The Film Experience

by Mark Brinkerhoff

All three of Will Smith's nominations have been for biopics. His first was Ali (2001). If he wins will that be the end of his Oscar journey?

We’re a mere two days from the 94th Academy Awards, and it’s looking likely that at least one of the probable acting winners will win the coveted Oscar after multiple nominations. Equally possible: For many “overdue” actors, winning an Oscar marks a turning point. In 2020, TFE took a look back at the post-Oscar win trajectories of Golden Age and modern Hollywood stars alike: Gregory Peck, Shirley MacLaine, and the Susans—Hayward and Sarandon—all of whom finally won Oscars on their fifth (and to-date final) nominations.

Among the current acting nominees, two three-time Oscar nominees have yet to win...

Jessica Chastain and Will Smith, both of whom are now the presumed frontrunners for Best Actor and Best Actress. (Although with the latter, it’s really anyone’s guess!) Regardless of who ultimately wins on Sunday, one thing is for sure: For every Academy favorite/perpetual nominee like Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, far more eventual Oscar winners enjoy no “afterglow”—i.e. their winning nomination turns out to be the last, notably:

(God forbid this fate befalls TFE faves like Brad Pitt and Laura Dern, or Joaquin Phoenix, though one could easily see their fellow winner that year Renée Zellweger falling into the same rut—through no fault of their own—ask Emma Thompson and Jessica Lange!)

Sally Field escaped the "won and done" fate with her third nomination for Lincoln (2012)

A select few, it’s worth noting, do manage to go decades without a follow-up nom after their big wins only to eventually return to Academy favor (your Helen Hunts, Julia Roberts, and Sally Fields). An even fewer number of celebrated actors, meanwhile, win well-deserved Oscars on their breakthrough nomination—Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas and Tilda Swinton immediately come to mind—and, preposterously, never get nominated again!

Then, of course, there are those generational actors (the Michelle Pfeiffers, Sigourney Weavers, Winona Ryders) who rack up Oscar nominations in quick succession, are widely tipped to win one of them, lose in an upset but are nevertheless expected to win someday… except that day never comes to pass. The Academy moves on—though we have not! —and these still-working actors find themselves not only Oscarless today but without even so much as a nomination for decades (despite continuing to deliver ample, award-worthy performances in the years since).

So, with the latest Oscars soon to be (mercifully) in the rearview, look forward to a new series at TFE, revisiting some of the aforementioned actors’ winning performances and subsequent Oscar-worthy follow-ups, in the weeks and months ahead.