What actor or actress won an Oscar for their performance, but they didn’t really deserve the win?
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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I always feel bad when an actor delivers an outstanding performance but loses out on an award because they were up against a truly groundbreaking one. In any other year, their work might have been recognized with a win, but they happened to be nominated alongside another exceptional achievement. I watched The Town and thought Jeremy Renner was absolutely incredible. Maybe his best work. Unfortunately, the other nominee was Christian Bale in The Fighter. Almost any other year, Renner wins.
Gwyneth Paltrow – Shakespeare in Love
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
I know there was a lot of competition that year, but I always felt that Val Kilmer In Tombstone as Doc Holliday deserved more serious consideration.
I was really shocked when I found out Sandra won best actress, her acting in that movie was very standard, just a nice strong woman.
Blind Side was like a feel good movie…until I read about the true story. Awful.
Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare In Love. She could have been replaced by literally any other actress between the ages of 15 and 40 and it wouldn’t have changed the movie except to make it better.
I adore Cher and she’s a great actress, but Glenn Close should have won for Fatal Attraction. She knocked it out of the park in that role and should have won best actress that year.
Gwyneth Paltrow. Purchased for her by Harvey Weinstein in return for non-financial consideration.
Sean Penn for”Milk.” That award belonged to Mickey Rourke for “The Wrestler.”
Whoever won over DiCaprio when he was in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Will Smith.
The biggest travesty of all time: Tommy Lee Jones winning for The Fugitive over Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List. WTAF?? I couldn’t bring myself to watch the rest of the show.
Tommy Lee jones didn’t deserve an Oscar for the fugitive. Great film and deserved praise, but Tommy is a good actor and gave his normal level of performance in that film. Leo deserved far more for what’s eating Gilbert grape especially the scene where he finds his mom dead.
Leo in the Revenant. The film hardly showcases his range of talent. He literally just crawls around the whole time.
Leo in The Revenant. They were desperate to give it to him. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape or Django were actual Oscar worthy performances by him
Gwyneth Paltrow. *Shakespeare in Love*.
Should have gone to Cate Blanchett for *Elizabeth*.
Julia Roberts
Paltrow…what a travesty.
I gave up on the Oscars when Shakespeare in love beat Saving private ryan
Judi Dench for Shakespeare in Love, she was barely in the movie!
She was brilliant in Philomena and really should have gotten the award for that.
Tommy Lee Jones for the fugitive instead of Ralph Fiennes. The Fugitive was an okay movie but it was no Schindler’s List.
Jamie Lee Curtis. I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve one but she didn’t deserve one for that particular movie.
jamie lee curtis in EEAAO, i’m sure she only won bc it was overdue. her costar in the same category, stephanie hsu, was objectively better and gave a much more impactful performance.
Whilst several people have mentioned Gwyneth Paltrow in **Shakespeare in Love**, I’d say Judi Dench’s Oscar for Supporting Actress in the same film is at least just as undeserved.
Dench is a great actress but she’s barely in **Shakespeare…** with nothing particularly memorable about the role. It feels like a combination of lifetime achievement nod in conjunction with Weinstein’s campa-igning.
That Dench has since been nominated multiple times for better films and performances – but not won – makes it even more falling that it will likely be her only Oscar.
Eddie Redmayne. He robbed Michael Keaton that year.
Unpopular opinion: I enjoyed La La Land but I didn’t really see Emma Stone’s performance as Oscar-winning material. I get that this is a hard comparison to make given her character, and the storyline, is less dramatic than the others.
Will Smith
Halle Berry.
Sorry, but she was the LEAST impressive of the leads in Monster’s Ball. Billy Bob and Peter Boyle were MUCH more impressive. And Boyle was playing a COMPLETE piece of shit.
Here are ones that were not earned for their performance, but because they were snubbed in previous years:
Paul Newman – The Color of Money
Al Pacino – Scent of a Woman
Denzel Washington – Training Day
I thought Sandra Bullock did a great job. It just turns out the person she was portraying was an awful person.
I PERSONALLY think that
A. Both Leo and Fines did better than Tommy in 93s Supporting actor category
B. Jessica Chastain did better than Jennifer Lawrence in 2013 for lead actress.
C. Sean Penn was outdone for best leading actor in 2003 by Bill Murray.
D. 0 disrespect but all the nominees did better than Jackie Palance for supporting in 92. I think he had like 9 minutes of screen time and only a few lines. That W has always confused me
Award shows are meaningless slop.
Almost every year I actually paid attention there was something like this because awards have been bought and paid for repeatedly for decades.
Julia Roberts for Erin Brokavich. I can’t believe Ellen Burstyn didn’t win that year for Requiem for a Dream. Total robbery.
Does anyone remember Rooney Mara as the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? She was robbed by whoever won that year
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook: I just cant see the oscar worthiness in that performance
I agree but I think we can all agree we still generally like Sandra Bullock.
Edward Norton was robbed. That’s all I’m gonna say.
Helen Hunt. As Good as it Gets.
Rami Malek
Like please be serious
Sorry to say because I like her, but Emma Stone in La La Land. I haven’t seen the movie she won for last year, so I can’t comment on that one, but I thought La La Land was absolutely terrible and I cannot believe she won an Oscar for that terrible movie.
I always thought Julia Roberts is Erin Brokovich was a soft Oscar. Kind of like Bullock in Blindside. The roles weren’t particular hard or complex.
Angela Bassett should’ve won for What’s Love Got to Do With It
Helen Hunt in “As Good as It Gets”. Meh.
Melanie Griffith. 1989. Working Girl.
Emma Stone in La La Land.