10 Phenomenally Talented Actors Who Have Never Won Oscars

5. John C. Reilly

When John C. Reilly first made a name in Hollywood, he was commonly regarded as the next Gene Hackman. Appearing in dramas throughout the early 90's, his first leading role was as John in PT Anderson's debut film Hard Eight. Throughout the 90's, Reilly found steady work as a go-to character actor, breaking out mostly in PT Anderson's other two films of the decade: Boogie Nights and Magnolia. After turns in The Perfect Storm of Mike White's underrated The Good Girl, Reilly began a working relationship with Academy favorite Martin Scorsese. His first Scorsese film was Gangs of New York in 2002, but it was his role in Chicago that same year that earned him his only Oscar nomination ever. After appearing in Scorsese's The Aviator and Robert Altman's final film A Prairie Home Companion, Reilly's career took an odd left turn. In 2006, Reilly appeared in Talladega Nights, sparking a long working relationship with the Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Judd Apatow camp. But this shift really isn't as odd as it seems at first glance. Reilly had always been a master-improviser, even in his dramatic roles. His character in Magnolia was created based almost entirely on improvisational experiments in which Reilly dressed up like a cop and was filmed by PT Anderson interacting with his environment and the people around him. A lot of the dialogue in the film came from these videos, and you can bet some of the other dialogue was improvised on set. Still, Reilly's comedic work is hardly "Oscar Bait." But between his brilliant work on Tim and Eric or his performance as Dewey Cox (in which he performs all the songs, even writing a few), he's still doing incredible, dramatic work. In 2011, he appeared opposite Tilda Swinton in the dark thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin. But the role to see, in which Reilly's performance provides a surprising amount of warmth, is the film Cyrus. In it, Reilly plays opposite Academy Award Winner Maris Tomei in a love triangle between her and her overly-attached adult son.