Academy Awards Best Actor
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) );            two were consecutive nominations (from 1930/31-1931/32)
Tom Hanks (5) - with two wins (Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump (1994)); two were            consecutive nominations (from 1993-1994)
Sean Penn (5) - with two wins (Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008)); nominations were from 1995-2008
The Most Best Actor Nominations:
Actors with the highest number of Best Actor acting            nominations (in parentheses) include:
Spencer Tracy (9) - with two wins
Laurence Olivier (9) - with one win (Hamlet (1948)); two were consecutive nominations (from 1939-1940)
Jack Nicholson (8) - with two wins
Paul Newman (8) - with one win (The Color of Money (1986)); two were              consecutive nominations (from 1981-1982)
Peter O'Toole (8) - with no wins; two were consecutive            nominations (from 1968-1969); nominations from 1962-2006
Marlon Brando (7) - with two wins
Dustin Hoffman (7) - with two wins
Jack Lemmon (7) - with one win (Save the Tiger (1973)); two were consecutive nominations (from 1959-1960, and from 1979-1980)
Paul Muni (6) - with one win (The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)); three were consecutive            nominations (from 1935-1937)
Richard Burton (6) - with no wins; three were consecutive            nominations (from 1964-1966)
Gary Cooper (5) - with two wins
Tom Hanks (5) - with two wins
Fredric March (5) - with two wins
Sean Penn (5) - with two wins
Daniel Day-Lewis (5) - with three wins
James Stewart (5) - with one win (
Anthony Hopkins (3) - with one win ( The Silence of the Lambs (1991) ); nominations from 1991-1995
Russell Crowe (3) - with one win (Gladiator (2000)); three were            consecutive nominations (from 1999-2001)
Jeff Bridges (3) - with one win (Crazy Heart (2009)); nominations from 1984-2010
George Clooney (3) - with no wins; nominations from               2007-2011
Consecutive Best Actor-Winning Performers:
There are only two actresses             (Luise Rainer and Katharine Hepburn) who have received two consecutive Best Actress awards, as there are only two actors who have received         two consecutive Best Actor statuette wins:
Spencer Tracy (Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938))
Tom Hanks (Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994))
[Note: Jason Robards won two consecutive Best Supporting                 Actor Oscars in 1976 and 1977.]
Winners of Both a Lead and Supporting Actor Oscar:
In 1997, Jack Nicholson tied Walter Brennan for the            most wins (3) for a male performer (Brennan has three Best Supporting            Actor trophies, Nicholson has two for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting          Actor). The only stars to win both a Best Actor and a Best Supporting Actor (BSA) Oscar are the following:
Jack Nicholson (BA for
Gene Hackman (BA for The French Connection (1971) , BSA for Unforgiven (1992) )
Kevin Spacey (BA for American Beauty (1999), BSA for The Usual Suspects (1995))
Denzel Washington (BA for Training Day (2001), BSA for Glory (1989))
The Only Best Actor Tie:
In the Best Actor category, an unusual tie (the only            occurrence among male acting performances) occurred in 1931/32 between            Wallace Beery and Fredric March, for their respective performances in The Champ (1931/32) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/32).
The Most Best Actor Oscar  Nominations - Without Winning:
Peter O'Toole is the only star with eight Best Actor             Oscar nominations without a single win. His record extends 44 years,             from 1962 to 2006.
Richard Burton was  nominated seven times (and never won), although his first nomination was as Best Supporting Actor for My Cousin Rachel (1952) -- his last six nominations were as Best Actor.
Oscar-Winning Actor Roles and Trends:
Biographies of remarkable, real-life individuals (military            figures or soldiers, law-and-order enforcers, historical figures) and            portrayals of the mentally ill are heavily represented among male Oscar            winners, particularly in the acting awards. It helps an actor's chances            of winning an Oscar if the character dies a tragic death during the          movie, or is slightly eccentric (or genius).
Physical and Mental Disabilities or Diseases
An overwhelming number            of actors have won (or been nominated for) the top acting (and supporting)           awards for portraying  characters with physical or mental disabilities           (personality disorders, amnesia) or diseases (with handicaps, such           as blindness or muteness, tics, etc.):
Fredric March won the Best Actor Oscar for his dual,               split personality role as a respected doctor and as a fiendish               mad-man in Dr.                  Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/32)
Ronald Colman was nominated as Best Actor for his               role as shell-shocked amnesiac Charles Rainier in Random                 Harvest (1942)
Harold Russell (real-life amputee) won the Best               Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as courageous and resourceful               returning sailor Homer Parrish in
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) [Note: Russell             is the only performer to win two Oscars for the same performance.             In 1946, he won Best Supporting Actor and was voted an Honorary Oscar             that same year for his performance.]
Arthur Kennedy was nominated as Best Actor for his               role as veteran Larry Nevins made blind in WWII combat                in Bright                 Victory (1951)
Cliff Robertson won the Best Actor Oscar for his               title role as Charly Gordon - a mentally-retarded, thirty year-old               bakery worker temporarily made a genius through surgery in Charly                  (1968)
Alan Arkin was nominated as Best Actor for his role               as deaf-mute Singer in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
Sir John Mills won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar               for his  role as mute, gentle, mis-shaped village idiot               Michael in Ryan's Daughter (1970) - he became the sole male actor to             win an Oscar for a non-speaking role
Jack Nicholson won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as life-affirming, ill-fated, free-spirited, anarchic misfit               patient Randle Patrick McMurphy in
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Jon Voight won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as handicapped Luke Martin - a bitter but sensitive paraplegic               veteran paralyzed during the Vietnam War in Coming                Home (1978)
Timothy Hutton won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar                for his role as guilt-ridden, depressed teenaged Conrad Jarrett               in Ordinary                People (1980)
John Malkovich was nominated as Best Supporting               Actor for his role as  blind boarder Mr. Will in Places             in the Heart (1984)
Dustin Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as institutionalized, ultimately loveable, autistic idiot               savant Raymond ('Ray(n)' 'Man(d)') Babbitt in Rain                  Man (1988)
Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as  Irish-born artist and author Christy Brown - a self-reliant,               spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy victim who could only write               and draw with his foot in My                  Left Foot (1989)
Anthony Hopkins won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as cannibalistic, menacing, psychopathic serial psychiatrist/killer               Dr. Hannibal "Cannibal" Lecter in The                    Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Al Pacino won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as foul-mouthed, suicidal, blind (as a result of a boozing-related               accident), retired Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent of              a Woman (1992)
Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as AIDS-infected corporate attorney and victim Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia                  (1993) - Hanks' 1994 acceptance speech                  for his Best Actor Oscar win for Philadelphia (1993) directly                  inspired the homosexuality-themed film In & Out (1997),                  about an outed English literature teacher (Kevin Kline) in an                  Indiana town when one of his former students (Matt Dillon) thanked                  him at the Academy Awards and mentioned he was gay
Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar again  for his               title role as Forrest Gump, a good-hearted, naive, eccentric,               dim-witted protagonist (an idiot-savant) in Forrest               Gump (1994)
Geoffrey Rush won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as talented but agonizingly-troubled, mentally-disabled Australian               concert pianist David Helfgott who suffered a crippling nervous               breakdown in Shine                  (1996)
Jack Nicholson won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as  rich, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive romance novelist Melvin               Udall living in New York in As                  Good As It Gets (1997)
Geoffrey Rush was also  nominated as Best Actor               for his role as sexually-crazed French novelist Marquis de Sade               in Quills               (2000)
Jamie Foxx won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as legendary blues singer and blind pianist Ray Charles in Ray                  (2004)
Forest Whitaker won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as brutal, infamous, genocidal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in               The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Colin Firth won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as stuttering monarch George VI in The King's Speech (2010)
Eddie Redmayne won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as ALS-diagnosed physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of               Everything (2014)
Alcoholics
And a number of other actors have won Oscar           awards (or been nominated) for portraying alcoholic characters:
Lionel Barrymore won the Best Actor Oscar for his               role as dissolute and drunken lawyer Stephen Ashe (co-star Norma               Shearer's father) in A                Free Soul (1930/31)
Van Heflin won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for               his role as Shakespeare-quoting, alcoholic confidant Jeff Hartnett               who befriended gangster co-star Robert Taylor in Johnny Eager (1942)
Ray Milland won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as whiskey-soaked, boozing, writer's blocked Don Birnam in The                    Lost Weekend (1945)
Fredric March won Best Actor for his role as anguished,               middle-aged, alcoholic banking executive - and returning war veteran               and ex-sergeant Al Stephenson in
A                   Star Is Born (1954)
Jack Lemmon was nominated as Best Actor for his               role as  alcoholic advertising man Joe Clay in Days                 of Wine and Roses (1962)
Lee Marvin won the Best Actor Oscar for his dual               role as  cold-eyed, ruthlessly evil desperado               Tim Strawn (with an artificial silver nose) and Strawn's aging,               once-famous, drunken and whiskey-soaked twin gunman Kid Shelleen               in Cat                 Ballou (1965)
Dudley Moore was nominated as Best Actor for his               role as drunk, spoiled, amiable and millionaire-rich playboy -                title character Arthur Bach in Arthur                 (1981)
Paul Newman was nominated as Best Actor for his               role as alcoholic, ambulance-chasing, Boston trial lawyer Frank               P. Galvin in The                 Verdict (1982)
Robert Duvall won Best Actor for his role as ex-drinking,               ex-country/western music star Mac Sledge in Tender                 Mercies (1983)
Note:            in 1983, all five Best Actor nominees played drunks of one sort or                 another (two were nominated for the film The Dresser (1983),           Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay)
Albert Finney was nominated as Best Actor for his               role as self-destructive alcoholic Geoffrey Firmin drinking himself               to death in the shadow of a Mexican volcano in Under                 the Volcano (1984)
Nicolas Cage won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as failed, Hollywood scriptwriter and fatally-destructive, genial,               but suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson in Leaving                  Las Vegas (1995)
Robert Duvall was nominated as Best Actor for his               role as Texas Pentecostal preacher Eulis ("Sonny") Dewey               who became 'The Apostle' of God in Louisiana to escape his past               in The                 Apostle (1997)
James Coburn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar               for his role as Nick Nolte's tyrannical, abusive and alcoholic             father Glen "Pop" Whitehouse  in Affliction (1998)
Jeff Bridges won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as broken-down, aging, boozy country-music singer Bad Blake in Crazy                 Heart (2009)
Denzel Washington was nominated as Best Actor for               his role as  tragic, heroic, and addicted boozy airline         pilot Whip Whitaker in Flight (2012)
Homosexual Roles
Some straight actors have been nominated           (and often won) for homosexual roles:
Peter Finch received his first Best Actor nomination           (without winning) for his role as middle-aged, homosexual Jewish Dr.               Daniel Hirsh involved               in a three-sided love story in Sunday,           Bloody Sunday (1971)
William Hurt won Best Actor for his role as imprisoned,               flamboyant gay South American  Luis Molina in Kiss of the               Spider Woman (1985)
Tom Hanks won Best Actor for his role as dying AIDS patient Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (1993)
Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his role               as openly pioneering San Francisco gay camera store owner Harvey               Milk who successfully was serving in public office as mayoral aide               when he was assassinated, in Milk (2008)
Mediocre or Compensatory Oscar Wins:
Oscar victories for Best Actor haven't always been           for  the stars' best work either, but have often been an effort to           right  past injustices, or retroactively for an entire body of work:
56 year-old Ronald Colman's late win as Best Actor              for A Double Life (1947) - a tribute to his entire silent and              sound film career
62 year-old John Wayne's belated win as Best Actor              for True Grit (1969), when he should have been honored years              earlier for
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) or The Ox-Bow              Incident (1943)
Also, elderly nominees seem to fare better, such as              54 year-old Art Carney winning the Best Actor Oscar for Harry              and  Tonto (1974), 60 year-old Peter Finch's posthumous Best              Actor award  for Network (1976) ,              80 year-old George  Burns winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar              for The Sunshine Boys            (1975), Melvyn Douglas winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar           for Being There (1979),  Don Ameche winning the Best Supporting            Actor Oscar for Cocoon (1985), and 72 year-old Alan Arkin winning            the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine            (2006).
Many other           elderly actors have been nominated for supporting roles, including           Eric von Stroheim for
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) , John Mills for Ryan's                 Daughter (1970), Lee Strasberg for
The Godfather, Part II (1974) , Burgess Meredith for Rocky                     (1976) , Robert Preston for Victor/Victoria (1982),           Denholm  Elliott for A Room With a View (1986), and Armin Mueller-Stahl           for Shine (1996).
Post-Humous Acting Nominations and Award(s):
There are only been seven post-humous performance             nominees in Academy history. Only two posthumous nominees have won             the Oscar: the first by Peter Finch and and the second by Heath Ledger             - see below:
Jeanne Eagels - unofficially nominated for a Best Actress Oscar              for The Letter (1928/29) posthumously (Academy records indicated that she  was "under consideration" for an award)
James Dean - the only actor who was twice              nominated (in two consecutive years) for a Best Actor Oscar after his death and lost, for East              of Eden (1955) , and Giant (1956)
Spencer Tracy - nominated for a Best Actor Oscar              for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) posthumously
Peter Finch  - nominated and winning the Best Actor Oscar for Network (1976) posthumously - Finch was the first performer to have won the Oscar after his death
Ralph Richardson - nominated for a Best Supporting              Actor Oscar for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes              (1984) posthumously
Italian actor Massimo Troisi - nominated for a Best              Actor Oscar for The Postman (Il Postino) (1995) posthumously
Heath Ledger - nominated and winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Dark Knight (2008) posthumously - the second performer to win posthumously
The Most Best Actor Nominations for a Single Film:
The film with the most Best Actor nominations (3)            was Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) , for Clark            Gable, Franchot Tone, and Charles Laughton. It was the first film to have three acting nominations,            and the first film to have three co-performers competing against each other            in the same category - as Best Actor.
African-American (or Black) Notables:
There have only been twenty African-American             (or black) nominations for Best Actor, divided amongst thirteen different             performers. Four actors (Poitier, Freeman, Washington and Smith)             have been nominated twice (or more) for the top award. Some regard             Denzel Washington as the first African-American performer             to win Best Actor -- because previous Oscar-winner Sidney Poitier             was of Bahamas descent:
#
Chiwetel Ejiofor
12 Years a Slave (2013)
In total, there have only been 23 different African-American              (or black) performers nominated for the top award (either Best Actor             or Best Actress).            Only fourteen awards have been won by African-Americans (or           blacks) in both lead and supporting categories (four Best Actor, one           Best Actress, four Best Supporting Actor, and five Best Supporting           Actress). Only five black performers have won the Oscar in the lead           category (four Best Actor, one Best Actress).
Only four African-American           actors  have won the Best Actor Oscar:
Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field (1963)
Denzel Washington for Training Day (2001)
Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004)
Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Five of the 20 acting nominations in 2004 and 2006 were            African-American nominees. This bested the record of three nominated            blacks that occurred in three different years (2001, 1985, and 1972):
2006
2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel              Washington for Training Day, and Will Smith for Ali
1985: Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery and Oprah              Winfrey for The Color Purple
1972: Diana Ross for Lady Sings the Blues,              and Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield for Sounder
Jamie Foxx also set a record for being the first black            to debut as a nominee in two categories in the same year, lead            and supporting, for Ray (2004) and Collateral (2004).
Denzel Washington is the only black actor nominated six times for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor. With his           nomination for Flight (2012), he became the most nominated           African-American actor in Academy history. He is the only black           actor to have won two competitive Oscars (as Best Supporting Actor           for Glory           (1989) and           as Best Actor for Training           Day (2001)).
Two African-American actors have been nominated            for Best Actor in the same year, numerous times:
Year
Don Cheadle for Hotel Rwanda (2004), Jamie                 Foxx for Ray (2004)
2001
Will Smith for Ali (2001), Denzel Washington                for Training Day (2001)
Morgan Freeman's Best Supporting Actor              win for Million Dollar Baby (2004), paired with Jamie Foxx's               Best Actor win for Ray (2004),  was the first time that African-American actors won in their respective categories            in the same year.
In three instances, African-Americans have won             two of the four acting prizes:
2006: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland,                Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls
2004: Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby,               Jamie Foxx for Ray
2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel               Washington for Training Day
Latino, Asian and Other Ethnic-Minority (Non-English) Performers:
There have been only a few Best Actor Oscar wins by            ethnic/other minority (or non-English) performers:
French actor Jean Dujardin won Best           Actor for The Artist (2011) - he was the first French           actor to win the Best Actor Oscar
Italian actor Roberto Benigni won the Best Actor               Oscar for Life is Beautiful (1998) - he               was the first male actor to win an            Oscar for a foreign-language film (his Best Actor Oscar win            was only the second time a nominee won an acting Oscar for a            foreign language film role - the earlier winner was Sophia Loren)
Ben Kingsley, with half-Indian (birth name Krishna              Bhanji) and half-English descent, won the Best Actor Oscar for Gandhi                (1982) - he became the first South Asian performer to achieve              such a feat
Puerto Rican-born Jose Ferrer won the Best Actor              Oscar for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Notable ethnic/minority performance nominations for            Best Actor include:
Australian actor Hugh Jackman was nominated as Best               Actor for Les Miserables (2012)
Mexican-born actor             Demián             Bichir was nominated as Best Actor for A Better Life (2011)
Ben Kingsley was nominated as Best Actor for House             of Sand and Fog (2003)
Spanish/Latino actor Javier Bardem was nominated as Best              Actor for Before Night Falls (2000) and for Biutiful (2010) - he was the first Best Actor nominee for a fully Spanish-language role
Australian actor Geoffrey Rush was nominated as Best Actor for Shine (1996) (win) and Quills (2000) - Geoffrey Rush became the first Australian actor            to win Best Actor (for the role of the mad pianist in Shine (1996))            since Peter Finch won posthumously for Network (1976)
Italian actor Massimo Troisi was nominated as Best Actor for The Postman (Il Postino) (1995)
French actor Gerard Depardieu was nominated as Best Actor for Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Swedish actor Max Von Sydow was nominated as Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1988)
Mexican-American Edward James Olmos was nominated              as Best Actor for Stand and Deliver (1988)
Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni was nominated as Best Actor for Dark Eyes  (1987)
Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni was nominated as Best Actor for A Special Day  (1977)
Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini was nominated as Best Actor for Seven Beauties (1976)
Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni was nominated as Best Actor for Divorce - Italian Style (1962)
Mexican-born Anthony Quinn was nominated twice as              Best Actor for Wild Is the Wind (1957) and Zorba the Greek              (1964)
Puerto Rican-born Jose Ferrer was nominated as Best              Actor for Moulin Rouge (1952)
Note: In 1985, all ten of the Best Actor/Actress          nominees were American-born - the first time in Oscar history. Also, in 1964 and in 2007, all four winners of the performance/acting Oscars were non-Americans.
Multiple Nominations for the Same Character -- The Most Oscar-Friendly Role:
The character of Henry VIII has the most acting nominations            (three) and is the most Oscar-friendly role:
Charles Laughton as Henry VIII in The Private              Life of Henry VIII (1933) - the only winner of the three - a Best Actor Oscar
Robert Shaw as Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons              (1966) - nominated as Best Supporting Actor
Richard Burton as Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand              Days (1969) - nominated as Best Actor
Other historical or fictional characters with two acting             nominations include: Norman Maine, Mr. Arthur Chipping ("Mr.             Chips"), Abraham Lincoln, Father Chuck O'Malley, King Henry             V, Professor Henry Higgins, Cyrano de Bergerac, Joe Pendleton, President             Richard Nixon, Vito Corleone. (See below).
Only two nominees in Oscar history have been nominated for playing the role of a real-life Oscar nominee: Cate Blanchett as Best Supporting Actress (win) for playing the role of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator (2004), and Robert Downey, Jr. nominated as Best Actor for the title role of Oscar nominee Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992).
Multiple Nominations for the Same Character:
Five actors have been nominated twice for             playing  the same character in two different films             (wins are marked with an *):
Bing Crosby as Father Charles "Chuck" O'Malley in Going                 My Way (1944)* and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Paul Newman as 'Fast' Eddie Felson in The                    Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986)*
Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968)
Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Rocky (1976) and Creed (2015)
(*Crosby won Best Actor for his first role,  and Newman             won Best Actor for his  second role.)
Only one actress has ever received two nominations         for playing the same character in two different films:
Cate Blanchett became the fifth performer to draw               mentions for the same role (Queen Elizabeth I) in two different films:               Best Actress for Elizabeth (1998) and Best Actress for Elizabeth:               The Golden Age (2007)
Performers who were nominated as Best Actor for the same character   in different films in different years include:
Fredric March and James Mason as Norman Maine in A Star is Born (1937) and
A Star is Born (1954)
Robert Donat and Peter O'Toole as Mr. Arthur Chipping ("Mr. Chips") in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh as King Henry V in Henry V (1944) and Henry V (1989) - both were directed by their stars
Charles Laughton and Richard Burton as King Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
Leslie Howard and Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938) and My Fair Lady (1964)
Jose Ferrer and Gerard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Robert Montgomery and Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) and Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Anthony Hopkins and Frank Langella as President Richard Nixon in Nixon (1995) and Frost/Nixon (2008)
John Wayne and Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969) and True Grit (2010)
Raymond Massey and Daniel Day-Lewis as President               Abraham Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) and Lincoln (2012)
Robert De Niro won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Vito Corleone in
The Godfather, Part II (1974) , the role for which Marlon   Brando had previously won Best Actor in
The Godfather (1972).
Multiple Nominations:
After 1929/30, an actor could not receive more than            one nomination per category. In 1944, the rules permitted Barry Fitzgerald            to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor (which he won)            for the same performance - Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way            (1944). Subsequently, new rules have prevented this from re-occurring,            although an actor may still be nominated in both categories for two different roles. (See the Best Supporting Actor and Best            Supporting Actress pages for further information on double nominees.)
Barry Fitzgerald is the only actor to be nominated             for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for   the same             character (or performance) in the same year. Since then,             two other male performers have been double-nominated in a single             year (wins are marked with *) - Pacino was the first actor             to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in two different roles;             the second actor in Oscar history to do so was  Jamie Foxx in 2004:
Barry Fitzgerald (Best Actor for Going My Way              (1944)* and Best Supporting Actor for Going My Way (1944))
Al Pacino (Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992)*              and Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross (1992))
Jamie Foxx (Best Actor for Ray (2004)* and              Best Supporting Actor for Collateral (2004))
One Nomination for Multiple Roles:
Peter Sellers is the only actor to be nominated            (as Best Actor) for playing three entirely-different roles in the same film,
Three films have had the entire speaking casts nominated for awards:
Sleuth (1972), with Best Actor nominations              for Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier
Give 'Em Hell, Harry! (1975), with a Best              Actor nomination for James Whitmore
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) , with various nominations              for all four cast members, Elizabeth Taylor (Best Actress win), Richard Burton (Best Actor loss), George              Segal (Best Supporting Actor loss), and Sandy Dennis (Best Supporting Actress win)
Actors Who Won An Oscar for a Dual Role:
Fredric March, Best Actor winner for Dr. Jekyll              and Mr. Hyde (1931/32): Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Laurence Olivier, Best Actor winner for Hamlet              (1948, UK): Hamlet and the Voice of the Ghost (uncredited)
Lee Marvin, Best Actor winner for Cat Ballou (1965):              Tim Strawn and Kid Shelleen
The Best Actor Award for Two Films in the Same Year:
Emil Jannings was the only performer to win the               Best Actor award for his performances in two films in the same year: The               Last Command (1927/28) and The Way of All Flesh (1927/28) -               he was the very first actor to win the Academy Award for               Best Actor; the Switzerland-born actor was the first non-American               to win the award, which was presented to him a month before the               ceremony.
Winning Co-Stars: Best Actor and Best            Actress in the Same Film:
Seven films have won in both the leading actor and leading            actress categories:
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in
Gene Hackman, Best Actor ( The French Connection (1971) ), Best Supporting Actor ( Unforgiven (1992) )
Kevin Spacey, Best Supporting Actor (The Usual Suspects (1995)), Best Actor (American Beauty (1999))
Denzel Washington, Best Supporting Actor (Glory (1989)), Best Actor (Training Day (2001))
Films With the Most Oscars for Acting: (see also here )
The Only Films in Which Three Stars Won Performance Oscars
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - 12 nominations total, 4 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Vivien              Leigh (Best Actress), Karl Malden (Best Supporting Actor), Kim Hunter              (Best Supporting Actress)
Network (1976) - 10              nominations total, 5 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Peter Finch              (Best Actor), Faye Dunaway (Best Actress), Beatrice Straight (Best              Supporting Actress)
Film Debut Nominees/Winners for Best Actor Oscars:
Not a single actor has ever won the Best Actor            Oscar for a feature film debut. A few of those below had very small debuting roles before a substantial film appearance. Others have            received nominations for Best Actor for their debut role (a sampling):
Paul Muni in The Valiant (1928/29) (nomination)
Lawrence Tibbett in The Rogue Song (1929-30) (nomination)
Orson Welles in
The Graduate (1967) (nomination)
Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982) (win) (he had a bit role in his feature film debut, Fear is the Key (1972))
Geoffrey Rush in Shine (1997) (win) (he had a bit role in a few earlier films, including Hoodwink (1981))
Reprising an Acclaimed Stage Role:
Six Best Actor winners won the Oscar for an acclaimed            stage role that they reprised on the screen. Those with an asterisk (*) won both a Best Actor Oscar and a Tony Award for musical roles they had created on stage:
George Arliss for Disraeli (1929/30)
Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Jose Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Paul Scofield in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
Oscar-Winning Roles First on TV:
The only two Best Actor winners who first played their            Oscar-winning roles on TV were:
Maximilian Schell for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) [Note: Schell is the lowest-billed performer to win a Best Actor              Academy Award. He received fifth billing - behind Spencer Tracy, Burt              Lancaster, Richard Widmark, and Marlene Dietrich.]
Cliff Robertson for Charly (1968)
Best Actors Refusing Their Oscar Trophy:
George C. Scott refused his Best Actor Oscar for Patton (1970)
Marlon Brando refused his Best Actor Oscar  for
Note: Much earlier in 1935, Dudley Nichols (the Best Writing Oscar winner for The Informer (1935)) also boycotted the Oscars, thereby refusing his Academy Award
Actors/Actresses With the Most Consecutive Acting            Nominations (in both Leading and Supporting categories)
(wins marked with *):
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Chicago (2002), Cold Mountain (2003)*
Longest Time Period Between First and Last Nomination/Win:
48 years - Katharine Hepburn was first nominated              and won Best Actress for Morning Glory (1932/33) and then 48              years later was nominated and won Best Actress for On Golden Pond              (1981) - her fourth (and last) Oscar win!
46 years - Alan Arkin was nominated as Best Actor               for The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming! (1966) and               then two years later as Best Actor for The               Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Then, there was a long gap               - 38 years later, after which he won Best Supporting Actor for Little               Miss Sunshine (2006). He topped that with another six year               wait for another Best Supporting Actor nomination for Argo (2012).
41 years - Henry Fonda was first nominated in 1940              as Best Actor for
The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) ,              and wasn't nominated again until 41 years later - when he won his              sole Oscar (Best Actor) for On Golden Pond              (1981)
40 years - Mickey Rooney was first nominated as              Best Actor for Babes in Arms (1939), then as Best Actor for The Human Comedy (1943), then as Best Supporting Actor for The Bold and the Brave (1956), and then as Best Supporting              Actor for The Black Stallion (1979), 40 years later, but he              didn't ever win!
39 years - Sylvester Stallone was first nominated               as Best Actor for Rocky (1976) ,               then again as Best Supporting Actor for Creed (2015)
39 years - Jack Palance was              nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Sudden Fear (1952) and              then as Best Supporting Actor for
Shane (1953) - it was a time span of 39 years from his first nomination to his              eventual victory as Best Supporting Actor for City Slickers (1991)!
38 years - Helen Hayes had              to wait 38 years between her only Oscar nominations (both wins), Best              Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32), and Best              Supporting Actress for Airport (1970)
37 years - Albert Finney was              first nominated as Best Actor for Tom Jones (1963) and then              received three more nominations for Best Actor: for Murder on the              Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under              the Volcano (1984) -- 37 years after his first nomination, he              received his fifth and final Oscar nomination for Best Supporting              Actor for Erin Brockovich (2000) - he never won!
Longest Gap Between First Nomination and First Winning Film:
41 years - Henry Fonda  was              first nominated in 1940 as Best Actor for
The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) ,              and didn't win an acting award (Best Actor) until 41 years later for On Golden Pond (1981),              and these were his only two career acting nominations (Note: Fonda              did receive a producing Best Picture nomination for 12              Angry Men (1957) )
32 years - Geraldine Page was first nominated in              1953 as Best Supporting Actress for Hondo (1953), and won Best              Actress for A Trip to Bountiful (1985), 32 years later; she was the only actress with seven unsuccessful nominations (in both categories) before finally winning Best Actress with nomination # 8
28 years - Paul Newman was first nominated in 1958              as Best Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) ,              and won Best Actor for The Color of Money (1986), 28 years              later; he was the only actor with six unsuccessful Best Actor nominations before finally winning Best Actor with nomination # 7 - and he later added another nomination as Best Actor for Nobody's Fool (1994), and his first  Best Supporting Actor nomination also came later for Road to Perdition (2002)
25 years - Shirley MacLaine was first nominated in              1958 as Best Actress for Some Came Running (1958), and won              Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (1983) ,              25 years later
20 years - Al Pacino was first nominated in 1972              as Best Supporting Actor for
The Godfather (1972) ,              and won Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992), 20 years later
20 years - John Wayne was first nominated in 1949              as Best Actor for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), and won Best Actor              for True Grit (1969), 20 years later
18 years - Ronald Colman was first nominated in 1929/30              as Best Actor for Bulldog Drummond (1929/30), and won Best              Actor for A Double Life (1947), 18 years later
17 years - Gregory Peck was first nominated in 1945              as Best Actor for The Keys of the Kingdom (1945), and won Best              Actor for
12 years - Leonardo DiCaprio was first nominated               in 1993 as Best Supporting Actor for What's Eating Gilbert Grape               (1993), and won Best Actor for The Revenant (2015), 12 years later
Shortest Best Actor Performance:
Anthony Hopkins had the shortest screen time for his Best Actor Oscar win - as Hannibal "Cannibal" Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991) - supposedly 16 minutes of screen time
Only Non-Human Best Actor-Nominated Performance:
Jeff Bridges as the alien 'Starman' in Starman              (1984)
Directors Directing Themselves to a Best Actor               Oscar or Nomination:
There are only two actors/performers that have directed themselves to an Oscar-winning Best Actor Oscar:
British actor Laurence Olivier as the title character in Hamlet (1948, UK) - Olivier became the first individual to win both an acting Oscar and Best Picture Oscar (as producer) - this time for the same film
Italian actor Roberto Benigni as Guido in Life is Beautiful (1998, It.)
Many actors have directed themselves to Best Actor Oscar nominations, most prominently:
Charles Chaplin for The Great Dictator (1940)
Woody Allen             for Annie Hall (1977)
Warren             Beatty for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds               (1981)
Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989)
Billy             Bob Thornton for Sling Blade (1996)
Roberto             Benigni for Life               is Beautiful (1998)
Ed Harris for Pollock (2000)
Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Michael Douglas became the second individual to win both an acting Oscar and Best Picture Oscar, this time for different films: Best Picture (
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) ) and Best Actor (Wall Street (1987)).
Winning Performances Portraying Royalty:
Yul Brynner, Best Actor as King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I (1956)
Ingrid Bergman,  Best Actress as Anastasia (possibly daughter of murdered Russian czar Nicholas II) in Anastasia (1956)
Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968)
Helen Mirren, Best Actress as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006)
Colin Firth, Best Actor as King George VI in The King's Speech             (2010)
Married (or Attached) Oscar-Winners:
Only three times have married             couples (husband-wife) won acting Oscars:
Laurence Olivier, Best Actor for Hamlet (1948),                and Vivien Leigh, Best Actress for
Gone                With the Wind (1939) and
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) [Note: They were not yet married when Leigh won her first Oscar             in 1939.]
Paul Newman, Best Actor for The Color of Money                  (1986), and Joanne Woodward, Best Actress for The Three                   Faces of Eve (1957). [Note: They were married in 1958,                   prior to Woodward receiving 1957's Best Actress Award.]  Newman                   also directed Woodward to her second Best Actress nomination                   for his Best Picture-nominated film Rachel,              Rachel (1968).
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Supporting Actress for Chicago (2002), and husband Michael Douglas, Best Actor for Wall Street (1987) [Note: The couple             were not married until the year 2000.]
There are others (girlfriend/boyfriend, or unmarried companions) who are close            to (or have achieved) the same milestone:
Spencer Tracy, Best Actor and Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Diane Keaton, Best Actress winner for Best Director-winning Woody Allen's
Annie Hall (1977) -  although they were romantically linked, they never married
Amy Madigan, Best Supporting Actress for Twice                  in a Lifetime (1985), and Ed Harris, nominated four times                  (1995,  1998, 2000, 2002) [Note: Harris directed himself to                  a Best Actor nomination  for Pollock (2000).]
Susan Sarandon, Best Actress for Dead Man Walking              (1995) (directed by her Best Director-nominated husband (unofficial              live-in) Tim Robbins); Robbins won Best Supporting Actor for Mystic              River (2003); earlier, Sarandon was married to Chris Sarandon,              nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Others: Jack Nicholson-Anjelica Huston,  Al Pacino-Diane Keaton, and William Hurt-Marlee Matlin
Married (or Attached) Oscar-Nominees:
Five married couples           have earned acting nominations in the same year (three times,           a husband-and-wife team have been nominated for the same picture):
Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Best Actor and Best              Actress nominations for The Guardsman (1932) - both lost
Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, Best Actor              and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Witness for the Prosecution              (1957) - both lost
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (win), Best Actor and              Best Actress nominations for
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Frank Sinatra, Best Supporting Actor nomination (and win) for From Here to Eternity (1953) , and Ava              Gardner, Best Actress nomination for Mogambo (1953)
Rex Harrison, Best Actor nomination for Cleopatra              (1963), and Rachel Roberts, Best Actress nomination for This              Sporting Life (1963)
The only divorced couple to co-star in a film with each receiving an Oscar nomination:
William Powell and Carole Lombard, Best Actor and Best Actress nominations for My Man Godfrey (1936)
Brother-Sister Oscar Winners/Nominees:
The only brother and sister to win acting Oscars             are:
Lionel Barrymore, Best Actor for A Free Soul                 (1930/31)
Ethel Barrymore, Best Supporting Actress for None                 But the Lonely Heart (1944)
The only sisters to win acting Oscars are:
Joan Fontaine, Best Actress for Suspicion (1941)
Olivia de Havilland, Best Actress for To Each                 His Own (1946), and The             Heiress (1949)
The only brothers nominated for acting Oscars         are:
River Phoenix, nominated as Best Supporting Actor               for Running on Empty (1988)
Joaquin Phoenix, nominated as Best Supporting Actor               for Gladiator (2000), Best Actor for Walk the Line (2005), and               Best Actor for The Master (2012)
Youngest and Oldest Best Actors: Nominees and Winners
Note: The calculated time is from date of birth to the            date of either (1) the nominations announcement, or (2) the date of            the awards ceremony.
Youngest Best Actor Nominee