An Oscar is the biggest accolade a movie actor can win.
In 2022, fiction was put to one side when Will Smith, who eventually won Best Actor in a Leading Role, aimed a slap at Chris Rock after the comedian made jokes about the American’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Throughout history, the trophy has been in the hands of numerous actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey or Will Smith himself.
Among the Spaniards, only Penelope Cruz, as ‘Best Supporting Actress’ in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men as ‘Best Supporting Actor’ have come close to winning this award.
The performer with the most Oscars for ‘Best Actor’.
The actor who has won ‘Best Actor’ the most times is Daniel Day-Lewis. The Londoner won the Oscar three times: the first in 1989, with ‘The Left Foot’, the second, 18 years later, in 2007, with ‘There Will Be Blood’ and the last, in 2012, with Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’.
In second place are nine actors tied with two ‘Best Actor’ Oscars: Spencer Tracy (1937 – 1938), Fredric March (1932 – 1946), Gary Cooper (1941 – 1952), Marlon Brando (1954 – 1972), Dustin Hoffman (1979 – 1988), Tom Hanks (1993 – 1994), Jack Nicholson (1975 – 1997), Sean Penn (2003 – 2008) and Anthony Hopkins (1992 – 2021).
Actors with the most ‘Best Actor’ nominations
The actors with the most nominations in the ‘Best Actor’ category are Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier, both with nine nominations and with two and one Oscar win, respectively.
Just behind them, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson and Peter O’Toole have eight nominations in the category and have won the award three times between them, once for Paul Newman and twice for Jack Nicholson.