8 Doctor Who Stars With Oscar Gold
Oscar Who?
Andrew Garfield missed out on both the Best Actor and Fan Favorite Oscars this weekend at the 2022 Academy Awards, but he's not the first Doctor Who actor to be nominated for an Oscar.
John Hurt lost out on a Best Actor Award for his astonishing role as John Merrick in David Lynch's The Elephant Man, with Robert De Niro nabbing that 1981 gong for his turn as Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull. Of course, this is a far more acceptable loss than Spider-Man: No Way Home losing out to Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead!
Meanwhile, Benedict Cumberbatch (who's never been in TV Doctor Who, but did a Big Finish audio production) lost a Best Actor Oscar to Will Smith, despite Smith leaving fresh prints on the face of Chris Rock.
Not every Doctor Who actor nominated has lost out on Oscar gold, however. 2022's Oscars were the latest to celebrate the work of a former Doctor Who actor, but they're not the only one who's been awarded in the history of both Doctor Who and the Academy Awards.
8. Emilia Jones
Emilia Jones played Ruby, the titular Child of Deaf Adults in 2022's Best Picture winner CODA. Her role in the film won her a number of accolades in the run-up to the Academy Awards, including Breakthrough Performer at the Gotham Independent Film Awards and was nominated for a Lead Actress BAFTA.
Despite roles in the Horrible Histories movie, Wolf Hall, and Utopia she's probably best known to Doctor Who fans as Merry Gejelh in the series 7 episode The Rings of Akhaten. Much like CODA's story of a hearing child of deaf adults seeking a career in music, Jones was able to showcase her singing talents on Doctor Who. Even if CODA skimps on the ancient Gods and sentient suns.
Merry Gejelh, the Queen of Years, is chosen to sing her song to soothe the Old God. The Long Song's lullaby was sung by Jones herself, the daughter of the Walking in the Air singer Aled Jones. Recently, the Doctor Who Lockdown Choir put together a fan version of the song for distribution on YouTube. Despite this, it's not the best-loved of series 7 stories, so Emilia Jones has clearly on to bigger and better things with CODA.