From Barbra Streisand to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’: A (Brief) History of Ties at the Oscars


The Oscars aren’t immune from unplanned strangeness (after all, who can forget 2017’s Moonlight vs. La La Land best-picture mix-up and all the inimitable celebrity reactions it spawned?), but sometimes, the shocker is coming from inside the Academy.

There have been a whopping seven ties over the Oscars’ nearly 100-year history, with the latest taking place on Sunday night, when Sam Davis’s The Singers and Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata’s Two People Exchanging Saliva both won in the best live actions Short category at the 2026 Oscars.

Here—for the Hollywood trivia fans out there—we’ve rounded up the rest of the Oscars’ shocking ties. Revisit every one below.

Fredric March and Wallace Beery for Best Actor, 1932

Image may contain Wallace Beery Fredric March Conrad Nagel Lionel Barrymore Clothing Formal Wear and Suit

Photo: Getty Images

March technically beat out Wallace by one vote, but they both took home Oscar statuettes that night (and forced the Academy to change its rules with their tandem wins).

So Much for So Little and A Chance to Live for Best Documentary Short, 1950

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