Research in Progress
Aug 3, 2025 (84 winners, including Brody)
Indicators of Screen Careers
How many actors have received only one nomination, the one for which they won the Best Actor Award?
Note:
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For the Oscar-winning actors who have received multiple nominations, what is the span of nominations, that is, the number of years between their first and last nomination?
Of the 84 Best Actor winners, only 23 (about 27 percent) have received one nomination:
List (A to Z)
Abraham, F. Murray, 1984
Arliss, George, 1930
Barrymore, Lionel, 1929
Baxter, Warner, 1928
Benigni, Roberto, 1998
Borgnine, Ernest, 1955
Brynner, Yul, 1956
Carney, Art, 1974
Crawford, Broderick, 1949
Douglas, Michael, 1987
Dujardin, Jean, 2011
Heston, Charlton, 1959
Irons, Jeremy, 1990
Jannings, Emil, 1929
Lukas, Paul, 1943
McConaughey, Matthew, 2013
Malek, Rami 2018
Marvin, Lee, 1965
Milland, Ray, 1945
Murphy, Cillian, 2023
Niven, David, 1958
Robertson, Cliff, 1968
Whitaker, Forest, 2006
Of the 60 Best Actor winners who have received multiple nominations
Nomination Span (in terms of years):
1 year (consecutive nominations): 5
Robert Donat, 1938, 1939
Rex Harrison, 1963, 1964
Jamie Foxx (same year, Best Actor and Supp. Actor), 2004
Colin Firth, 2009, 2010
Eddie Redmayne, 2014, 2015
2-4 years: 4
Wallace Beery, 2
Jose Ferrer, 2
Kevin Spacey, 4
Russell Crowe, 2
5-9 years: 7
Clark Gable, 5
Sidney Poitier, 5
Peter Finch, 5
Nicolas Cage, 7
Casey Affleck, 9
Gary Oldman, 6
Philip Seymour Hoffman, 7
10-19 years: 14
Victor McLaglen, 17
Gary Cooper, 16
James Cagney, 17
Bing Crosby, 10
Ronald Colman, 17
Humphrey Bogart, 11
Maximillian Schell, 16
Gregory Peck, 17
Rod Steiger, 13
George C. Scott, 12
Richard Dreyfuss, 18
Geoffrey Rush, 14
Sean Penn, 13
Casey Affleck, 19
20-29 years: 16
Brody, Adrien, 22
Fredric March, 21
Charles Laughton, 24
James Stewart, 20
William Holden, 26
Alec Guinness, 25
Burt Lancaster, 28
Paul Scofield, 28
John Wayne, 20
Gene Hackman, 25
Jack Lemmon, 27
Ben Kingsley, 21
William Hurt, 25
Daniel Day-Lewis, 28
Anthony Hopkins, 28
Leonardo DiCaprio, 26
30-39 years: 10
Paul Muni, 30
Spencer Tracy, 31
Laurence Olivier, 39
Marlon Brando, 38
Jack Nicholson, 33
Jon Voight, 32
Dustin Hoffman, 30
Robert De Niro, 36
Tom Hanks, 31
Denzel Washington, 30
Over 40 Years: 5 actors
Henry Fonda, 41
Robert Duvall, 42
Paul Newman, 44
Al Pacino, 46
Jeff Bridges, 45
—
Best Actor Winners: 84 (A to Z)
By Last Name and Year of Winning:
Abraham, F. Murray, 1984
Affleck, Casey, 2016
Arliss, George, 1930
Barrymore, Lionel, 1929
Baxter, Warner, 1928
Beery, Wallace, 1932
Benigni, Roberto, 1998
Bogart, Humphrey, 1951
Borgnine, Ernest, 1955
10. Brando, Marlon, 1954
Bridges, Jeff, 2009
Brody, Adrien, 2002, 2024
Brynner, Yul, 1956
Cage, Nicolas, 1995
Cagney, James, 1942
Carney, Art, 1974
Colman, Ronald, 1947
Cooper, Gary, 1941, 1952
Crawford, Broderick, 1949
20. Crosby, Bing, 1944
Crowe, Russell, 2000
Day-Lewis, Daniel, 1989, 2007, 2012
De Niro, Robert, 1980
DiCaprio, Leonardo, 2015
Donat, Robert, 1939
Douglas, Michael, 1987
Dreyfuss, Richard, 1977
Dujardin, Jean, 2011
Duvall, Robert, 1983
30. Ferrer, Jose, 1950
Finch, Peter, 1976
Firth, Colin, 2010
Fonda, Henry, 1981
Foxx, Jamie, 2004
Gable, Clark, 1934
Guinness, Alec, 1957
Hackman, Gene, 1971
Hanks, Tom, 1993, 1994
Harrison, Rex, 1964
40. Heston, Charlton, 1959
Hoffman, Dustin, 1979, 1988
Hoffman, Philip Seymour, 2005
Holden, William, 1953
Hopkins, Anthony, 1991, 2020
Hurt, William, 1985
Irons, Jeremy, 1990
Jannings, Emil, 1927
Kingsley, Ben, 1982
Lancaster, Burt, 1960
50. Laughton, Charles, 1933
Lemmon, Jack, 1973
Lukas, Paul, 1943
McLaglen, Victor, 1935
McConaughey, Matthew, 2013
Malek, Rami, 2018
March, Fredric, 1931, 1946
Marvin, Lee, 1965
Milland, Ray, 1945
Muni, Paul, 1936
60. Murphy, Ryan, 2023
Newman, Paul, 1986
Nicholson, 1975; 1997
Niven, David, 1958
Oldman, Gary, 2017
Olivier, Laurence, 1948
Pacino, Al, 1992
Peck, Gregory, 1962
Penn, Sean, 2003, 2008
Phoenix, Joaquin, 2019
70. Poitier, Sidney, 1963
Redmayne, Eddie, 2014
Robertson, Cliff, 1968
Rush, Geoffrey, 1996
Schell, Maximilian, 1961
Scofield, Paul, 1966
Scott, George C., 1970
Spacey, Kevin, 1999
Steiger, Rod, 1967
Stewart, James, 1940
80. Tracy, Spencer, 1937, 1938
Voight, Jon, 1978
Washington, Denzel, 2001
Wayne, John, 1969
84. Whitaker, Forest, 2006
