A great way for film fans to find some of today’s best actors is to look at the acting categories in the last 20 years of the Academy Awards. Some of these actors are relative newcomers, and others are screen veterans. A few saw a number of nominations in just a few years, while others have built up their list of nods over many years.
These performers include one actor who hasn’t won at all, nine who have won once since 2000, and one who has managed two wins since the turn of the century. Regardless of how many wins they ultimately have, the sheer total of nominations makes them the best of the era.
Bradley Cooper – 4
Bradley Cooper has been nominated in acting categories for Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2013), American Sniper (2014), and A Star Is Born (2018). Three of those performances were for Best Actor, and one was for Best Supporting Actor. While he hasn’t won an Oscar, Cooper is one of only two male actors to be nominated for four acting awards in the decade of the 2010s.
Cooper additionally has four Best Picture nominations as a producer for American Sniper, A Star Is Born, Joker, and Nightmare Alley. He was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for A Star Is Born, a film that ranks the highest among his non-Marvel films on IMDb.
Joaquin Phoenix – 4
Joaquin Phoenix’s acting nominations have been for Gladiator (2000), Walk the Line (2005), The Master (2012), and Joker (2019). Phoenix has been nominated for Best Actor three times, and Best Supporting Actor once. He won for the lead role of Arthur Fleck in Joker.
His win for playing the Batman villain made him and Heath Ledger the second pair to win an Oscar for playing the same character. The feat was previously achieved by Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro in the first two Godfather films.
Christian Bale – 4
Christian Bale has been nominated for roles in The Fighter (2010), American Hustle (2013), The Big Short (2015), and Vice (2018). Bale has two Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations each, and he won for playing Dicky Eklund in The Fighter. Bale took on the appearance and mannerisms of Eklund so well that the local Lowell, Massachusetts residents thought he was the real person.
Bale has famously pushed his body to the edge for his performances, including extreme weight gain and loss. He dropped to 121 lbs for The Machinist and then rose to 220 lbs just after for Batman Begins. He then dropped weight again for Rescue Dawn and gained it back for The Dark Knight. It was the same story from The Fighter to The Dark Knight Rises to American Hustle. He also put on a lot of weight for Vice. While he doesn’t recommend these shifts in weight, it has made Bale one of the most dedicated actors of his time. It also paid off for his portrayal of the Dark Knight, as he’s the best actor to play Batman according to Ranker.
Jeff Bridges – 4
Jeff Bridges has found himself nominated four times since 2000. These were for The Contender (2000), Crazy Heart (2009), True Grit (2010), and Hell or High Water (2016). During that time, he was nominated for two lead and supporting performances each and won the Oscar because of his role as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart.
Bridges was previously nominated three times in the acting categories, for The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and Starman. He is one of just 25 people in history to receive seven or more acting nominations. He is also known for his performances in films such as Tron, The Big Lebowski, and Iron Man.
Javier Bardem – 4
Javier Bardem has been nominated for acting in Before Night Falls (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), Biutiful (2010), and Being the Ricardos (2021). All of his acting nominations have been for lead, except for No Country for Old Men, which he won the Oscar for.
Bardem has received awards attention at other ceremonies for his roles in The Sea Inside and Skyfall. In addition to the latter film, he has done other big blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Dune. While his newest movie is not ranked as high as the other 2022 nominees on Letterboxd, Bardem has certainly added to his impressive resume.
Philip Seymour Hoffman – 4
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s acting nominations came for Capote (2005), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012). Hoffman won Best Actor for Capote, and the rest of his nominations were for Best Supporting Actor.
Hoffman sadly passed away in 2014. He was celebrated as one of the best actors of his generation, and he left behind an amazing body of work. His son Cooper has gone on to be an actor, starring in 2021’s Licorice Pizza.
George Clooney – 4
George Clooney has been nominated for acting for Syriana (2005), Michael Clayton (2007), Up in the Air (2009), and The Descendants (2011). He won for Syriana, which was the only supporting nod in the bunch.
Clooney has four additional Oscar nominations. He was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Good Night, and Good Luck, Best Adapted Screenplay for The Ides of March, and Best Picture for Argo. Clooney won his second career Oscar for Argo.
Daniel Day-Lewis – 4
Daniel Day-Lewis is often listed as one of the best actors of modern times, especially since he’s known for taking method acting to the extreme. He has been nominated since 2000 for Gangs of New York (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007), Lincoln (2012), and Phantom Thread (2017). He won the award for There Will Be Blood and Lincoln.
Day-Lewis was previously nominated for My Left Foot (1989) and In the Name of the Father (1993), winning for My Left Foot. He is one of just seven people to win three or more acting Oscars. All of his acting nominations have been in the Best Actor category.
Leonardo DiCaprio – 5
Leonardo DiCaprio’s five acting nominations since 2000 have come for The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Revenant (2015), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). He won Best Actor for The Revenant. He was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), while the rest of his acting nominations have been for Best Actor.
DiCaprio’s one other nomination came for Best Picture for The Wolf of Wall Street. DiCaprio’s Oscar win seemed to elude him for many years, with fans often saying he should’ve won whenever he didn’t. It seems likely The Revenant won’t be his last Academy Award.
Denzel Washington – 5
Denzel Washington is one of only nine performers with nine acting nominations or more at the Academy Awards. His acting nominations this century include Training Day (2001), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). He won the award for Training Day.
Washington was previously nominated for Cry Freedom (1987), Glory (1989), Malcolm X (1992), and Hurricane (1999). He won his first Oscar for his powerful performance in Glory. He was also nominated for Best Picture for Fences.
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