10 Actors We Still Can't Believe Are Oscar Nominees

8. Kate Hudson (Almost Famous)

In the case of Kate Hudson, this totally goes the other way, as she shot to fame with an Academy Award nomination early in her career, yet most of her output since has made it very easy to forget that. Her coming-out party was in Cameron Crowe's brilliant comedy Almost Famous, with Hudson turning many heads as the eccentric Penny Lane, earning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination at the mere age of 21. When we look at Jennifer Lawrence's current level of awards success, it's easy to see the path that Hudson's career could (and should) have taken, but instead, she had other ideas. A slew of cack-handed romantic comedies followed, and it quickly turned Hudson into a figure of ridicule in Hollywood, as she didn't seem to want to put much effort in to discover a meaty prestige role, instead opting for the easy paycheques. Looking back 14 years, it's hard to believe where her career started out, and the pit it's ended up in today.