10 Incredibly Talented Actors Who Will Never Win An Oscar

5. Robert Downey Jr

To be fair, this one could go either way. On the one hand, Hollywood loves a good redemption narrative, which Robert Downey Jr has in spades. To have been a young star with so much talent, then end up in jail on drug charges, and somehow manage to fight his way back to respectability as an actor...that's a truly remarkable story. But at the same time, it sort of feels like if they didn't throw awards at him when he was actively doing prestige films, like when he basically embodied the spirit of Charlie Chaplin back in the early 90s, it doesn't seem likely that they'll suddenly start handing them out while he's doing superhero movies and Sherlock Holmes. No disrespect to either of those franchises, but they're exactly the sort of films that the Academy frequently turns their noses up at. Frankly, it's astonishing that he was given a nomination for his work in Tropic Thunder. Maybe that's as far as the Academy's good will towards Mr Downey will extend, and he'll just have to be satisfied with a Lifetime Achievement Award twenty years or so down the line.