have given Michael Peña the damn Oscar for that movie. Hoping some leading roles come his way.
Great list!
Blunt is funny and has that easy charisma. Another movie with her and Meryl would be funny and sell in a hot minute. The man who drives me crazy right now is Oscar Isaac. Gifted.
Corey Stall, Parker Posey, Ben Whishaw, Liev and Pablo Schreiber, Ben Foster, Guy Pearce, Scarlett Johansson, Garret Dillahunt, Kerry Washington, Eileen Atkins, Christopher Meloni, Ewan MacGregor, Cynthia Nixon (who should have been in there for James White).
Oh and of course Oscar Isaac, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Andrew Garfield.
Of people I haven't seen mentioned by anyone yet, I'd like to mention Christina Ricci. She's not as much in the limelight anymore, and I personally DO think she's already had a signature role (Wednesday Addams!), but she seemed absolutely poised to be a future Oscar nominee back in the '90s, and I'm still waiting for it to happen. I imagine the closest she came was probably The Opposite of Sex, and there were a few reasons why that didn't pan out (category confusion, not really an Oscar-type movie [especially in those days], she was still a child actor at the time).
I can say I would have listed pretty much everyone you have. Especially Ewan McGregor, James McAvoy, Ben Wishaw, Scarlett Johansson, and Sarah Paulson. My additions would be Oscar Issac, Andrew Garfield, and John Goodman.
SCARJO!!
I like Emily Blunt, but I feel like only recently she's been choosing the right projects. After her breakthrough she did prestige period drama in The Young Victoria but then it was years before she actually started tapping into her potential a couple years ago.
Sam Rockwell, because what the hell already. Michael Sheen too, he should have been nominated for Frost/Nixon
Paulson is actually my win for 12YaS
I'd add Oscar Isaac and Kirsten Dunst to that list. Oscar Isaac has been giving out performance after performance after performance, he's a gem of an actor, and Dunst - well, I get that she's only doing projects that she loves now, and has become very selective, there is a je nais se qoui about her that makes her so unique.I think if the Rodarte sisters' project is an enticing as it sounds on paper, she's going to be shoo-in for a nomination at least, and then there's the new project with Sofia Coppola.
LOVE the inclusion of Michael Pena and Wiig.
Greta Gerwig, I think, will score a screenplay nomination before an acting one.
Matthias Schoenaerts deserves to be on that list. His work in Bullhead, Rust and Bone, Suite Française, Far from the Madding Crowd, Disorder and even The Danish Girl, are the kind of performances that would get Oscar nominations for lesser American/British actors.
I hope he gets an Oscar nomination for Thomas Vinterberg's Kursk!
Honorable mentions:
Cameron Diaz
Oscar Isaac
Ben Mendelsohn
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Rose Byrne
Jim Carrey
John Goodman
Kevin Bacon
Michael Peña makes this list slightly more diverse than recent Oscar nominee lineups. Otherwise, this is a strangely tone-deaf, glaringly white wish list from a site that regularly reveres actors and actresses of all races and nationalities.
Wow. This is fascinating to me because as I read your list and everyone's comments, I realized I'm sort of okay with who hasn't been nominated to date. When you consider them as a group, there does seem to be "something" they don't have that the ones who have been nominated do. Maybe it's just the right role but there's something just not quite as thrilling in the performances of the people showing up on this list as there are for many of the ones that have been nominated. I'm shocked I feel this way. It's fascinating.
However there are 4 I really feel are as thrilling and really need that recognition:
Jim Carrey
Ewan McGregor
Michael Pena
Isabelle Huppert
I do think the following have at least a well-deserved nomination in their future:
Oscar Isaac
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Idris Elba
Pretty terrific group and piece. I really wish Whishaw was considered the great talent he clearly is. I suspect he doesnt play "macho" enough for certain cinephile sectors like Hardy or Gosling. Those two are talented, but Whishaw is their peer or higher.
I'm a bit surprised Cillian Murphy isn't included in the Tender Hearts club. He's every bit as talented as McAvoy/Whishaw/Farrell. I actually think he's far, far more consistent than Farrell. I don't think I've ever thought he was bland or bad in anything, whether as a lead of more commercial films like Red Eye and 28 Days Later or indies like Disco Pigs, Breakfast on Pluto, and The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
Brevity -- unfortunately in order to "earn" that great role and feel like its past time to be nominated you have to have had enough roles to prove yourself which is the problem for black actors. No actual Oscar nominees were eligible so that cuts out the Viola Davises Tarajis and Lupitas and Angelas and such of the world and we're talking current and already earned it rather than fresh and promising which is why Gugu Mbatha-Raw is not here (she's exciting but past Oscar due and more than earned that signature role? I'd argue not quite yet).
You say "tone deaf" i say "parameters of the list"... just saying it's important to pick battles and since you agree that my site is usually on the up and up here...
fwiw Anthony Mackie was close to making it (if there was just one more Hurt Locker in there...) and so was Adepere Oduwe but i decided she was too new since she only really has Pariah as proof that she's more than deserving. Kerry washington was eliminated for the exact same reason as Kirsten Dunst (though i was an early super champion of both) since they both aren't really in the movie game anymore but aiming for Emmys.
Everyone -- This is also meant to be a plausible Oscar ready list which is why i wasn't including foreign performers (like Matthias Schoenaerts (y'all know I think he's *the* most exciting right now) since their Oscar nominations are nearly always happy accidents of timing as sad as that may be.
I think saying Kerry and Kirsten are in the Emmy game and not the movie game is a very 15 years ago way of looking at things. People move back and forth between TV and film very fluidly these days. Plus, Kirsten has done exactly one TV project and doesn't seem to have more lined up whereas she has Woodshock in 2016 and now The Beguiled for 2017 (plus a supporting role in Hidden Figures).
Robin Wright is another name I'll throw out there, I know she's getting lots of TV love these days but it also seems to have rejuvenated her movie career as of late, so I think she could get a nomination with the right role.
Zach -- people SAY that people move back and forth fluidly but in reality still most actors are one or the other. You're not punished for switching it up as you once were and some people seem equally busy in both but most actors are still primarily one or the other. Once you're the lead in a long running TV show you're not really working the movie game. Kerry Washington is totally a TV star now (perhaps i'm being presumptuous about Kirsten Dunst though... i just assumed with the success of Fargo and how small her roles are getting in movies that she might want to stay on TV).
Brevity -- but i should add i get your point. I will try to be less defensive about this topic. just got burnt badly with every sentence being judged this past Oscar season when I'm on the side of the good guys :)
Nathaniel, there is a distinction to be made between settling in to a (long-running) 22 (or so) episode ABC/NBC/CBS/CW/FOX series and appearing in a 10-12 episode FX/HBO/Showtime/AMC thing.
Paul Outlaw: Also, Fargo is a rotating cast show. So, "Hey, Kiki, want to do one season and then go back to trying to do movies" is almost certainly how they got her to taste how TV acting feels.
Paul -- of course. But Kerry Washington is the lead of a multi-season Network tv show. Not sure why people are picking at me about this. Her last really good movie roles predate Scandal (utterly wasted in Django)
Hoping that Viola Davis can buck this trend with Fences but most actors who get a network series that's a hit don't do very many good / meaty roles in movies, however people wanna spin the "oh it's all the same now". Leading a hit TV show is a full time job!
The crop of starlets between 2003 and 2005 were so strong and stylish that it hasn't even mattered whether they won Oscars—they're megawatt movie stars and household names one way or another. Knightley and Johannson had to be twice as good for half as much recognition as today's starlets get.
Ask strangers on the street if they know who Brie Larson is and then tell me that winning an Oscar matters. It's like comparing Christy Turlington to one of today's "supermodels."
Nat: Paul's issue is primarily about Dunst. Fargo isn't like normal TV and it doesn't really seem like Dunst is heading back quite yet.
I have plenty of nice things to say about Brie Larson so that's not meant as a dig at her. Even the phenomenal Emma Stone got an Oscar nomination lit'rully JUST for being in the right movie.
Hayden W -- that depends on how you define "mattering"... i've never thought it mattered whether random strangers on the street know who someone is. I love listening to strangers talk about movies on the subway or on the street. They're usually talking about something like Transformers (last decade) or superhero movies now. Doesn't mean those movies are the important ones.
Most strangers you could poll on the street won't know who any of the following people are: Tilda Swinton, Stephen Sondheim, Tony Kushner, Daniel Day Lewis, Todd Haynes, etcetera. doesn't make those people any less a genius than they are.
it's like when people define "relevant" as "mattering to teenagers". really? that's the whole criteria?
What Volvagia said. Totally agree with you about Kerry, Nat, but Kiki isn't what I'd call a typical American TV star. Not yet anyway. The new cable model is much more British—shorter seasons, more fluidity to do film and/or stage. Although we don't get too many triple threats like Dench, Ejiofor, Elba, McKellen etc., do we? Aren't our actors usually TV/theater, TV/film, or film/theater?
Couldn't agree more with these names on the list (not necessarily the order): James McAvoy, Peter Sarsgaard (He's my absolute #1), ScarJo, Greta, Colin Ferrell and Emily Blunt.
Will add to the chorus of those who have mentioned Joseph Gordon Levitt, Andrew Garfield, John Goodman, Ben Foster, Kevin Bacon, Idris Elba, Jim Carrey, Oscar Isaac (though he probably will soon enough), Liev Schreiber, Sam Rockwell, John Cusack, Parker Posey, Guy Pearce, Gugu, and Catherine O'Hara.
And, the individual mentions of Robin Wright, Cillian Murphy, Alessandro Nivola, Evan Rachel Wood, Christina Ricci and Gael Garcia Bernal.
My additions that have not been mentioned:
Consistently working veterans past their due: Steve Martin (he's won an honorary one, but never actually nominated), Jeff Daniels, Thandie Newton, Noah Taylor, Drew Barrymore, Stephen Dillane, Barry Pepper, David Morse, Peter Dinklage, Dennis Quaid, Martin Sheen, Steve Buscemi and Alfred Molina.
Actors who've done great work in the past, but aren't doing much now: Tim Curry (if it weren't his stroke, he'd be above), Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Mary Stuart Masterson, Jeremy Davies, Mary Louise Parker and Hayden Christensen (laugh if you will, but his work in Shattered Glass and Life as a House was excellent).
Actors still paying dues, but could/should be nominated in the future: Paul Dano, Chris Pine, Billy Magnussen, Bill Hader, Jena Malone, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Logan Lerman, Elizabeth Banks, Chadwick Boseman, and Anthony Mackie.
Actors who have been nominated in non-acting categories, but could/should have been nominated as actors, too: Julie Delpy and Danny DeVito.
Oh, and the fact that Kathleen Turner, Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Robert Redford have only each been nominated once for their acting is a travesty.
My #1 would be Kirsten Dunst...I mean, I had a dream like a month or so ago that she had been nominated for Best Actress for Melancholia. Upset that wasn't a reality.
I don't think she's a "TV actress" now, she's still regularly doing movies and only did Fargo. Unfortunately her film roles have never been the type that win awards. The one time Sophia Copola decided NOT to use her (Lost in Translation) was probably the one time it really could've gotten her awards traction lol. Melancholia was probably the closest she got and she couldn't even snag one major nod. I mean, sure she got a Golden Globe nod for Interview with a Vampire and was probably close to Oscar nomination, but that was before she had the career she has. I have hope for this upcoming Sophia Coppola film that was just announced.
Jada Pinkett-Smith demands to be included in this list.
Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright & Ben Foster
Lesley Manville & Parker Posey
Funny that you didn't mention what's one of the most "delicious" Scarlett Johansson's acting turns: playing Purslane in the little indie "A Love Song for Bobby Long".
.
Before watching it I knew Scarlett as the "muse" kind of actress who starred The Horse Whisperer, Lost In Translation and Girl With Pearl Earring and then... bang!: a real actress.
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