10 Worst Oscar Winning Actors Ever

5. Roberto Benigni

Roberto Benigni is the quintessential lightning-in-a-bottle actor, who enjoyed a fleeting period of success in an otherwise anodyne career.

The Italian actor came to prominence with his 1997 smash hit dramedy Life is Beautiful, which scooped the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and won Benigni a wildly unexpected Best Actor award, beating out an incredible slate of rivals: Edward Norton (American History X), Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters), Nick Nolte (Affliction) and Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan).

Benigni gave a not-bad performance as a father trying to protect his son from the horrors of the Holocaust in an overly sentimental film that hasn't aged well. Even as decidedly average as his work is, it's easily the best of his career.

Either side he's done very little of merit, culminating in his spectacularly misguided 2002 live-action Pinocchio movie (pictured above), which somewhat poetically won him a Worst Actor Razzie. Ouch.

Since Pinocchio, Benigni's barely done anything at all, last appearing in Woody Allen's 2012 movie that nobody remembers, To Rome with Love. He got his Oscar and the fleeting love of millions, but in the two decades since he's only reinforced how thoroughly undeserving of the award he was.