10 Actors Who Tried Like Hell To Win An Oscar (But Failed)

Once again, many of the key components of an Oscar win are present and correct. Take one established popular star eager to gain respectability; cast them as a noted historical icon; wait for it to rain awards gold.

Unfortunately for Will Smith and director Michael Mann, this isn't quite how things turned out on their 2001 biopic of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying, though.

Two years of preparation went into it. Smith trained in boxing and beefed up to match Ali's physique in his heavyweight prime, as well as training with a dialect coach to get down those distinctive speech patterns. He also extensively studied the tenets of Islam which so heavily informed who Ali was.

But while Smith's performance garnered plenty of praise, he ultimately had to be content with just a Best Actor nomination, losing out to Denzel Washington for Training Day.

History repeated itself in 2007, when Smith landed a nomination for The Pursuit of Happyness, but lost out to Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland.

Later, there was widespread speculation that Smith boycotted the 2016 Oscars (as part of the #OscarsSoWhite protest) because of his performance in Concussion being overlooked.