The acting legend has been nominated twice, for his roles in 1998’s Gods and Monsters and 2001’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, but has yet to win. Don’t cry for him, though; he’s the proud recipient of six Olivier awards (including a special award in 2020), a Tony, and a Golden Globe.
Carey Mulligan
Mulligan has earned three Oscar nominations over the course of her career—for her turns in An Education, Promising Young Woman, and, most recently, 2023’s Maestro—but she hasn’t yet captured a statuette.
Liam Neeson
In 1994, Neeson was up for best actor for his career-defining role in the Holocaust drama Schindler’s List. When he didn’t win (that was the year Tom Hanks claimed the first of his two consecutive best-actor trophies, for Philadelphia and then Forrest Gump) many considered it a major upset.
Edward Norton
Despite four nods over four decades—for Primal Fear, American History X, Birdman, and A Complete Unknown—the actor has somehow never made it to the Oscars podium.
Guy Pearce
The star of best picture winners The Hurt Locker and The King’s Speech, not to mention Oscar nominees L.A. Confidential and Memento, Pearce celebrated his very first Oscar nomination last year, for his terrifying supporting turn in The Brutalist.
Saoirse Ronan
The 31-year-old has, remarkably, already racked up four Oscar nominations—for her moving performances in Atonement, Brooklyn, Lady Bird, and, most recently, Little Women—but no wins, as yet.
Isabella Rossellini
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Her mother, silver screen icon Ingrid Bergman, scooped three acting Oscars (for Gaslight, Anastasia, and Murder on the Orient Express) and her father, the legendary director Roberto Rossellini, was nominated for co-writing Paisan, but Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini had never been recognized by the Academy until last year, when she earned a best-supporting-actress nod for her performance in Conclave.
Stanley Tucci
Despite memorable roles in films like Julie & Julia and Big Night (which he co-directed with Campbell Scott), Tucci has only been nominated once, for The Lovely Bones, walking away from the 2010 Oscars empty-handed. (Well, all the better to cook and eat his way across Italy.) The same role also earned Tucci a BAFTA and Golden Globes nomination.
Sigourney Weaver
Weaver has three Oscar nominations to her name for her roles in Aliens, Working Girl, and Gorillas in the Mist. Securing both of the latter in 1989, she became only the fifth actor ever to receive two acting nominations in the same year—but as of now, she still has no wins.
Michelle Williams
Nominated five times—for 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, 2010’s Blue Valentine, 2011’s My Week with Marilyn, 2016’s Manchester by the Sea, and 2022’s The Fabelmans—Williams hasn’t yet won an Oscar, although that day feels inevitable.