The Academy Awards are set to take place on Sunday night, and the ceremony will see Hollywood’s best and brightest gather to celebrate the most brilliant performances of 2021. While there are plenty of familiar faces who have been nominated for a second time (good luck, Andrew Garfield and Olivia Colman), who has won the most Oscars over the years, and received the most nominations? We have broken it down here…
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Unsurprisingly, Meryl Streep tops the list having been nominated an incredible total of 21 times, 17 times for Best Actress, and four for Best Supporting Actress. She has taken home the accolade three times for her work in Kramer vs Kramer, The Iron Lady and Sophie’s Choice.
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The late great Katharine Hepburn is next up with 12 nominations over her career, all for Best Actress, and four wins for Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, On Golden Pond and The Lion in Winter.
While we all like to associate Leonardo DiCaprio with countless Oscar nominations, it is actually Jack Nicholson who is the most nominated male actor ever, with 12 nominations and three wins for As Good as it Gets, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Terms of Endearment. Meanwhile, Leo has been nominated six times, and eventually won for The Revenant.
Leonardo won in 2016
Bette Davis and Laurence Olivier also received ten nominations apiece, with Bette winning two for Dangerous and Jezebel, while Laurence received one Oscar for Hamlet in 1948.
Denzel Washington is also up there with the kings of Oscar nominations with a very impressive nine nominations and two wins, while Al Pacino is just behind him with nine nominations and one win. Surprisingly, the late Marlon Brando only won two Oscars during his incredible career for On the Waterfront and The Godfather.
Denzel won for Glory and Training Day
Dame Judi Dench has an impressive history at the Oscars, with eight nominations and one win for Shakespeare in Love, but, of course, there are also plenty of stars who have received several nominations but never taken home the accolade - yet!
Judi has been nominated eight times
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Glenn Close is the most notable star in this category, having been nominated eight times without a win. The late Peter O’Toole similarly was nominated for eight Oscars without ever taking one home. Amy Adams has similarly been nominated six times without a win.
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