Stars Nominated for Oscars That You May Have Missed
A rundown of well-known people who are now nominated for an Oscar who haven’t been racking up headlines.
When the list of Academy Award nominees is unveiled every year, most people focus solely on the four acting categories, as well as the titles that end up in the running for Best Picture. This makes sense, as those are usually the spaces where the most familiar names – the ones the public knows well and cares about the most – can be found.
For those who love to dig into the full list of people who might walk away with a trophy in hand come Oscar night, there are usually some surprises to be found, and this year is no different.
Here’s a rundown of well-known people who are now nominated for an Oscar who haven’t been racking up headlines.
Frances McDormand
While she didn’t earn an acting nomination for her stern and dour performance in Women Talking, Frances McDormand did end up as a potential winner once again this year. The Hollywood legend is up for Best Picture as a producer on the female-focused feature, alongside fellow Tinseltown bigwigs Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner.
McDormand snags her eighth career Oscar nomination, and her second as a producer. She won Best Picture in 2021 for Nomadland, which she also starred in (she was a two-time winner that year). Should Women Talking end up collecting the top prize, McDormand will officially become a five-time champion.
Tony Kushner
One of the finest writers working today, Tony Kushner is a two-time nominee at the 2023 Academy Awards. The gay man behind Angels in America teamed up with Steven Spielberg once again to write and produce The Fabelmans, which earned quite a bit of love from the Academy.
Kushner himself is up for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture, with the latter nomination being a first. He doubles his total career nods in one fell swoop, as he was twice in the running for Best Adapted Screenplay for both Munich and Lincoln.
Alfonso Cuarón
Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón is no stranger to the Academy Awards, but his nomination this year seems to be flying under the radar. He’s currently up for Best Live Action Short Film for Le Pupille, though not much is often said about that category.
Cuarón snags his eleventh Oscar nomination, and, perhaps even more impressively, he finds himself in a new field. His 11 chances to win have been spread out across seven different verticals, proving him to be a once-in-a-generation talent.
Multiple Nominees
It’s not uncommon for the people behind those movies deemed the best and most likely to win an Oscar to snag more than one nod these days, but this year, there are more multiple nominees than perhaps ever before.
Six different people are nominated for three Oscars apiece, and it seems like even with that many chances to win, some of them will be forced to go home empty-handed. Here’s a look at all of the half-dozen talents who snagged a trio of nominations.
- Martin McDonagh – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay (for The Banshees of Inisherin)
- Steven Spielberg – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (for The Fabelmans)
- Catherine Martin – Best Picture, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design (for Elvis)
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay (for Everything Everywhere All at Once)
- Todd Field – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay (for Tár)
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