Let’s face it—the most sensational Academy Awards conversation isn’t always about the winners, but the snubs. With every Oscar season, the web goes crazy with arguments over who was robbed, who was overlooked, and who was not given their due. And while some ouchies lose their sting over the years, others have become the stuff of legend. And here’s the countdown of the 10 most infamous Oscar snubs of Hollywood history.
10. Amy Adams: Always Nominated, Never Awarded
There is a patron saint of Oscar disappointment, and that woman is Amy Adams. Six nominations. No wins. She’s brought us everything from intense drama to subtle, complex performances, and yet the gold statue eludes her. The fact that she wasn’t nominated for Arrival—the role that contained the whole movie’s emotional essence—still smarted. If anyone’s due, it’s her.
9. Samuel L. Jackson: Just One Nod But A Legend
Imagine over 100 movie credits and a career that spans decades, then think about the number of trophies you think Samuel L. Jackson must have. It’s only on, though, he has only been nominated once—Pulp Fiction. Although he got a lifetime Oscar in 2022, thadoesn’tnt erase the fact that the world-famous Hollywood star had to be there more times and not only once to win the big prize.
8. Marilyn Monroe: Not Even in the Running
One of the most incredible things to consider is how Marilyn Monroe, one of the most famous stars of the cinema, never even got a chance in the form of a nomination. It was just like the Academy did not exist when she was doing the comedic masterpiece Some Like It Hot. Even decades later, her omission still appears to be a gross injustice.
7. Martin Sheen: No recognition for the incredible works
Badlands, Apocalypse Now, Wall Street, in all of these movies, Martin Sheen gave extraordinary performances that spanned over many years of which the Academy never recognized him, least of all with a single nomination. For an actor whose representation was the turning point of the entire history of film, it is hard to accept.
6. Glenn Close: 8 Nominations Without One Win
Glenn Close holds an unusual record: the most Oscar nominations for an actress who has never won—eight and counting. The first Glorious Performance from the beginning of the Fatal Attraction, through the gradual Dangerous Liaisons, and the masterpiece The Wife, year after year, she remains magnificent, but unfortunately, it is always someone else who takes home the trophy. The period of her rejection is already part of her mythology.
5. Spike Lee & Do the Right Thing: The Academy Played It Safe
In 1989, Spike Lee brought us Do the Right Thing, a movie that revolutionized American film. What did the Academy do? Award him a screenplay nomination but not a Best Picture nod. They awarded Driving Miss Daisy instead. History has treated Lee’s masterpiece benevolently, but the snub is one of the most egregious Oscar omissions.
4. Stanley Kubrick: Only Honored for Special Effects
He was none other than Stanley Kubrick, a genius, to gave us 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, and much more. Out of these, he won a sole award for best visual effects among his thirteen nominations. Yeah, a man who reinvented filmmaking never got an Oscar for that. What an incredible injustice of cosmic proportions!
3. Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense, Ostracized Time and Time Again
Hitchcock is responsible for some of the most influential films in history, such as Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, and still never managed to win a competitive Oscar. So, he got 5 nominations for directorial work but never won. He did get a non-competitive award, which he accepted with a dour “Thank you…very much indeed.” Of course, he considered himself denied.
2. Bradley Cooper: Always the Nominee, Never the Winner
Bradley Cooper is an extremely talented person in Los Angeles who can act, direct, write, and even sing. Twelve nominations in different categories, three of them for Maestro alone, and no wins. For a man who is always proving his worth every time he acts, it is quite brutal that he has just one Oscar on his shelf.
1. Angela Bassett: Long Overdue Recognition
Angela Bassett has been delivering powerhouse performances for decades, from What’s Love Got to Do With It to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she became the first Marvel actor to be Oscar-nominated. In 2024, she was definitely given a real Oscar for an extraordinary achievement, but that she has never gotten one in a normal competition is still one of the Academy’s biggest blinkers.
The point of Oscar snubs is not who lost them – it is who won without getting enough recognition. The Academy is not infallible, as attested to by Adams’s lack of recognition for her understated genius and Kubrick and Hitchcock’s snubs despite their brilliant vision. However, if there is one thing that can be said, it is that: The greatness of the world has never been decided by gold statues.