ACADEMY AWARDS - BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Walter Brennan

In many ways the most successful and familiar character actor of American sound films and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying engineering. While in school he became interested in acting and ...

1936 Come and Get It as Swan Bostrom 1938 Kentucky as Peter Goodwin 1940 The Westerner as Judge Roy Bean

also nominated

1941 Sergeant York as Pastor Rosier Pile

2. Joseph Schildkraut

Actor | The Shop Around the Corner

An imposing Austrian import-turned-matinée idol on the silent screen, Hollywood actor Joseph Schildkraut went on to conquer talking films as well -- with Oscar-winning results. Inclined towards smooth, cunning villainy, his Oscar came instead for his sympathetic portrayal of Captain Alfred Dreyfus ...

1937 The Life of Emile Zola as Capt. Alfred Dreyfus

3. Thomas Mitchell

Actor | Stagecoach

Thomas Mitchell was one of the great American character actors, whose credits read like a list of the greatest American films of the 20th century: Lost Horizon (1937); Stagecoach (1939); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); Gone with the Wind (1939); It's a ...

1939 Stagecoach as Dr. Josiah Boone

also nominated

1937 The Hurricane as Dr. Kersaint

4. Donald Crisp

Actor | How Green Was My Valley

White-haired London-born character actor, a familiar face in Hollywood for more than five decades. He was born George William Crisp, the youngest of ten siblings, to working class parents James Crisp and his wife Elizabeth (nee Christy). Despite his humble beginnings, Donald was educated at Oxford ...

1941 How Green Was My Valley as Gwilym Morgan

5. Van Heflin

Actor | Shane

Craggy-faced, dependable star character actor Van Heflin never quite made the Hollywood "A" list, but made up for what he lacked in appearance with hard work, charisma and solid acting performances. He was born Emmett Evan Heflin in Oklahoma in December 1908, the son of Fanny Bleecker (Shippey) and...

1942 Johnny Eager as Jeff Hartnett

6. Charles Coburn

Actor | The More the Merrier

A cigar-smoking, monocled, swag-bellied character actor known for his Old South manners and charm. In 1918 he and his first wife formed the Coburn Players and appeared on Broadway in many plays. With her death in 1937, he accepted a Hollywood contract and began making films at the age of sixty.

1943 The More the Merrier as Benjamin Dingle

also nominated

1941: The Devil and Miss Jones as John P Merrick 1946: The Green Years as Alexander Gow

7. Barry Fitzgerald

Actor | The Quiet Man

One of Hollywood's finest character actors and most accomplished scene stealers, Barry Fitzgerald was born William Joseph Shields in 1888 in Dublin, Ireland. Educated to enter the banking business, the diminutive Irishman with the irresistible brogue was bitten by the acting bug in the 1920s and ...

1944 Going My Way as Father Fitzgibbon

also nominated

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

1944 Going My Way as Father Fitzgibbon (He was the only actor nominated in both Leading and Supporting categories for the same role. The rules were changed after this to stop it from occurring again).

8. James Dunn

Actor | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

James Dunn worked on the stage, in vaudeville and as an extra in silent movies before he was signed by Fox in 1931. His first movie with Fox was 1931's Sob Sister (1931). While at Fox, he appeared with Shirley Temple in her first three features: Baby, Take a Bow (1934), Stand Up and Cheer! (1934) ...

1945 A Tree Grows In Brooklyn as Johnny Nolan

9. Harold Russell

Actor | The Best Years of Our Lives

Harold John Russell was born in Nova Scotia in 1914. His family moved to Cambridge Massachusetts when his father died in 1919. He was training paratroopers at Camp MacKall NC on June 6, 1944 when some TNT he was using exploded in his hands. He lost both hands. After receiving hooks, and training on...

1946 The Best Years of Our Lives as Homer Parrish

also won

Honorary Award

‘For bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives’.

10. Edmund Gwenn

Actor | Miracle on 34th Street

There are very few character actors from the 1930s, '40s or '50s who rose to the rank of stardom. Only a rare man or woman reached the level of renown and admiration, and had enough audience appeal, to be the first name in a cast's billing, a name that got marquee posting. Charles Coburn comes to ...

1947 Miracle on 34th Street as Kris Kringle

also nominated

1950: Mister 880 as William ‘Skipper’ Miller

11. Walter Huston

Actor | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

For many years Walter Huston had two passions: his career as an engineer and his vocation for the stage. In 1909 he dedicated himself to the theatre, and made his debut on Broadway in 1924. In 1929 he journeyed to Hollywood, where his talent and ability made him one of the most respected actors in ...

1948 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as Howard

also nominated

1941: All That Money Can Buy as Mr. Scratch 1942: Yankee Doodle Dandy as Jerry Cohan

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1936: Dodsworth as Sam Dodsworth

12. Dean Jagger

Actor | White Christmas

Dean Jagger was born in Lima, Ohio, on November 7, 1903. He dropped out of high school twice before finally graduating from Wabash College. Working first as a school teacher, he soon became interested in acting and enrolled at Chicago's "Lyceum Art Conservatory". Mr. Jagger made his first movie and...

1949 Twelve O'Clock High as Major Harvey Stovall

13. George Sanders

Actor | All About Eve

George Sanders was born of English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia. He worked in a Birmingham textile mill, in the tobacco business and as a writer in advertising. He entered show business in London as a chorus boy, going from there to cabaret, radio and theatrical understudy. His film debut, in ...

1950 All About Eve as Addison De Witt

14. Karl Malden

Actor | A Streetcar Named Desire

Born to a Czech mother and a Serbian father in Chicago as Mladen Sekulovich, on March 22, 1912, Karl Malden did not speak English until he was in kindergarten. After graduating from high school in the nearby steel town of Gary, Indiana, Malden worked in the industry for three years until 1934, when...

1951 A Streetcar Named Desire as 'Mitch'

also nominated

1954: On the Waterfront as Father Barry

15. Anthony Quinn

Actor | Alexis Zorbas

Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (some sources indicate Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca) on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Manuela (Oaxaca) and Francisco Quinn, who became an assistant cameraman at a Los Angeles (CA) film studio. His paternal grandfather was Irish, ...

1952 Viva Zapata! as Eufemio Zapata 1956 Lust for Life as Paul Gauguin

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1957: Wild is the Wind as Gino 1964: Zorba the Greek as Alexis Zorba

16. Frank Sinatra

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. ...

1953 From Here to Eternity as Pvt. Angelo Maggio

also nominated

Best Actor in a Leading Role

1955: The Man with the Golden Arm as Frankie Machine

also won

1945: Honorary Award: The House I Live In (with Lewis Allan, Melvyn LeRoy, Albert Maltz, Earl Robinson, Frank Ross)

1971: Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

17. Edmond O'Brien

Actor | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Oscar-winner Edmond O'Brien was one of the most respected character actors in American cinema, from his heyday of the mid-1940s through the late 1960s. Born on September 10, 1915, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, O'Brien learned the craft of performance as a magician, reportedly tutored by...

1954 The Barefoot Contessa as Oscar Muldoon

also nominated

1964: Seven Days in May as Sen. Raymond Clark

18. Jack Lemmon

Actor | The Apartment

Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...

1955 Mister Roberts as Ens. Pulver

also won

Best actor in a Leading Role

1973: Save the Tiger as Harry Stoner

also nominated

1959: Some Like it Hot as Jerry/Daphne 1960: The Apartment as C. C. Baxter 1962: Days of Wine and Roses as Joe Clay 1979: The China Syndrome as Jack Godell 1980: Tribute as Scottie Templeton 1982: Missing as Ed Horman

19. Red Buttons

Actor | Pete's Dragon

Although Red Buttons is best known as a stand-up comic, he is also a successful songwriter, an Academy Award-winning actor (and has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards) and an accomplished singer. Born Aaron Chwatt in New York City's Lower East Side, Buttons (who got his name from a uniform ...

1957 Sayonara as Airman Joe Kelly

20. Burl Ives

Actor | The Big Country

Burl Ives was one of six children born to a farming family in Hunt City, Jasper, Illinois, the son of Cordellia "Dellie" (White) and Levi Franklin Ives. He first sang in public for a soldiers' reunion when he was age 4. In high school, he learned the banjo and played fullback, intending to become a...

1958 The Big Country as Rufus Hannassey

21. Hugh Griffith

Actor | Ben-Hur

Enjoyably larger-than-life character actor Hugh Emrys Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, North Wales, to Mary (Williams) and William Griffith. Griffith left the world of banking (having been employed as a teller) after winning a scholarship to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic ...

1959 Ben-Hur as Sheik Ilderim

also nominated

1963: Tom Jones as Squire Western

22. Peter Ustinov

Actor | Spartacus

Peter Ustinov was a two-time Academy Award-winning film actor, director, writer, journalist and raconteur. He wrote and directed many acclaimed stage plays and led numerous international theatrical productions.

He was born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinow on April 16, 1921 in Swiss Cottage, ...

1960 Spartacus as Lentulus Batiatus 1964 Topkapi as Arthur Simon Simpson

also nominated

1951: Quo Vadis as Nero

also nominated

Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen

1968: Hot Millions (with Ira Wallach)

23. George Chakiris

Actor | West Side Story

George Chakiris made his film debut at the age of 12 singing in the chorus of Song of Love (1947). Following his graduation from high school, he supported his night-time dancing, singing and dramatic lessons with a daytime job clerking in a Los Angeles department store. Later he started his acting/...

1961 West Side Story as Bernardo

24. Ed Begley

Actor | 12 Angry Men

Charismatic character star Edward James Begley was born in Hartford, Connecticut of Irish parents and educated at St.Patrick's school. His interest in acting first surfaced at the age of nine, when he performed amateur theatricals at the Hartford Globe Theatre. Determined to make his own way, he ...

1962 Sweet Bird of Youth as 'Boss' Finley

25. Melvyn Douglas

Actor | Being There

Two-time Oscar-winner Melvyn Douglas was one of America's finest actors, and would enjoy cinema immortality if for no other reason than his being the man who made Greta Garbo laugh in Ernst Lubitsch's classic comedy Ninotchka (1939), but he was much, much more.

Melvyn Douglas was born Melvyn Edouard...

1963 Hud as Homer Bannon 1979 Being There as Benjamin Turnbull Rand

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1970: I Never Sang for My Father as Tom Garrison

26. Martin Balsam

Actor | All the President's Men

Martin Henry Balsam was born on November 4, 1919 in the Bronx, New York City, to Lillian (Weinstein) and Albert Balsam, a manufacturer of women's sportswear. He was the first-born child. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant, and his mother was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents. ...

1965 A Thousand Clowns as Arnold Burns

27. Walter Matthau

Actor | The Odd Couple

Walter Matthau was best known for starring in many films which included Charade (1963), The Odd Couple (1968), Grumpy Old Men (1993), and Dennis the Menace (1993). He often worked with Jack Lemmon and the two were Hollywood's craziest stars.

He was born Walter Jake Matthow in New York City, New York...

1966 The Fortune Cookie as Willie Gingrich

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1971: Kotch as Joseph P. Kotcher 1975: The Sunshine Boys as Willy Clark

28. George Kennedy

Actor | Cool Hand Luke

George Harris Kennedy, Jr. was born on February 18, 1925 in New York City, to Helen (Kieselbach), a ballet dancer, and George Harris Kennedy, an orchestra leader and musician. Following high school graduation, Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 with the hope to become a fighter ...

1967 Cool Hand Luke as Dragline

29. Jack Albertson

Actor | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

A former song-and-dance man and veteran of vaudeville, burlesque and Broadway, Jack Albertson is best known to audiences as "The Man" in the TV series Chico and the Man (1974), for which he won an Emmy. In 1968 Albertson, the brother of actress Mabel Albertson, won the Oscar for Best Supporting ...

1968 The Subject Was Roses as John Cleary

30. Gig Young

Actor | They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Gig Young was born Byron Barr to parents John and Emma Barr in Minnesota, and raised in Washington, DC, where he developed a passion for theatre while appearing in high school plays. After gaining some amateur experience, he applied for and received a scholarship to the acclaimed Southern ...

1969 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as Rocky Graver

also nominated

1951: Come Fill the Cup as Boyd S. Copeland 1958: Teacher’s Pet as Dr. Hugo Pine

31. John Mills

Actor | Great Expectations

Sir John Mills, one of the most popular and beloved English actors, was born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills on February 22, 1908, at the Watts Naval Training College in North Elmham, Norfolk, England. The young Mills grew up in Felixstowe, Suffolk, where his father was a mathematics teacher and his ...

1970 Ryan's Daughter as Michael

32. Ben Johnson

Actor | The Last Picture Show

Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper ...

1971 The Last Picture Show as Sam the Lion

33. Joel Grey

Actor | Cabaret

Joel Grey's father, Mickey Katz, created "Borscht Capades" in the early 1950s. Mickey Katz was a musician -- a clarinetist and a saxophone player -- in bands around the east. Mickey was performing, playing in a band in Cleveland, Ohio, which is where Joel Grey was born. Musician and bandleader ...

1972 Cabaret as Master of Ceremonies

34. John Houseman

Actor | The Paper Chase

Academy Award-winning actor John Houseman's main contribution to American culture was not his own performances on film but rather, his role as a midwife to one of the greatest actor-directors-cinematic geniuses his adopted country ever produced (Orson Welles) and as a midwife to a whole generation ...

1973 The Paper Chase as Charles W. Kingsfield Jr.

also nominated

Best Picture

1953: Julius Caesar

35. Robert De Niro

Actor | Cape Fear

One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...

1974 The Godfather Part II as Vito Corleone

also nominated

2012 Silver Linings Playbook as Pat Sr.

also won

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

1980 Raging Bull as Jake LaMotta

also nominated

1976 Taxi Driver as Travis Bickle 1978 The Deer Hunter as Michael Vronsky 1990 Awakenings as Leonard Lowe 1991 Cape Fear as Max Cady

also nominated

Best Motion Picture of the Year

2019: The Irishman (with Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Jane Rosenthal, Martin Scorsese)

36. George Burns

Actor | Oh, God!

George Burns was an American actor, comedian, singer, and published author. He formed a comedy duo with his wife Gracie Allen (1895-1964), and typically played the straight man to her zany roles. Following her death, Burns started appearing as a solo performer. He once won an Academy Award for Best...

1975 The Sunshine Boys as Al Lewis

37. Jason Robards

Actor | All the President's Men

Powerful and highly respected American actor Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Hope Maxine (Glanville) and stage and film star Jason Robards Sr. He had Swedish, English, Welsh, German, and Irish ancestry. Robards was raised mostly in Los Angeles. A star athlete at ...

1976 All the President's Men as Ben Bradlee 1977 Julia as Dashiell Hammett

also nominated

1980: Melvin and Howard as Howard Hughes

38. Christopher Walken

Actor | The Deer Hunter

Lead and supporting actor of the American stage and films, with sandy colored hair, and pale complexion. He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Deer Hunter (1978), and has been seen in mostly character roles, often portraying psychologically unstable individuals, though...

1978 The Deer Hunter as 'Nick' Chevotarevich

also nominated

2002: Catch Me If You Can as Frank Abagnale

39. Timothy Hutton

Actor | Ordinary People

Timothy Hutton was born in Malibu, California, one of three children born to Maryline (Poole), a teacher, and actor Jim Hutton (Dana James Hutton). He burst onto the acting scene in the late 1970s. After only a few significant roles in TV movies, he bagged the part of Conrad in the Robert Redford-...

1980 Ordinary People as Conrad Jarrett

40. John Gielgud

Actor | Arthur

Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other ...

1981 Arthur as Hobson

41. Louis Gossett Jr.

Actor | An Officer and a Gentleman

Louis Gossett Jr. was one of the most respected and beloved actors on stage, screen and television and was also an accomplished writer, producer and director. Off-screen, he was a social activist, educator, and author dedicated to enriching the lives of others. He was the first African-American to ...

1982 An Officer and a Gentleman as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley

42. Jack Nicholson

Actor | Chinatown

Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...

1983 Terms of Endearment as Garrett Breedlove

also nominated

1969: Easy Rider as George Hanson 1981: Reds as Eugene O’Neill 1992: A Few Good Men as Col. Nathan R. Jessep

also won

Best actor in a Leading Role

1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as R. P. McMurphy 1997: As Good as It Gets as Melvin Udall

also nominated

1970: Five Easy Pieces as Robert Eroica Dupea 1973: The Last Detail as Buddusky 1974: Chinatown as J. J. Gittes 1985: Prizzi’s Honor as Charley Partanna 1987: Ironweed as Francis Phelan 2002: About Schmidt as Warren Schmidt

43. Haing S. Ngor

Actor | The Killing Fields

Haing S. Ngor was a native of Cambodia. Before the war, he was a physician & medical officer in the Cambodian army. He became a captive of the Khmer Rouge. He was imprisoned & tortured. In order to escape execution, he denied being a doctor or having an education. He moved to the U.S. as a refugee ...

1984 The Killing Fields as Dith Pran

44. Don Ameche

Actor | Cocoon

Don Ameche was a versatile and popular American film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the dapper, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film ...

1985 Cocoon as Arthur Selwyn

45. Michael Caine

Actor | The Dark Knight

Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...

1986 Hannah and Her Sisters as Elliot 1999 The Cider House Rules as Dr. Wilbur Larch

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1966: Alfie as Alfie 1972: Sleuth as Milo Tindle 1983: Educating Rita as Dr. Frank Bryant 2002: The Quiet American as Thomas Fowler

46. Sean Connery

Actor | The Rock

The tall, handsome and muscular Scottish actor Sean Connery is best known as the original actor to portray James Bond in the hugely successful movie franchise, starring in seven films between 1962 and 1983. Some believed that such a career-defining role might leave him unable to escape it, but he ...

1987 The Untouchables as Jim Malone

47. Kevin Kline

Actor | Wild Wild West

Kevin Kline was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Margaret and Robert Joseph Kline, who owned several stores. His father was of German Jewish descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. After attending Indiana University in Bloomington, Kline studied at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, ...

1988 A Fish Called Wanda as Otto West

48. Denzel Washington

Actor | Fences

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...

1989 Glory as Pvt. Silas Trip

also nominated

1987 Cry Freedom as Steve Biko

also won

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

2001 Training Day as Det. Alonzo Harris

also nominated

1992 Malcolm X as Malcolm X 1999 The Hurricane as Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter 2012 Flight as Whip Whitaker 2016: Fences as Troy Maxson 2017: Roman J. Israel, Esq. as Roman J. Israel, Esq. 2021: The Tragedy of Macbeth as Macbeth

also nominated

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Fences (with Todd Black, Scott Rudin)

49. Joe Pesci

Actor | Goodfellas

Compact Italian-American actor Joe Pesci was born February 9, 1943 in Newark, New Jersey, to Mary (Mesce), a part-time barber, and Angelo Pesci, a bartender and forklift driver. Pesci first broke into entertainment as a child actor, and by the mid-1950s, was starring on the series "Star Time Kids"....

1990 Goodfellas as Tommy DeVito

also nominated

1980: Raging Bull as Joey 2019: The Irishman as Russell Bufalino

50. Jack Palance

Actor | City Slickers

Jack Palance quite often exemplified evil incarnate on film, portraying some of the most intensely feral villains witnessed in 1950s westerns and melodrama. Enhanced by his tall, powerful build, icy voice, and piercing eyes, he earned two "Best Supporting Actor" nominations early in his career. It ...

1991 City Slickers as Curly Washburn

also nominated

1952: Sudden Fear as Lester Blaine 1953: Shane as Jack Wilson

51. Gene Hackman

Actor | The French Connection

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Anna Lyda Elizabeth (Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman, who operated a newspaper printing press. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. After ...

1992 Unforgiven as Little Bill Daggett

also nominated

1967: Bonnie and Clyde as Buck Barrow 1970: I Never Sang for My Father as Gene Garrison

also won

Best actor in a Leading Role

1971: The French Connection as Jimmy Doyle

also nominated

1988: Mississippi Burning as Anderson

52. Tommy Lee Jones

Actor | The Fugitive

Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school ...

1993 The Fugitive as Marshall Samuel Gerard

also nominated

1991 JFK as Clay Shaw 2012 Lincoln as Thaddeus Stevens

also nominated

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

2007 In the Valley of Elah as Hank Deerfield

53. Martin Landau

Actor | Ed Wood

Oscar-winning character actor Martin Landau was born on June 20, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York. At age 17, he was hired by the New York Daily News to work in the promotions department before he became a staff cartoonist and illustrator. In his five years on the paper, he served as the illustrator for ...

1994 Ed Wood as Béla Lugosi

also nominated

1988: Tucker: The Man and His Dream as Abe 1989: Crimes and Misdemeanours as Judah Rosenthal

54. Kevin Spacey

Actor | The Usual Suspects

Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in...

1995 The Usual Suspects as Roger 'Verbal' Kint

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1999: American Beauty as Lester Burnham

55. Cuba Gooding Jr.

Actor | Jerry Maguire

Cuba Gooding Jr. was born on January 2, 1968, in The Bronx, New York. His mother, Shirley (Sullivan), was a backup singer for The Sweethearts. His father, Cuba Gooding, was the lead vocalist for the R&B group The Main Ingredient, which had a hit with the song "Everybody Plays The Fool". His ...

1996 Jerry Maguire as Rod Tidwell

56. Robin Williams

Actor | Mrs. Doubtfire

Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford ...

1997 Good Will Hunting as Sean Maguire

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1987: Good Morning, Vietnam as Adrian Cronauer 1989: Dead Poets Society as John Keating 1991: The Fisher King as Parry

57. James Coburn

Actor | The Great Escape

Lanky, charismatic and versatile actor with an amazing grin that put everyone at ease, James Coburn studied acting at UCLA, and then moved to New York to study under noted acting coach Stella Adler. After being noticed in several stage productions, Coburn appeared in a handful of minor westerns ...

1998 Affliction as Glen Whitehouse

58. Benicio Del Toro

Actor | Sicario

Benicio Del Toro emerged in the mid-1990s as one of the most watchable and charismatic character actors to come along in years. A favorite of film buffs, Del Toro gained mainstream public attention as the conflicted but basically honest Mexican policeman in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000).

...

2000 Traffic as Javier Rodríguez

also nominated

2003: 21 Grams as Jack Jordan

59. Jim Broadbent

Actor | Moulin Rouge!

One of England's most versatile character actors, Jim Broadbent was born on May 24, 1949, in Lincolnshire, the youngest son of furniture maker Roy Laverick Broadbent and sculptress Doreen "Dee" (Findlay) Broadbent. Jim attended a Quaker boarding school in Reading before successfully applying for a ...

2001 Iris as John Bayley

60. Chris Cooper

Actor | Adaptation.

Christopher Walton Cooper was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Mary Ann (Walton), a homemaker, and Charles Sherwood Cooper, a cattleman and internist who served as a doctor in the US Air Force. His parents were from Texas, where Cooper was raised.

Educated at the University of Missouri school of ...

2002 Adaptation. as John Laroche

61. Tim Robbins

Actor | Mystic River

Born in West Covina, California, but raised in New York City, Tim Robbins is the son of former The Highwaymen singer Gil Robbins and actress Mary Robbins (née Bledsoe). Robbins studied drama at UCLA, where he graduated with honors in 1981. That same year, he formed the Actors' Gang theater group, ...

2003 Mystic River as Dave Boyle

also nominated

Best Director

1995: Dead Man Walking

62. Morgan Freeman

Actor | Driving Miss Daisy

With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. The young Freeman...

2004 Million Dollar Baby as Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris

also nominated

1987: Street Smart as Fast Black

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

1989: Driving Miss Daisy as Hoke Colburn 1994: The Shawshank Redemption as Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding 2009: Invictus as Nelson Mandela

63. George Clooney

Actor | The Ides of March

George Timothy Clooney was born on May 6, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Nina Bruce (née Warren), a former beauty pageant queen, and Nick Clooney, a former anchorman and television host (who was also the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney). He has Irish, English, and German ancestry. Clooney ...

2005 Syriana as Bob Barnes

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

2007: Michael Clayton as Michael Clayton 2009: Up in the Air as Ryan Bingham 2011: The Descendants as Matt King

also won

Best Motion Picture of the Year

2012: Argo (with Ben Affleck, Grant Heslov)

also nominated

Best Writing - Original Screenplay

2005: Good Night, and Good Luck (with Grant Heslov) 2011: The Ides of March (with Grant Heslov, Beau Williamson)

also nominated

Best Director

2005: Good Night, and Good Luck

64. Alan Arkin

Actor | Argo

Alan Arkin was an Academy Award-winning American actor who was also an acclaimed director, producer, author, singer and composer.

He was born Alan Wolf Arkin on March 26, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. His family were Jewish emigrants from Russia and Germany. In 1946, the Arkins moved from Brooklyn to...

2006 Little Miss Sunshine as Edwin Hoover

also nominated

2012 Argo as Lester Siegel

also nominated

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

1966 The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming as Lt. Rozanov 1968 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter as John Singer

65. Javier Bardem

Actor | Skyfall

Javier Bardem belongs to a family of actors that have been working on films since the early days of Spanish cinema.

He was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, to actress Pilar Bardem (María del Pilar Bardem Muñoz) and businessman José Carlos Encinas Doussinague. His maternal grandparents were...

2007 No Country for Old Men as Anton Chigurh

also nominated

Best actor in a Leading Role

2000: Before Night Falls as Reinaldo Arenas 2010: Biutiful as U bal 2021: Being the Ricardos as Desi Arnaz

66. Heath Ledger

Actor | Brokeback Mountain

When hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a "pretty boy" and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword. His work comprised ...

2008 The Dark Knight as The Joker

67. Christoph Waltz

Actor | Django Unchained

Christoph Waltz is an Austrian-German actor. He is known for his work with American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, receiving acclaim for portraying SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009) and bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained (2012). For each performance, he won...

2009 Inglourious Basterds as Col. Hans Landa 2012 Django Unchained as Dr. King Schultz

68. Christian Bale

Actor | The Dark Knight

Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to English parents Jennifer "Jenny" (James) and David Bale. His mother was a circus performer and his father, who was born in South Africa, was a commercial pilot. The family lived in different countries ...

2010 The Fighter as Dicky Eklund

also nominated

2015: The Big Short as Michael Burry

also nominated

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

2013 American Hustle as Irving Rosenfeld 2018: Vice as Dick Cheney

69. Christopher Plummer

Actor | Beginners

Legendary actor Christopher Plummer, perhaps Canada's greatest thespian, delivered outstanding performances as Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), the iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999), the empathetic psychiatrist in A ...

2011 Beginners as Hal Fields

also nominated

2009 The Last Station as Leo Tolstoy

70. Jared Leto

Actor | Dallas Buyers Club

Jared Leto is a very familiar face in recent film history. Although he has always been the lead vocals, rhythm guitar, and songwriter for American band Thirty Seconds to Mars, Leto is an accomplished actor merited by the numerous, challenging projects he has taken in his life. He is known to be ...

2013 Dallas Buyers Club as Rayon

71. J.K. Simmons

Actor | Whiplash

J.K. Simmons is an American actor.

He was born Jonathan Kimble Simmons in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to Patricia (Kimble), an administrator, and Donald William Simmons, a music teacher. He attended the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; University of Montana, Missoula, MT (BA in Music).

He had ...

2014 Whiplash as Terence Fletcher

also nominated

2021: Being the Ricardos as William Frawley

72. Mark Rylance

Actor | Bridge of Spies

Mark Rylance was born in Ashford, Kent, the son of Anne (née Skinner) and David Waters, both English teachers. His grandmother was Irish. His parents moved to Connecticut in 1962 and Wisconsin in 1969, where his father taught English at the University School of Milwaukee. Rylance attended this ...

2015 Bridge of Spies as Rudolf Abel

73. Mahershala Ali

Actor | Leave the World Behind

Mahershala Ali is fast becoming one of the freshest and most in-demand faces in Hollywood with his extraordinarily diverse skill set and wide-ranging background in film, television, and theater.

He can be seen in the independent feature film, Moonlight, as well as reprising his role in The Hunger ...

2016 Moonlight as Juan

also won

2018 Green Book as Dr. Don Shirley

74. Sam Rockwell

Actor | Moon

Sam Rockwell was born on November 5, 1968, in San Mateo, California, the only child of two actors, Pete Rockwell and Penny Hess. The family moved to New York when he was two years old, living first in the Bronx and later in Manhattan. When Sam was five years old, his parents separated, at which ...

2017: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as Dixon

also nominated

2018: Vice as George W. Bush

75. Brad Pitt

Actor | Fight Club

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri to Jane Etta Pitt (née Hillhouse), a school counselor & William Alvin "Bill" Pitt, a truck company manager. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student ...

2019: Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood as Cliff Booth

Also nominated

1995: Twelve Monkeys as Jeffrey Goines

Also nominated

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

2008: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Benjamin Button 2011: Moneyball as Billy Beane

also won

Best Motion Picture of the Year

2013: 12 Years a Slave (with Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen)

also nominated

2011: Moneyball (with Michael De Luca, Rachael Horowitz) 2015: The Big Short (with Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner)

76. Daniel Kaluuya

Actor | Get Out

Daniel Kaluuya is a British actor and writer. He is best known for Get Out (2017), Black Panther (2018) and for portraying Fred Hampton in Judas & The Black Messiah (2021).

He had a supporting role in Sicario (2015).

He also starred in the Black Mirror episode "Fifteen Million Merits".

For his work in...

2020: Judas and the Black Messiah as Fred Hampton

Also nominated

Best Performance by an actor in a Leading Role

2017: Get Out as Chris Washington

77. Troy Kotsur

Actor | CODA

Troy Kotsur has been acting and directing for over 20 years. Deaf since birth, he was raised in Mesa, AZ. In his career he has had critically acclaimed performances in major films, a lead role in the Broadway run of a Tony Award-winning play, and numerous memorable roles on Television.

Troy has ...

2021: CODA as Frank Rossi

78. Ke Huy Quan

Actor | Everything Everywhere All at Once

Ke Huy Quan, also known as Jonathan Ke Quan, is a Vietnamese-born Chinese-American actor and stunt choreographer. Quan played Short Round in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) and Data in "The Goonies" (1985). In 1990 and 1991, he co-starred as Jasper Kwong in the sitcom "Head of the ...

2022: Everything Everywhere All at.Once as Waymond Wang

79. Robert Downey Jr.

Actor | Iron Man

Robert Downey Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. With an amazing list of credits to his name, he has managed to stay new and fresh even after over four decades in the business.

Downey was born April 4, 1965 in Manhattan, New York, the son of writer, director and ...

2023: Oppenheimer

Also nominated

2008: Tropic Thunder

Also nominated

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

1992: Chaplin as Charles Chaplin