Topic summary

List of actors with more than one Academy Award nomination in the acting categories

Related topics

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have presented their annual Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, for over 90 years. The Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress have been presented since the 1st ceremony in 1929, and the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress have been presented since the 9th ceremony in 1937. Of the 993 Academy Award nominees in an acting category, a total of 366 have received two or more acting nominations, 181 women and 185 men.

A three-time Oscar winner, Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer in the acting categories, with 21 nominations between 1979 and 2018. Streep's total includes a record seventeen best actress nominations. Katharine Hepburn is the secondmost nominated actress with twelve nominations; followed by Bette Davis as thirdmost, with ten total nominations—excluding her eleventh, unofficial write-in campaign (which preceded all ten).

Eight actors have won three or more Oscars in the acting categories, with Hepburn being the only person to win four acting Oscars, spanning from her first in 1934 to her fourth in 1982. Ingrid Bergman and Streep each have two statuettes for leading and one supporting actress win, while Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn nabbed the same tally for male actors. Daniel Day-Lewis became the first and currently only man to win three best actor Oscars, while Frances McDormand became the second woman and third of her counterparts overall to achieve the same. Finally, Walter Brennan won his three supporting actor Oscars every other year between 1937 and 1941.

Thelma Ritter has a record six best supporting actress nominations, albeit without a win. The only women to have won two Oscars in the supporting actress category are Shelley Winters and Dianne Wiest. The seven women to have won in both the lead and supporting actress categories are Bergman, Streep, Helen Hayes, Maggie Smith, Jessica Lange, Cate Blanchett, and Renée Zellweger.

Jack Nicholson is the most nominated male performer in the acting categories with eight for best actor and four for best supporting actor, for a total of twelve nominations and three wins. The record for most best actor nominations is nine, for both Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier. With Olivier's one additional supporting actor nod, his total is ten, ranking him secondmost. Along with Tracy, Al Pacino and Paul Newman are among the most nominated overall actors, with nine each. Seven actors have each received four best supporting actor nominations. The seven men to have won in both the lead and supporting actor categories are Jack Lemmon, Robert De Niro, Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Denzel Washington, and Sean Penn.

Peter O'Toole and Glenn Close jointly hold the record for most nominations in the acting categories without a win, with eight; followed by Richard Burton with seven; and Deborah Kerr, Ritter, and Amy Adams with six. O'Toole, Close, and Kerr did receive the Academy Honorary Award.