Who Are the Most Oscar-Nominated Actors? (2025)

For nearly a century, the Academy Awards have been the highest honor any actor could achieve. Each year, the ceremony features wins and losses that shock, delight, and seem like a no-brainer to the stars and at-home viewers alike. With hundreds of movies released each year with wonderful performances, it sometimes seems a little odd and even silly that we label one “the best.” Regardless, competitions are fun, and so are shiny statues of gold men. Who are the actors and actresses that have been up for an Oscar the most, and how many of those nominations, if any, proved to be victories?

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Meryl Streep - 21 Nominations

If you hear someone say, “Meryl,” you automatically know who they are referring to. And if you don’t, then, well, where have you been existing for the last 50 years? Meryl Streep holds the record for most Oscar nominations by any actor with a whopping 21 to her name. After only two years of acting on screen, Streep landed her first nomination for her supporting role in Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter with Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Cazale. The following year in 1980, she won her first Oscar for her work in Kramer vs. Kramer with Dustin Hoffman. She’d win again in 1983 for Sophie’s Choice, but then not again until she portrayed Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, nearly 30 years later. Other titles swimming in the sea of Streep’s Oscar nominations are The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt, Julie & Julia, Into the Woods, August: Osage County, and most recently with The Post in 2018. How long will she reign supreme?

Katharine Hepburn - 12 Nominations

Legend of the silver screen Katharine Hepburn’s first credit dates all the way back to the 1932 film A Bill of Divorcement, where she played the wife of a man returning home after over a decade in a mental asylum. Just two years later, she secured the first of what would be four career Oscar wins for her performance in Lowell Sherman’s music drama Morning Glory. Hepburn’s illustrious filmography spanned over 50 years and boasted 12 Oscar nominations, all of which were for Lead Actress. Some of the nominations include Alice Adams, in which she played a working-class girl struggling to defy social expectations, the 1951 WWI-era film The African Queen alongside Humphrey Bogart, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, which was directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Eugene O’Neill. Her last three nominations were also her last three wins for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, and On Golden Pond.

Jack Nicholson - 12 Nominations

You must be crazy to think that Jack Nicholson isn’t one of the greatest actors of all time, doc. Tied with Katharine Hepburn for a whopping twelve nominations, the New Jersey native got his start on screen in an episode of the 1956 anthology series Matinee Theatre. He’s played it all, and he’s played it all well, from the iconic Joker vs. Michael Keaton’s Batman, to the “Here’s Johnny!” screaming Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining. But what about the roles that the prestigious Academy deemed worthy?

His first nomination arrived in 1970 for his performance in Easy Rider alongside Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. He’d receive four more nominations in the ‘70s for movies including Chinatown and Five Easy Pieces before finally winning his first Oscar for One Flew Over Cuckoo’s Nest in 1976. He was nominated for his performance in Warren Beatty’s film Reds, the Rob Reiner and Aaron Sorkin film A Few Good Men, and most recently Alexander Payne’s 2002 film About Schmidt. Keeping Easy Rider company are his wins for Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets.

Paul Newman - 10 Nominations

Paul Newman is one of those actors that looks like a movie star. Heck, actor Ethan Hawke thought this, too, even making a docu-series about him and Joanne Woodward titled The Last MovieStars. The one-time Oscar winner was nominated 10 times over his lengthy career, the first of which was for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Burl Ives in 1959. His second nomination would come just a couple of years later for his work opposite Jackie Gleason and Piper Laurie in The Hustler. Newman wouldn’t win until the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money. The Verdict, Cool Hand Luke, and Rachel, Rachel are among the list of nominated performances, with 2002’s Road to Permission being the most recent.

Bette Davis - 10 Nominations

Golden Age of Hollywood star Bette Davis has 123 acting credits to her name dating all the way back to 1931. The 1935 film Of Human Bondage is what launched her career and garnered her first nomination. She won two Oscars over her career for Dangerous and Jezebel, both of which Steven Spielberg purchased at auction. Half of the nominations were in the 1940s alone, with titles such as The Little Foxes, Now, Voyager, and Mr. Skeffington. Her last nomination came in 1962 for her performance alongside Joan Crawford in the horror thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Laurence Olivier - 10 Nominations

Laurence Olivier might be the most sophisticated fellow on this list. The William Shakespeare admirer’s first credit dates back to a short film from 1930 titled Too Many Crooks. A decade later, he earned his first Oscar nomination for Wuthering Heights, one of many impressive performances based on popular pieces of literature. His only Oscar win would be for his titular role in Hamlet, which he also directed and adapted. Olivier was also nominated for his work in Shakespeare-based projects Henry V, Richard III, and Othello. The strange sci-fi drama The Boys from Brazil in 1978 with Gregory Peck was his final Academy Award nomination.

Spencer Tracy - 9 Nominations

Spencer Tracy was in the Navy before he was dominating Hollywood. He and good friend and fellow actor Pat O’Brien both enlisted when Tracy turned 18 right around the time World War I was ending. While attending Ripon College, the misbehaving student found himself being drawn back to the theater department and received positive reviews for his lead role in the play The Truth. Maybe he should give this acting thing a shot.

The Golden Age of Hollywood actor’s first movie was John Ford’s 1930 crime dramedy Up the River, where he acted alongside Humphrey Bogart and Claire Luce. His first of nine Oscar nominations came in 1937 for his work in the music-infused romance San Francisco alongside Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald. He received his two career Oscar wins back-to-back, with a win in 1938 for the family adventure Captains Courageous and for his performance as Father Edward Flanagan in Boys Town. Some of the projects he was nominated for include Father of the Bride, The Old Man and the Sea, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, the latter of which he was nominated posthumously.

Denzel Washington - 9 Nominations

Denzel Washington started acting on screen in the late 1970s, appearing in a number of TV movies before landing a lead role in the Emmy-winning series St. Elsewhere. He earned his first Oscar nomination for the 1987 film Cry Freedom, where he played the anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko alongside Kevin Kline’s South African journalist Donald Woods. He’s had at least one nomination every decade since, including for playing the titular role in Spike Lee’s 1992 film Malcolm X, Troy Maxson in the film adaptation of August Wilson’s celebrated play Fences, a pilot in Robert Zemeckis’ drama thriller Flight, and most recently for playing Shakespearean legend Macbeth in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021. Washington has won two Oscars over the course of his impressive career for his supporting role in the 1989 Civil War drama Glory and for his chilling performance alongside Ethan Hawke in Antoine Fuqua and David Ayer’s crime drama Training Day.

Al Pacino - 9 Nominations

Say hello to Al Pacino, one of the most iconic actors to ever grace the silver screen. But before earning legend status, he was earning his first screen credit in an episode of the short-lived crime drama N.Y.P.D. in 1968. Just a few years later in 1972, he received his Oscar nomination for the role in a film that would not only define his career but cinematic history: Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. Despite being his first nomination, however, Pacino did not attend the ceremony, allegedly due to a disagreement over the category he was submitted for. (He was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and his co-star Marlon Brando was nominated—and won—for Best Actor in a Leading Role, despite having less screen time than Pacino.)

Surprisingly, his performance as Tony Montana in Scarface, the other role that’s most associated with him, didn’t garner recognition from the Academy. Pacino has been nominated a total of nine times, four of which were back-to-back years. The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Irishman are among his other nominations, with Scent of a Woman being his sole win.