The Oscars are by far the most prestigious award and highest accolade you can achieve in the world of cinema. Every year the Academy nominates those with the most impressive achievements in film that year. Despite how respected the Oscars are over the years, there has been an abundance of surprises and snubs that still shock fans today. From Citizen Kane losing Best Picture to Alfred Hitchcock never winning Best Director, the amount of times the Academy has shut out legends is shocking.
The category of Best Actress is always one of the most anticipated awards of the season. So many of the greats, from Meryl Streep, to Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Hepburn and Kate Winslet, have been lucky enough to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress—and some even won multiple times. With the recent release of the 2022 Academy Award nominees, lots of moviegoers are upset over the Academy’s decisions. With Don’t Look Up getting nominated for Best Picture over Spider-Man: No Way Home and Lady Gaga’s incredible performance in House of Gucci not getting any recognition, it’s safe to say the Oscars are receiving major backlash right now. Here is our list of Best Actress Oscar snubs that we’re still not over—this includes those who should have been nominated, and the nominees who should have won.
Updated, October 2022: To keep the article fresh and relevant by adding more information and entries, this article has been updated by Rafa Boladeras.
8 Scarlett Johansson - Should Have Been Nominated
2003 was the year Scarlett Johansson shot both Lost in Translation and Girl with the Pearl Earring, and started to get really noticed by Hollywood. It's strange that she didn’t receive a Best Actress nomination for the Sofia Coppola movie, as the film wouldn’t work without her performance. Johansson is our eyes into this world, and her aimlessness and alienation is what make us fall in love with the movie. Yes, Bill Murray has the showiest part, and surprised everyone with a more subtle and sad performance than we were used to from him, but the movie doesn’t work without her.
The film was nominated for many awards: Best Picture, Best Writing, Best Director, and Bill Murray’s performance, but Johansson was left out. The Best Actress category had Charlize Theron, Diane Keaton, Naomi Watts, Samantha Morton, and Keisha Castle-Hughes. Johansson wouldn’t have won, as Theron’s performance in Monster was incredible, but we believe she should have been at least a nominee. Since then, Johansson has been doing both franchises and indie films, and in 2020 she finally got nominated, twice! For her roles in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit.
7 Sigourney Weaver - Should Have Won
Sigourney Weaver was already an Oscar-nominated actress for Aliens (how fun it would’ve been to win for that performance) when she landed a double nomination in 1989. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Working Girl. Back then, when someone was double nominated, the more probable result was that it would win one of the awards. Weaver lost both. Jodie Foster deservedly won for The Accused in the Best Actress category, but Weaver should have won over Geena Davis, as her Katharine Parker in Working Girl is great. She created a character we loved to hate, but still had some sympathy for; something very tricky and difficult to pull off. The worst part is that Weaver hasn’t been nominated, since.
6 Lauren Bacall - Should Have Won
After more than 50 years of making movies, Lauren Bacall was nominated for an Academy Award for the first time for her acting in The Mirror Has Two Faces. It was a role as different as we could’ve imagined after a life of playing femme fatales, as she played an overbearing Jewish mother obsessed with beauty. Bacall brilliantly shows the vulnerability and sadness of her character; someone who always has given too much importance to beauty, and is now losing it. Her performance is stripped-down and gives us a lot of truth about how society values women as beautiful products and discards them once there’s someone younger and newer to look upon. Bacall lost to The English Patient’s Juliet Binoche, who was as surprised as everyone, even admitting she hadn’t prepared a speech, as she thought Bacall was going to, deservedly, win.
5 Lady Gaga — Should Have Been Nominated
Lady Gaga's transition from singer and songwriter to movie star has been beyond successful and over the past few years has proven what an incredible actress she is. Gaga gave an incredible performance in Ridley Scott's crime/drama House of Gucci as Patrizia Reggiani Gucci, the wife to Gucci heir Maurizio Gucci played by Adam Driver. As soon as House of Gucci was released, audiences were raving over what a powerhouse the actress is, and the Oscar buzz was spreading like wildfire. Gaga received a BAFTA nomination for her leading role and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. Moviegoers could have sworn she was guaranteed to get a nomination at the 94th Academy Awards, but was beat out by first-time nominee Kristen Stewart, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, and Olivia Colman. Even though this is arguably the biggest snub of the season, and she definitely deserved a nomination, Lady Gaga was previously nominated for two Academy Awards in 2018 for A Star Is Born in the categories of Best Actress and Best Original Song (the latter of which she won).
4 Glenn Close — Should Have Won
Glenn Close is one of the most sought-after and esteemed actresses working in the business. Her legacy is incredible, and she has given countless Oscar-worthy performances but still hasn't won an Academy Award. The 74-year-old actress has eight Oscar nominations under her belt, making her the only actor to have the most Oscar nominations without a win in the history of the Academy Awards. Some of the films she has received these nominations for, include The Wife, The Big Chill, Dangerous Liaisons, The Natural, and most recently Hillbilly Elegy. In fact, The Wife was considered by almost everyone to be the film that all but guaranteed Close a much-deserved win for Best Actress. However, she ultimately lost to Olivia Colman in The Favourite.
3 Judy Garland — Should Have Won
Judy Garland is a legend in the world of cinema and a gift to entertainment. Throughout her wildly successful career, the actress and singer starred in classics such as A Star Is Born, Love Finds Andy Hardy, The Pirate, Meet Me In St. Louis, and, of course, The Wizard of Oz. Garland had a troubled childhood; as a young girl; she was given pills by her mother to help her lose weight and allow her to work long hours on set. This lifestyle was put in place to make sure Garland fit into a mold Hollywood studios wanted and ultimately allowed her to gain major fame and success. Despite the hardships she endured, Garland never failed to put a smile on the audience's faces and was loved by millions around the world. She was nominated for two Academy Awards in her lifetime for her roles in Judgement at Nuremberg and A Star Is Born, but never won.
2 Amy Adams — Should Have Been Nominated
Similar to Glenn Close, Amy Adams is one of the best actresses working in the business. She has a wide range of brilliant work behind her and is someone most people think of as an Oscar-worthy actress, but has yet to receive one. Adams was nominated for her first Academy Award in 2006 in the category of Best Supporting Actress for her role in Junebug. Since then, the actress has been nominated five other times for her performances in the films Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, American Hustle, and Vice. It's her masterful performance, however, in Denis Villeneuve's Arrival that should have earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 89th Academy Awards.
1 Pam Grier — Should Have Been Nominated
Pam Grier's most iconic and beloved role is that of Jackie Brown in the incredibly talented director Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. This film is a crime/drama that was released in 1997 and is completely carried by the brilliant performance Grier gives. Fans could have sworn that she would be nominated for an Academy Award that year, but was beat out by Judi Dench, Julie Christie, Helena Bonham Carter, Titanic star Kate Winslet, and Helen Hunt (who would ultimately win). Grier not receiving the nomination was a major upset and an Oscar snub we are definitely still not over.