12 Actors Who Won Oscars For Completely The Wrong Role

Won For... Ghost

Should Have Won For... The Colour Purple

Some more cynical Oscar commenters might suggest that Whoopi Goldberg did win an Oscar for The Colour Purple, but that it just took 5 years for it to happen and a second great performance in Ghost to give the Academy their opportunity to right a wrong.

Ghost is a good film (it's never quite great despite its iconic moments), and Goldberg is very good as the frazzled, charlatan medium who unwittingly ends up in the midst of its romantic central plot, but it's barely Oscar worthy. She's funny as Oda Mae Brown, certainly, and her hysteria is infectious, but there's little intimacy or intricacy to the performance.

In stark contrast, her work in The Colour Purple, which earned her a nomination, is a masterclass. She's spectacular, offering a poignant portrait of Celie Johnson that is captivating and inspiring and absolutely deserves more recognition than Ghost ever did. And to think it was her debut acting role is just jaw-dropping.