The Best Supporting Actor Academy Award: Facts and Trivia

The Best Supporting Actor award should actually be titled "the best performance by an actor in a supporting role."

In 1936, the acting awards were expanded to start recognizing supporting roles. Best Supporting Actor Oscars are traditionally given to actors who stand out in small roles.

Throughout Academy history, most of the winners in this category usually have no previous Oscar wins.

Within five years, Walter Brennan won three Best Supporting Actor awards. He was the first and - to date - is the only performer to win three supporting awards (and within the shortest period of time - five years! And his three wins were in the category's first five years). Therefore, he was also the first to win three acting Oscars and the first Best Supporting Actor Oscar recipient.

Five other actors have received two Best Supporting Actor awards (among them is one performer who has won a consecutive statuette, Robards).

The Top Best Supporting Actor Oscar Winner	Best Supporting Actor Oscar Wins
Walter Brennan 4 career nominations (all B.S.A. noms), 3 wins	Come and Get It (1936) Kentucky (1938) The Westerner (1940)
Other Top Best Supporting Actor Oscar Winners	Best Supporting Actor Oscar Wins
Anthony Quinn 4 career nominations (2 B.S.A. noms), 2 wins	Viva Zapata! (1952) Lust for Life (1956)
Peter Ustinov 3 career nominations (all B.S.A. noms) 2 wins	Spartacus (1960) Topkapi (1964)
Melvyn Douglas 3 career nominations (2 B.S.A. noms), 2 wins	Hud (1963) Being There (1979)
Michael Caine 6 career nominations (2 B.S.A. noms), 2 wins	Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) The Cider House Rules (1999)
Jason Robards 3 career nominations (all B.S.A. noms), 2 wins	All the President's Men (1976) Julia (1977)

Actors Winning at Least One Statuette in Both the Lead and Supporting Categories:

Six actors have won acting awards in both the lead and supporting categories:

• Jack Lemmon (1955, 1973) - the first!
• Jack Nicholson (1975, 1983, 1997)
• Gene Hackman (1971, 1992)
• Robert De Niro (1974, 1980)
• Kevin Spacey (1995, 1999)* - his only two career nominations (so far) (Helen Hayes has also won lead and supporting actress awards for her only career nominations)
• Denzel Washington (1989, 2001)

Victor McLaglen was the first performer to be nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar (for The Quiet Man (1952)) after having already won the Lead Performance Oscar for The Informer (1935).

Posthumous Winner:

The only actor to win a posthumous acting Oscar in a supporting role was Australian actor Heath Ledger for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). He was the second actor to win a posthumous acting Oscar - the first was Peter Finch, who won Best Actor for his role as Howard Beale in Network (1976).

Multiple Nominations - Double Dipping:

In only one case, an actor (Barry Fitzgerald) was simultaneously nominated in two performance categories for the same film. In a few instances, actors have been nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for different films in the same year. The two male actors who accomplished this feat were Al Pacino, and Jamie Foxx. No single performer has ever won two performing awards in the same year. Double nominees usually win in one category. Pacino and Foxx won as Best Actor, and Fitzgerald won as Best Supporting Actor. Both Fitzgerald and Foxx had multiple nominations for their debut appearances.

Al Pacino was the first actor to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in two different roles. And Jamie Foxx was the only African-American performer to have two Oscar nominations in one year:

• 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))

The only actor simultaneously nominated in both the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories for the same film and performance:

• Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor* for Going My Way (1944)

The Academy would prevent this in future years by not allowing a double nomination for the same performance.

(There have been a total of eleven performers who have received two acting nominations in the same year (wins are marked with *). Of the 11 performers (actors and actresses) who've been recognized with nods for two performances in the same year, seven of them ended up winning one of the trophies.)
(See the Best Supporting Actress section for eight actresses who have duplicated the feat.)

Multiple Wins for the Same Character:

The only actor to win two Oscars for the same role:

• Harold Russell received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of a double-amputee veteran returning from WWII in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - his debut film,
• Russsell received an additional Special Honorary Oscar for the same performance "for bringing hope and courage to fellow veterans"

The only time two actors have won Oscars playing the same character (Don Vito Corleone) in different films:

• Marlon Brando won Best Actor for his role as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972)
• Robert De Niro won Best Supporting Actor for his role as younger Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II (1974)

The Most Best Supporting Actor Nominations:

Actors with the most Best Supporting Actor nominations include:

• Walter Brennan (4) - with three wins (1936, 1938, 1940)
• Jack Nicholson (4) - with one win (1983)
• Arthur Kennedy (4) - no wins
• Claude Rains (4) - no wins
• Charles Bickford (3)
• Jeff Bridges (3)
• Charles Coburn (3)
• Robert Duvall (3)
• Gene Hackman (3)
• Martin Landau (3)
• Al Pacino (3)
• Jack Palance (3)
• Jason Robards (3)
• Peter Ustinov (3)
• Gig Young (3)

Back-to-Back Winners:

Five actors/actresses have won back-to-back (consecutive year) Oscars:

• Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937)
• Spencer Tracy for Captain Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938)
• Katharine Hepburn for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Lion in Winter (1968)
• Jason Robards* for All the President's Men (1976) and Julia (1977)
• Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994)

*Jason Robards is the only star to win back-to-back Best Supporting Actor Oscars.
No Best Supporting Actress has won two Academy Awards in a row.

Film Debut Nominees/Winners:

A number of actors have won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for their debut performance, while others just received a nomination for a substantial role in a film debut (a sampling):

• John Garfield in Four Daughters (1938) (nomination)
• Robert Morley in Marie Antoinette (1938) (nomination)
• Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941) (nomination)
• John Dall in The Corn is Green (1945) (nomination)
• Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death (1947) (nomination)
• Jose Ferrer in Joan of Arc (1948) (nomination)
• Don Murray in Bus Stop (1956) (nomination)
• Jason Miller in The Exorcist (1973) (nomination)
• Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Turning Point (1977) (nomination)
• Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People (1980)
• Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields (1984)
• John Malkovich in Places in the Heart (1984) (nomination)
• Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game (1992) (nomination)
• Edward Norton in Primal Fear (1996) (nomination)

Actors/Actresses With the Most Consecutive Acting Nominations (in both Leading and Supporting categories)
(wins marked with *):

Five Nominations in Consecutive Years:	Films
Bette Davis (1938-1942)	Jezebel (1938)*, Dark Victory (1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), Now, Voyager (1942)
Greer Garson (1941-1945)	Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942)*, Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), The Valley of Decision (1945)
Four Nominations in Consecutive Years:
Jennifer Jones (1943-1946)	The Song of Bernadette (1943)*, Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946)
Thelma Ritter (1950-1953) - all for Best Supporting Actress	All About Eve (1950), The Mating Season (1951), With a Song in My Heart (1952), Pickup on South Street (1953)
Marlon Brando (1951-1954)	A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952), Julius Caesar (1953), On the Waterfront (1954)*
Elizabeth Taylor (1957-1960)	Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Butterfield 8 (1960)*
Al Pacino (1972-1975)	The Godfather (1972), Serpico (1973), The Godfather, Part II (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Three Nominations in Consecutive Years:
Spencer Tracy (1936-1938)	San Francisco (1936), Captains Courageous (1937)*, Boys Town (1938)*
Gary Cooper (1941-1943)	Sergeant York (1941)*, The Pride of the Yankees (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Ingrid Bergman (1943-1945)	For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gaslight (1944)*, The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Gregory Peck (1945-1947)	The Keys of the Kingdom (1945), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Deborah Kerr (1956-1958)	The King and I (1956), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Separate Tables (1958)
Richard Burton (1964-1966)	Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Jack Nicholson (1973-1975)	The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)*
Jane Fonda (1977-1979)	Julia (1977), Coming Home (1978)*, The China Syndrome (1979)
Meryl Streep (1981-1983)	The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Sophie's Choice (1982)*, Silkwood (1983)
Glenn Close (1982-1984)	The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Natural (1984)
William Hurt (1985-1987)	Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)*, Children of a Lesser God (1986), Broadcast News (1987)
Russell Crowe (1999-2001)	The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000)*, A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Renee Zellweger (2001-2003)	Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Chicago (2002), Cold Mountain (2003)*

African-American Notables:

There have been sixteen nominations for black performers as Best Supporting Actor, divided amongst 13 performers:

#	Best Supporting Actor Nominee	Film
1	Rupert Crosse	The Reivers (1969)
2	Howard E. Rollins	Ragtime (1981)
3	Louis Gossett, Jr.	An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) (win)
4	Adolph Caesar	A Soldier's Story (1984)
5	Denzel Washington	Cry Freedom (1987)
6	Denzel Washington	Glory (1989) (win)
7	Morgan Freeman	Street Smart (1989)
8	Morgan Freeman	Million Dollar Baby (2004) (win)
9	Jaye Davidson	The Crying Game (1992)
10	Samuel L. Jackson	Pulp Fiction (1994)
11	Cuba Gooding, Jr.	Jerry Maguire (1996) (win)
12	Michael Clarke Duncan	The Green Mile (1999)
13	Djimon Hounsou (Beninese-American)	In America (2003)
14	Djimon Hounsou (Beninese-American)	Blood Diamond (2006)
15	Jamie Foxx	Collateral (2004)
16	Eddie Murphy	Dreamgirls (2006)

Only seven black performers have won the Oscar in the supporting category (four Best Supporting Actor, three Best Supporting Actress). Only four black actors have won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar:

• Louis Gossett, Jr. for An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
• Denzel Washington for Glory (1989)
• Cuba Gooding, Jr. for Jerry Maguire (1996)
• Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Only twelve awards have been won by African-Americans in both lead and supporting categories (four Best Actor, one Best Actress, four Best Supporting Actor, and three Best Supporting 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)

With his win, Denzel Washington also became the first black actor to win two Academy Awards (as Best Supporting Actor for Glory (1989) and as Best Actor for Training Day (2001)). With his Best Actor nomination for Training Day (2001), Denzel Washington became the most-nominated black actor with five nominations (in supporting and lead roles).

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):

• 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).

Morgan Freeman's Best Supporting Actor win for Million Dollar Baby (2004), paired with 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 only been a few Best Supporting Actor Oscar wins by ethnic/other minority (non-English) performers, or by actors in foreign-language performances:

• Spanish-born actor Javier Bardem won Best Supporting Actor for No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Puerto Rican Benicio Del Toro won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Traffic (2000) - a primarily non-English (Spanish) language role
• Cambodian native Haing S. Ngor won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The Killing Fields (1984) - he was the first Asian performer to win this Oscar
• Robert DeNiro won the Best Supporting Oscar for The Godfather, Part II (1974) in which he spoke Sicilian
• Mexican-born Anthony Quinn won two Best Supporting Actor Oscars - for Viva Zapata! (1952) and Lust for Life (1956) - he was the first Mexican to win an Academy Award Oscar

Notable ethnic/minority performance nominations for Best Supporting Actor include:

• Djimon Hounsou was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Blood Diamond (2006)
• Beninese-American Djimon Hounsou was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for In America (2003) - he was one of the first African-born actors nominated for an acting Oscar
• Puerto Rican-born Benicio Del Toro was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for 21 Grams (2003)
• Japanese actor Ken Watanabe was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for The Last Samurai (2003)
• Ben Kingsley was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Sexy Beast (2001)
• Ben Kingsley (with half-Indian (birth name Krishna Bhanji) and half-English descent) was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Bugsy (1991)
• Cuban-born Andy Garcia was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather, Part III (1990)
• Native-American (Lakota Sioux) actor Graham Greene (from Canada) was nominated for his Best Supporting Actor role in Dances With Wolves (1990)
• Japanese actor Noriyuki "Pat" Morita was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for The Karate Kid (1984)
• Native-American Chief Dan George was nominated as Best Supporting Actor in Little Big Man (1970) - he was the first Native-American to receive an Oscar nomination
• Japansese actor Makoto Iwamatsu was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for The Sand Pebbles (1966)
• Egypt-born Omar Sharif was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Japanese native Sessue Hayakawa was nominated for his Best Supporting Actor role as a Japanese POW camp commander in The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)
• White performer Jeff Chandler was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for playing the role of Apache chief Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950)
• South African-born Cecil Kellaway was nominated twice for Best Supporting Actor: for Luck of the Irish (1948) and for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
• Puerto Rican-born Jose Ferrer was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Joan of Arc (1948)

Shortest and Other Oddities:

The shortest performance time to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar was for Anthony Quinn for about nine minutes as Paul Gaugin in Lust for Life (1956). [The shortest performance to win an Oscar ever was in the Best Supporting Actress category: Beatrice Straight won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for less than eight minutes of screen time in Network (1976), with only 8 speaking parts (of approx. 260 words). (Runner up: Judi Dench for about ten minutes of screen time as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love (1998), with 14 speaking parts (of approx. 446 words).)]

The only diminutive dwarf actor ever nominated for Best Supporting Actor:

• Michael Dunn was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Ship of Fools (1965)

The only Best Supporting Actor winner for a mute performance (in the sound era):

• John Mills for his performance as the town idiot Michael in Ryan's Daughter (1970)

Gig Young (with real-name Byron Barr) was the only Oscar winner, Best Supporting Actor for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), who adopted his screen name from the role he played in The Gay Sisters (1942) as "Gig Young".

Jason Robards has the record for the most Oscar-nominated roles as historical personages:

• Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in All The President's Men (1976)
• Author Dashiell Hammett in Julia (1977)
• Howard Hughes in Melvin and Howard (1980)

Related Oscar Winners and Nominees:

The first - and only - brother and sister to win acting Oscars were:

• Lionel Barrymore, who won the Best Actor award for A Free Soul (1930/31)
• Ethel Barrymore, who won the Best Supporting Actress award for None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
  (Note: Famous brother John Barrymore was never nominated, nor has descendant Drew Barrymore (yet).)

Other brother-sister acting nominees include: Jane and Peter Fonda, Eric and Julia Roberts, and Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine.

The only brothers nominated for acting Oscars were:

• River Phoenix as Best Supporting Actor for Running on Empty (1988)
• Joaquin Phoenix as Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator (2000)

The only mother-daughter duo to have won performance Oscars are:

• Judy Garland (a special juvenile award winner) for The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Liza Minnelli (as Best Actress) for Cabaret (1972)

Vincente Minnelli (Garland's husband and Minnelli's father) also won a Best Director Oscar for Gigi (1958).

Diane Ladd and Laura Dern are the first and only mother-daughter acting pair nominated for the same film in Oscar history: both received nominations for Rambling Rose (1991). Add to that the fact that father Bruce Dern was Oscar-nominated (Best Supporting Actor for Coming Home (1978)) - that makes them the only mother-father-daughter acting group with Oscar nominations.

Two pairs of sisters have competed against each other (when nominated simultaneously) for the same Best Actress award:

• Joan Fontaine in Suspicion (1941) defeated sister Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (1941); de Havilland later won two Best Actress Oscars for her roles in To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949)
• Vanessa Redgrave for Morgan (1966) vs. Lynn Redgrave in Georgy Girl (1966) - both lost to Elizabeth Taylor

The only other sisters to have received acting Oscar nominations (supporting in this case):

• Meg Tilly for Agnes of God (1985) and Jennifer Tilly for Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

Father-son acting nominees include:

• Kirk Douglas (for Champion (1949), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Lust for Life (1956)), and Michael Douglas (for Wall Street (1987))
• Raymond Massey (for Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)) and Daniel Massey for Star! (1980))

Michael, Vanessa, and Lynn Redgrave are the only father-daughter-daughter group among acting nominees. Michael's single nomination was for Mourning Becomes Electra (1947).

Nominated father-daughter acting combos also include: Ryan O'Neal (Best Actor for Love Story (1970)) and Tatum O'Neal (Best Supporting Actress for Paper Moon (1973)).

Winning father-daughter acting combos include:

• Jon Voight (Best Actor for Coming Home (1978)) and Angelina Jolie (Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted (1999))
• Henry Fonda (Best Actor for On Golden Pond (1981) and Jane Fonda (Best Actress for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978))

The only father-son-daughter Oscar nominees are Henry, Peter (nominated as Best Actor for Ulee's Gold (1997)), and Jane Fonda. Henry and Jane are also the only father-daughter duo nominated for the same film: On Golden Pond (1981).

Three Generations:

1948's Oscar-winning director John Huston directed both his father (Walter Huston) to a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and his daughter (Anjelica) to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in respectively, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and Prizzi's Honor (1985) 37 years later. [Huston won two Oscars for writing and directing the 1948 film.] This remarkable feat made the Hustons the first family with three generations of Oscar winners - Huston became the only director to have directed both his father and daughter to Oscar victories. Since Huston also received an acting nomination (supporting) for The Cardinal (1963), the Hustons are the only grandfather-father-daughter acting nominees in Oscar history.

In addition, this made the Hustons the only grandfather-granddaughter ever to win Academy Awards:

• Walter Huston, Best Supporting Actor winner for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) (directed by his son John Huston)
• Anjelica Huston, Best Supporting Actress winner for Prizzi's Honor (1985) (directed by her father John Huston)

A win for Sofia Coppola for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation (2003) made her part of the second family of three-generation Oscar winners (her father is a five-time winner and her grandfather, Carmine Coppola, won for musical score on The Godfather Part II (1974)). Further connections can be made for the Coppolas - the only father-daughter-nephew grouping to win Oscars:

• Francis Ford Coppola, Best Director winner for The Godfather Part II (1974)
• Sofia Coppola, Best Original Screenplay winner for Lost in Translation (2003)
• Nicolas Cage, Best Actor winner for Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Cast Nominations:

Thirteen films have received nominations in all four acting categories:

• My Man Godfrey (1936)
• Mrs. Miniver (1942)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
• Johnny Belinda (1948)
• Sunset Boulevard (1950)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• From Here To Eternity (1953)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Network (1976)
• Coming Home (1978)
• Reds (1981)

Three films have had the entire cast 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, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis

Three films have had three nominees for Best Supporting Actor:

• On The Waterfront (1954) - Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Rod Steiger (all lost to Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa (1954))
• The Godfather (1972) - James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Al Pacino (all lost to Joel Grey for Cabaret (1972))
• The Godfather, Part II (1974) - Robert De Niro, Lee Strasberg, and Michael V. Gazzo (De Niro won)

Youngest and Oldest Best Supporting Actors:

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. It is quite common that the Best Supporting Actor winner is either an older, established performer, or a young, inexperienced actor.