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

These actors put their everything into Oscar-baiting roles, but still didn't walk out with the gong.

Lady Gaga House Of Gucci
Universal Pictures

As spring slowly trickles into view and the last few flickers of Christmas blockbuster barminess begin to fizzle out, the sight of your favourite dramatic sensations pressing their fanciest suits and sharpening their jawlines has become more and more prevalent. That's because the glitz and glamour of awards season is well and truly upon us, folks. But you didn't have to remind the following collection of dedicated thespians of that.

These various talented performers each knew that the projects sent their way held the potential to pull in the eyes and favour of critics the world over, setting themselves up for a career-making Oscar win that could set the stage for a bold new chapter in their on-screen lives.

However, as with many parts of this unpredictable thing we call "life", sometimes things just don't work out as planned and for a whole host of reasons these actors just couldn't quite do enough to convince the Academy that it should be them walking out of the annual Oscars ceremony with the most important gong of the year.

From limp punch-ups, to fully immersed missteps, these stars went all out to win the big one but still came up short.

10. Adam Sandler - Uncut Gems

Lady Gaga House Of Gucci
Netflix

For the longest time, it felt as though the ship had thoroughly sailed on Adam Sandler ever truly embracing the dramatic route that he'd proven so adept at occupying earlier in his career.

But bucking the soul-crushing trend of putrid "comedy" the star had churned out for the majority of his recent filmmaking career, The Safdie Brothers' Uncut Gems once again provided him with the canvas to paint a morally complex and undeniably captivating character as Howard Ratner tore around New York trying to keep his life from going up in flames.

And the sheer amount of energy and commitment Sandler pumped into the role was evident in the star's appearance on The Howard Stern Show coming into the 2020 awards season, with the Happy Gilmore thespian jokingly quipping about how he'd react if he weren't to get an Oscars nod for his work:

"If I don't get it, I'm going to f***ing come back and do one again that is so bad on purpose just to make you all pay. That's how I get them."

As it goes, Sandler wasn't even acknowledged for this career-best shift at the ceremony, so you can blame the Academy for the deluge of drabness no doubt on its way.

Contributor
Contributor

Lifts rubber and metal. Watches people flip in spandex and pretends to be other individuals from time to time...