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Winning an Oscar is like a dream come true for many actors since it cements their talent and puts them into the greatest spotlight they could imagine. However, that doesn't mean that an actor is robbed of having a great career even if they've never won an Oscar.
After all, there is only a limited number of Oscars available for many great actors who appear in solid movies each year. As a result, the fans might be surprised to learn that some of the most talented actors have never won an Oscar - even though in some cases, they were close to doing so.
7 Robert Downey Jr.
It's true that Robert Downey Jr. has mostly starred as Iron Man in the last decade and only had a few roles outside the MCU. Superhero roles don't often win their actors Oscars, but even before becoming Iron Man, Downey Jr. has done his fair share of high-quality drama and comedy work.
He was nominated for an Oscar two times, once for the 1992 biopic Chaplin and another for the 2009 comedy Tropic Thunder, but didn't win either. There's still a chance that Downey Jr. could win an Oscar in the future, though, considering his acting talent and that he also has a production company that can make an Oscar-worthy movie with the ideal role for him.
6 Sir Ian McKellen
Sir Ian McKellen has been acting consistently since the late 1960s, yet he's one of the few legendary actors who haven't won an Oscar. Just like his younger colleague Robert Downey Jr., McKellen got two nominations.
The first one was for the drama movie Gods and Monsters (1999) and the second one for the first Lord of the Rings movie (2001). However, Sir Ian McKellen doesn't have to feel sorry for not winning an Oscar. Not only did the queen knight him, but he also won multiple different awards, such as a Golden Globe.
5 Amy Adams
Amy Adams is one of the younger actors who has been nominated for an Oscar multiple times but hasn't won the award just yet. Adams has been nominated for an Oscar six times in total, the first time in 2006 and most recently in 2019.
Except for the crime drama American Hustle (2013) where she co-starred alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner, and Bradley Cooper, all of Adams' nominations have been for the best-supporting actress, not a leading role. However, Adams has won different awards in the past, such as two Golden Globes, and with her ability to choose challenging roles in movies of different genres, she could very well win an Oscar in the future.
4 Bradley Cooper
Amy Adams' former American Hustle co-star Bradley Cooper has even more Oscar nominations but no win so far. Cooper has been nominated nine times, not just as an actor, but also for his screenwriting work. His most recent nomination is from this year thanks to Guillermo Del Toro's dark thriller Nightmare Alley where Cooper stars opposite Cate Blanchett.
By far his most successful movie, at least considering the number of nominations, is the musical drama A Star is Born (2018), which Cooper directed and starred in alongside the singer-turned-actress Lady Gaga.
3 Ryan Gosling
At just 41 years old, Ryan Gosling has plenty of time to win an Oscar. Yet many fans of the talented actor felt he was snubbed when he didn't win an Oscar for either the musical drama/romance La La Land (2017) or the drama movie Half Nelson (2006). Gosling has had other well-accepted performances in movies such as Drive (2011) or First Man (2018) but wasn't nominated for them.
After taking a temporary break since 2018, three of his new movies should premiere in 2022, though, including an adaptation of Andy Weir's (The Martian) novel Project Hail Mary which is almost a one-man show and as such, an ideal opportunity for Gosling to flex his acting talent again.
2 Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal has starred in multiple critically-acclaimed movies that also got good ratings from the audience. Despite that, he was only nominated once for an Oscar, for the 2005 tragic romance Brokeback Mountain.
Since then, Gyllenhaal has shown his acting range in movies such as Nightcrawler (2014), where he played a man who knows no boundaries when it comes to his profession and portrayed another challenging role in the psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals (2016). Regardless of the parts he takes on, the Academy hasn't given him another nomination even though many of Gyllenhaal's fans would argue he deserves it.
1 Alan Rickman
Unlike his other colleagues, the late Alan Rickman not only never won an Oscar but wasn't even nominated for one! Best known to the younger audience as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, Rickman not only directed movies, albeit sporadically but also portrayed many fascinating characters.
It's difficult to discover why he was never nominated for an Oscar, whether it was because he started his movie career later than others or didn't appear in American productions as much as other British actors. Whatever the case, Rickman had a successful career even without an Oscar and won different awards for his work, such as a Golden Globe for playing Rasputin in the 1996 television picture Rasputin.