Triple Crown of Acting: Who's Next?
Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 10:00AM by Eric Blume
Kieran Culkin will have to wait a bit longer before he can add a Tony to his SUCCESSION Emmy and A REAL PAIN Oscar. | © Searchlight Pictures
Back in 2016, I wrote an article here when one of my favorite actresses, Jessica Lange, won a Tony for Long Day’s Journey into Night, thereby joining the club of elite actors who had achieved the Triple Crown of Acting (competitive Oscar, Emmy, and Tony). Only 24 actors have ever achieved this, and since Lange eight years ago, only two people have joined that list (Viola Davis in 2017 with her Emmy; Glenda Jackson in 2018 with her Tony).
I thought it would be fun to take a look at who is a realistic possibility to join that club. I’m reminded of it because, until just a few days ago, there was a chance that person was going to be Kieran Culkin! Culkin had been largely predicted to be nominated for a Tony Award (and possibly win!) for his performance in the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross. Alas, Culkin was shut out of the nominations on May 1. Had he won, he would be the first person to win all three awards in such tight timing (he just won his Emmy for Succession and Oscar for A Real Pain within the last three years). It took Jessica 33 years and Glenda 47 years!
So since it's not going to be Kieran Culkin, let’s take a look at who might be next. I’m working on probability here, not possibility: meaning that I’m not counting likelihood for actors who rarely or never work in that given medium. Here are some thoughts…
Glenn Close in THE WIFE | © Sony Pictures Classics
Missing the Oscar (Already have their Emmy and Tony):
Glenn Close is the obvious heir apparent here, as she’s Oscar’s most famous bridesmaid. I surely hope that long-proposed film musical version of Sunset Boulevard doesn’t happen: Norma Desmond can’t make a comeback when she’s 78! The idea makes absolutely no sense. But hopefully someone will find a late great role for her in the next few years. It would really be a bummer for Close to go Oscarless.
Jodie Comer feels like a very real possibility. She’s a prodigiously gifted actress, and she’s just getting started with leading roles in films like The Last Duel and The Bikeriders. Her work on Killing Eve was deliriously inspired, and her Tony work for Prima Facie was bravura. She’s only 32 and feels likely to have an incredible career ahead of her.
Bryan Cranston is one of the industry’s most beloved actors: he was even able to wring a Best Actor nomination out of Trumbo! He hasn’t had another film role quite that big in the ten years since, but at 66, he’s got time and he’s on everyone’s list as a major get.
Billy Crudup and Sarah Paulson. These two theater-trained wonders have yet to find the right role in film to catapult them to Oscar, but they’ve both done a significant amount of work in the movies, and they both seem one job away from it being “their year”. Both are exceptional character actors (supporting actor winner alert!) who have the charisma and talent to fill leading roles too.
Hugh Jackman is really an underrated movie star. He always delivers, and he has a real intelligence and vulnerability in his acting. He came close-ish with his lead performance in the film version of Les Miserables, and at 56, he’s got the time.
Jeffrey Wright feels poised for Oscar as well. He recently turned 59 and finally got the accolades he deserved with that nomination for American Fiction recently. He’s managed over 30 years of work across multiple mediums, and he just needs another role like Monk Ellison to get him there.
Jeremy Strong could follow his Brother Roy (Kieran Culkin) to this list as well. He just won the Tony for Enemy of the People, and scored his first Oscar nomination for The Apprentice. We may see Strong in variations on his mint green terry cloth suit at awards shows for years to come. He’s a very very talented nut job.
John Lithgow feels unlikely at this point, only because he will be 80 this year. But before the release of Conclave, press was writing that perhaps Lithgow was headed for a late-career Oscar. He ultimately had little to do in the film, but if there’s a juicy end-of-career-phase role for him (a la Christopher Plummer for Beginners), he is incredibly beloved by the community.
Other actors who have done some film work but seem unlikely at this point include: Ellen Barkin, Stockard Channing, Kristin Chenoweth; Tyne Daly; Judd Hirsch; Lily Tomlin; Mandy Patinkin; Mary-Louise Parker; Bette Midler; Cherry Jones; and Laurie Metcalf (who should have won the Oscar for Lady Bird and been on this list!).
Mark Rylance in WOLF HALL: THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT | © PBS
Missing the Emmy (Already have their Oscar and Tony):
Mark Rylance feels like someone who could easily win an Emmy one day soon. He has a new season of Wolf Hall that will likely seem him through to a nomination, and he’d be an ideal lead or supporting actor with a juicy role down the road soon. At 65, he’s got some time and is a go-to actor for prestige projects.
Marcia Gay Harden does a good bit of TV and was just recently nominated for an Emmy last year. She’s never had the perfect role to nab the award yet, but it seems very possible. She’s prolific and well-loved industry-wide and has a great versatility.
Kevin Kline seems likely to score an Emmy nomination this year for Disclaimer, but the miniseries was very divisive and he stands little chance of winning. Plus, at 77 (which seems hard to believe!), he’s running out of time!
Eddie Redmayne also seems likely to get his first Emmy nomination this year for The Day of the Jackal (he’s really superb in it), but the show doesn’t have enough juice to net him the award yet. But he’s 43 with lots of steam ahead, and he keeps surprising.
Judi Dench and Denzel Washington are the other two big guns in this situation, but neither really does television, so barring a switch in their trajectory, they seem unlikely. Same goes for Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Lupita Nyong'o in 12 YEARS A SLAVE | © Searchlight Picures
Missing the Tony (Already have their Oscar and Emmy):
This niche is perhaps the toughest, and it rules out many of the greats who don’t regularly do theater (Jodie Foster; Kate Winslet; Meryl Streep; Julianne Moore, etc.).
Lupita N’yongo feels like the only strong probability here. She was up for a Best Actress in a Play Tony for Eclipsed back in 2016 but has yet to return to the stage. Also should probably flag for the nitpicky readers that Lupita has won a Daytime Emmy, not a Primetime Emmy. But she trained at the Yale School of Drama and considers herself a stage actor, so hopefully we’ll see her back onstage soon and headed to this list.
Yes, there’s a chance that any of these actors could return to the theater with a great role and win their Tony: Meryl Streep, Kathy Bates, Sally Field, Dianne Wiest, Nicole Kidman; Holly Hunter. But it’s been decades for some of them, so who knows? And if Darren Criss and Sarah Snook win their Tony races this year (as they should, they are both brilliant in their shows), they will be 2/3 of the way there, with only Oscar to go...will the film industry snatch them up?
Okay, readers: now it’s your turn. Of those 16 actors I’ve identified, who do you think is the most probably to next join the Triple Crown of Acting echelon? My vote is surprisingly Jodie Comer, but lots of fun possibilities. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Reader Comments (8)
Helen Hunt (Oscar and Emmys) does a lot of theatre, usually on a smaller scale, but she'd be great in a juicy role on Broadway.
But it's pretty sure to be one of the younger ones. Close is busy but not exactly making great movies, Lithgow is stuck in the Potter-verse, etc
Sigourney Weaver has lost all three despite multiple nominations. Anyone else?
Daytime Emmys don't count.
"Kevin Kline seems likely to score his first-ever Emmy nomination this year for Disclaimer"
I'm either confused or my English is very bad, but although Kevin Kline hasn't won an Emmy, he has already been nominated twice before, one of them for Cyrano de Bergerac.
Harmodio, thanks for flagging! i've fixed it. Kline has never been a TV guy and I absolutely missed that!
From the 2015 line up I would pick Cranston as the winner because Damon is doing Damon,the overrated Fassbender is miscast,Redmayne is simply awful and DiCaprio fights a bear and grimaces a lot.
Ripley: that was such a grim lineup!
Isn't Lithgow getting a lot of buzz from Jimpa from Sundance where he appears nude?
I think the real reason the people who haven't won an Oscar on this list will struggle is that they are not known to be movie stars or film people (Jackson and Close excluded) I firmly believe that Allison Janney beat Metcalf because it was a weird weak year and while Janney was primarily known for TV and theatre, she never left film and was part of the acclaimed ensemble films like The Help and American Beauty. Metcalf hadn't made a movie in a while, and it was mostly voice acting in the Toy Story franchise. I was just thinking about Sarah Paulsen and I think she only wins an Oscar if she has a mirror year to Janney.
If Dianne Wiest decides to do a revival of August Osage County that Tony is basically hers.
Denzel Washington might win an Emmy from producing or directing. The Piano Lesson didn't get any love from Oscar but if he keeps adapting August Wilson plays into features, maybe he releases on on HBO or strictly Netflix. If he directs himself he is a shoo-in for a nomination and probable win.
Obviously there are a few big stars that have avoided television, and Denzel is still one of them. But, I wouldn't be shocked to see him in a limited series in the next 5-10 years. I'm sure he gets offers all the time, but I could see him doing it with the right director and script. I also think he'll do it once/if he wins another Lead Acting Oscar.
Sarah Paulson seems like she's on the Allison Janney trajectory. She'll get the right sized role in the right film, and win everything. Maybe Clybourne Park?
Jeffery Wright is in an interesting place. I can see him as an actor that gets one lead nomination. But, he has a role in the upcoming Spike Lee film, and if that works and his role is substantial enough, he could be one who sails to another nomination.