But there are also many stars who – despite turning in all sorts of impeccable performances in beloved films – haven't been so lucky.
We've rounded up 13 of the greatest of those actors below, including both icons of classic Hollywood and some major names who are still acting and could yet get their hands on that elusive Oscar.
Read on for our full list.
1) Glenn Close
Close's nominations are split evenly across the supporting and leading categories, with her first coming all the way back in 1982 when she was up for best supporting actress for her turn in The World According to Garp, missing out to Jessica Lange for her role in Tootsie.
More recently, some pundits thought she might finally win the elusive Oscar for her role in The Wife in 2018, only for Olivia Colman to secure the prize for playing Queen Anne in The Favourite. Close... but no cigar!
2) Samuel L Jackson
Of course, many of Jackson's highest-grossing films are more commercially oriented fare that never seemed likely to garner awards attention – for example, his long-running role as Nick Fury in various MCU projects.
Still, while an Oscar may have eluded him, Jackson does have some very prestigious gongs in his collection. During the '90s, he won best actor at two of the world's most esteemed film festivals: at Cannes for his role in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever in 1991, and at Berlin for Tarantino's Jackie Brown in 1998. He also received an honorary Academy Award at the Governors Awards in March 2022.
3) Cary Grant
In 1999, Grant was named by the American Film Institute as the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood behind only Humphrey Bogart (who himself only achieved one Oscar win) but despite that, Grant was never awarded a competitive Academy Award – and received just the two nominations, for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Heart (1944.)
Like a few other actors on this list, Grant was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1970, but it remains bizarre that perhaps Hollywood's finest ever leading man never got his hands on a competitive award. It just goes to show that awards are very far from the main thing to define actor's legacy!
4) Tom Cruise
Cruise's nods came for his leading roles in Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire and his supporting turn in Magnolia, but he lost out respectively to Daniel Day Lewis for My Left Foot, Geoffrey Rush for Shine, and Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules.
But more recently, Cruise has been vocal about returning to more dramatic work again, beginning with Alejandro G Iñárritu's Digger later this year – so perhaps a maiden competitive Oscar isn't too far away for the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun star.
5) Amy Adams
The star delivered a terrific streak of performances in great films throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, earning nominations for her roles in Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, American Hustle and Vice, but sadly couldn't get her hands on a statuette on any of those occasions.
In the 2020s, the projects Addams has starred in haven't quite attracted the same acclaim, but there is still plenty of time for her to get the Academy's attention again, and we certainly wouldn't rule out her eventually winning an Oscar.
6) Ralph Fiennes
That was the third time Fiennes had been nominated at the ceremony, having previously received nods for best supporting actor in Schindler's List and best actor in The English Patient – both films that went on to win the best picture trophy.
But there are also plenty of other terrific performances in Fiennes career that could certainly be considered awards-worthy (highlighted by the fact he's been nominated seven time at both the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes) with his genius performance in The Grand Budapest Hotel possibly the most galling snub.
7) Richard Burton
That's despite landing seven nominations between 1952 and 1977: best supporting actor for My Cousin Rachel, and best actor for The Rope, Becket, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Anne of the Thousand Days and Equus.
He's undoubtedly one of the most high profile stars never to receive one.
8) Annette Bening
She's come close on several occasions, with five previous nominations beginning with a supporting nod for The Grifters in 1990 – when she was beaten by Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost.
We're sure she'll be back in the running again at some point in the future.
9) Lauren Bacall
Like other actors included in the list – such as Cary Grant and Tom Cruise – Bacall was awarded an honorary career, but in terms of competitive ones she garnered just one nomination, for her supporting role in The Mirror Has Two Faces relatively late in her career in 1997.
Other key roles in classics such as The Big Sleep and Written on the Wind went unrewarded, but Bacall remains one of the most legendary figures in Hollywood history despite the lack of an Oscar.
10) Willem Dafoe
Across his career, he's acted in a vast range of films, both blockbusters and independent fare, and worked with many of the greatest directors in Hollywood: from Martin Scorsese and David Lynch to Wes Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos.
Given how many projects he takes on, and the fact that he never seems to turn in a bad performance, it seems like an Oscar could well be in his future – and we're sure it would be a very well-received one if it does happen.
11) Peter O'Toole
The English/Irish actor's eight nominations came across a period spanning almost half a century, with his first coming for Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 (when he lost to Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird) and his last for Venus in 2006 (when Forest Whittaker won for The Last King of Scotland).
O'Toole was at least another star who did win an Honorary Oscar, but it's a real shame he never managed to get his hands on a competitive one.
12) Judy Garland
Technically, she was honoured with a non-competitive Academy Juvenile Award in 1939 (the year she starred in both The Wizard Of Oz and Babes in Arms) but she never added another to her collection.
Regardless, Garland's impact and influence are not overshadowed by her lack of a competitive Oscar.
13) Isabelle Huppert
She has been nominated on one occasion for her role in Paul Verhoeven's Elle in 2016 (the year Emma Stone won for La La Land), but that pales in comparison to the incredible 17 nods she's had at France's equivalent the Cesars (though she's won just the twice, for Elle and La Cérémonie).
With the Academy having embraced films from around the world to a far greater extent in recent years, there's every chance we could be looking at that changing some time soon.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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