Despite giving some iconic and acclaimed performances throughout their careers, these actors have surprisingly never received a single Oscar nomination. the greatest actors of all time, many have several nominations and likely an Oscar win or two.

However, for whatever reason, there are some actors who have built incredible careers that have produced many acclaimed performances in beloved movies, only to be constantly overlooked. In some cases, they are actors who have been big names for decades. There are also actors like Oscar Isaac who are still at the height of their careers, but who have delivered enough great performances that a nomination seems overdue. While they all still have time to be recognized, there is a feeling that it should have happened already.

10 Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Oscar-Worthy Role: Enough Said

Julia Louis-Dreyfus may not have been nominated for an Oscar, but she is not lacking in the awards department. In fact, Louis-Dreyfus holds the record for the most Emmy wins of any actor with an outstanding 11, thanks to her two iconic television roles in Seinfeld and Veep. However, it is surprising that the awards recognition has not translated into movies as much.

To be fair, there was a period of time when Louis-Dreyfus wasn't seen in movies too often, with her focus being on television. However, in the last couple of decades, she has found several smaller comedy-dramas to showcase her incredible skills. Her performance in Enough Said earned her a Golden Globe nomination and could have easily been her ticket to the Oscars. More recently, she was also excellent in You Hurt My Feelings. Even in blockbusters, she is exceptional, with her layered role in the cast of Thunderbolts*.

9 Zendaya

Oscar-Worthy Role: Challengers

Given that Zendaya's career is not as established as some of the other actors on this list, it might be controversial to suggest she is overdue for some Oscar attention. However, she has already delivered a few performances that seemed worthy of a nomination, only for her to be snubbed. Aside from her award-winning performance on Euphoria, the first sign of Zendaya's transition into a more mature era of her career was in the small black-and-white movie Malcolm & Marie.

However, the movie that really should have gotten Zendaya her first Oscar nomination was the sports drama Challengers. She is excellent in playing the complex characters, and as good as her costars Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor are as well, she carries the movie. Dune: Part Two proved she was able to deliver a strong performance in the midst of a massive blockbuster.

8 Oscar Isaac

Oscar-Worthy Role: Inside Llewyn Davis

Oscar Isaac is often considered to be one of the best actors of his generation, and there were likely a lot of people who assumed he would have several Oscar nominations at this point in his career. While he has maintained a popularity in Hollywood for franchises like Star Wars and Moon Knight in the MCU, he continues to search out bold projects with brilliant filmmakers.

He was also excellent as the ego-maniacal tech billionaire in Ex Machina.

One of the movies that helped put him on so many people's radar was his work in the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis. Not only was his singing impressive, but Isaac excelled at playing the dry wit, callous nature, and seething anger of the character. He was also excellent as the ego-maniacal tech billionaire in Ex Machina and gave a fantastic, reserved performance in A Most Violent Year that many critics felt was Oscar-worthy.

7 Hugh Grant

Oscar-Worthy Role: Heretic

There was a time when Hugh Grant was dismissed as merely a rom-com star, but he has reminded the world of his incredible talents in recent years. However, his rom-com era should not be overlooked as Grant was excellent in several of these projects, bringing a sense of humor and a leading man style that was completely different in movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, while also finding more complex rom-com roles like his moving performance in About a Boy.

Lately, Grant has proven to be a scene-stealing ing actor in a number of movies.

Lately, Grant has proven to be a scene-stealing ing actor in a number of movies. He upstaged Meryl Streep herself in the period comedy Florence Foster Jenkins, and there are many who felt Grant's hilarious antagonist role in Paddington 2 was a brilliant piece of work. Perhaps the closest Grant has come to his Oscar nomination was last year's intense horror movie Heretic, in which the actor commands the entire movie with his engrossing performance.

6 John Goodman

Oscar-Worthy Role: Barton Fink

John Goodman is one of those actors who, as soon as he appears in a movie, there is a good chance that he will be the best part of the whole thing. It is a rare talent to have, yet one that has not yet led to an Oscar nomination. Goodman has built a career as a character actor, and a Best ing Actor nomination would have seemed inevitable for some of his most famous roles.

Goodman is really at the top of his game when he is in a Coen Brothers movie, giving some of his best performances. While Walter in The Big Lebowski should have been an Oscar performance, his best is in Barton Fink, in which he is able to effortlessly toggle between affable and terrifying. He even elevates genre movies, delivering a chilling and terrific performance in 10 Cloverfield Lane that gained plenty of awards attention, but no nod from the Oscars.

5 Robin Wright

Oscar-Worthy Role: Forrest Gump

From her early role as Buttercup in The Princess Bride, Robin Wright cemented herself as an alluring performer and has remained in high-profile projects ever since. The fact that she was never nominated for an Oscar is likely surprising to a lot of fans, as Wright's most famous role as Forrest Gump seems impossible for the Academy to overlook, especially with all the other awards the movie received.

She has also gravitated to terrific ing roles in the likes of State of Play, Wonder Woman, and Blade Runner 2049.

However, Wright's Oscar-worthy work goes beyond her defining role in that Best Picture winner, as she was also excellent in movies like Breaking and Entering and Unbreakable. These movies highlight how wonderful Wright has been in movies that only seemed to catch on with critics later on. She has also gravitated to terrific ing roles in the likes of State of Play, Wonder Woman, and Blade Runner 2049.

4 Jim Carrey

Oscar-Worthy Role: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Jim Carrey's comedy movies changed Hollywood in the 1990s, and there are many who feel that alone should have earned him some love from the Oscars. As much as Carrey delivered comedic tour de force performances in the likes of Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Liar Liar, those types of movies never really connect with the Academy voters. However, when Carrey decided to stretch his acting skills in new kinds of roles, it was equally impressive.

Carrey's performance in The Truman Show changed a lot of people's perception of him as an actor, as he delivered a reserved and heartbreaking performance. He surprised everyone once again with his transformative performance in Man on the Moon as Andy Kaufman. However, his best performance is also his most understated with the mind-bending Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. With Carrey allegedly retiring from acting, the Oscars may have missed their chance to recognize him.

3 Kurt Russell

Oscar-Worthy Role: Miracle

Kurt Russel is a Hollywood icon who has been working in the movie business since his child actor days in Disney projects. He is also an actor who seems to gravitate towards entertaining genre fare, which is perhaps why the Academy has overlooked some of his great work. He has found plenty of love from the audience, with his iconic role as Escape from New York as well as his role as MacReady in The Thing, which is often regarded as the greatest horror movie of all time.

However, Russell has also elevated genre material with his consistently committed performances in movies like Tombstone, Backdraft, and Breakdown. While the Oscars tend to ignore these types of movies, Russell has also been excellent in more grounded stories, with his performance in the drama Silkwood with Meryl Streep being one of his best, as well as the true sports story Miracle.

2 Meg Ryan

Oscar-Worthy Role: Sleepless In Seattle

Like Hugh Grant, Meg Ryan is an actor who was praised for her rom-com roles, but not given enough credit beyond that genre. However, she is an effortlessly charming movie star who is able to deliver powerful performances in a variety of movies. When a Man Loves a Woman saw her gravitating towards more complex roles as a married mother of two who is battling alcoholism. She continued to impress in unexpected roles in Courage Under Fire and In the Cut.

With Ryan largely stepping away from the acting world, it is a shame her excellent career was not celebrated more.

However, as much as the Oscars might not embrace the rom-com genre, Ryan's work in many of those movies is genuinely great and worthy of accolades. In fact, her winning performances in When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail all earned Ryan Golden Globe nominations. With Ryan largely stepping away from the acting world, it is a shame her excellent career was not celebrated more.

1 Paul Dano

Oscar-Worthy Role: The Fabelmans

Paul Dano is an actor who feels like each new performance could be the one to earn him the long-awaited Oscar nomination that still eludes him. His breakout movie, Little Miss Sunshine, was perhaps indicative of Dano's career filled with snubs, as his acclaimed performance was overlooked at the Oscars while his costars Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, and Abigail Breslin were nominated.

Dano continues to take on challenging and dark roles, like in Prisoners and The Batman, delivering fantastic performances, but not getting the nominations. He has also appeared in a number of movies that were loved by the Academy, like There Will Be Blood and 12 Years a Slave, but was left out of the nominations. His snub for his powerful and reserved performance in The Fabelmans seemed to be the one that really highlighted how overdue Dano's Oscar nomination is.