Which actor is most due for an Academy Award?

[Mister Mets]

I've been thinking about this question. Which actor, who currently doesn't have a competitive Oscar, is most due? This is limited to actors who are alive and not retired, so I'm excluding Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford, although they can count as "other" if you think I'm wrong about them being basically retired from acting.

Some may have honorary Academy Awards, which are hard to get, but that's not relevant to this question.

I'm limited to 14 choices and other....

Amy Adams- She's been nominated six times, and should've been nominated for Arrival.
Angela Bassett- She was considered due when she became the first and only actress nominated for an MCU film. She's also nominated for playing Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It? and her other credits include Malcolm X, Boyz N The Hood, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Passion Fish and the Mission Impossible series.
Glenn Close- She was the frontrunner for The Wife and considered due before Olivia Colman won. She got another nomination since then.
Toni Colette- It takes range to play her characters in The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine, Hereditary and Knives Out.
Tom Cruise- Possibly the last remaining true movie star.
Matt Damon- Well-deserved nominations for Good Will Hunting, Invictus and The Martian. Likely in the running for Oppenheimer.
Willem Defoe- He established Norman Osborn as the archenemy for two Spider-Men, in addition to Das Boot and Oscar-nominated performances in Platoon, Shadow of the Vampire, The Florida Project and At Eternity's Gate. He has range and works really well in specific situations.
Robert Downey Jr- Seems to be gunning for a supporting Oscar in Oppenheimer. Possibly the definitive action hero of the 21st Century as Iron Man. Oscar-nominated for Chaplin and Tropic Thunder.
Ralph Fiennes- He's been in three best picture winners with Schindler's List, The English Patient and the Hurt Locker. Voldemort's other major performances include Quiz Show, The Constant Gardener, In Bruges and last year's The Menu.
Harrison Ford- Potentially a bigger movie star than Tom Cruise.
Samuel L Jackson- He's getting some press complaining about how he wasn't nominated for Jungle Fever and how his best scene was cut from A Time to Kill. His sole nomination was as the best-regarded performance in Pulp Fiction, which some view as the best film of the 90s.
Tony Leung- The only man on this list to never be nominated for an Academy Award. In the Mood for Love may be the best regarded movie of the 21st Century (Sight & Sound certainly thinks so) and other major performances include Chungking Express (which Sight & Sound rated above the American trinity of Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption and Forrest Gump), Happy Together, Infernal Affairs (the basis for The Departed), Ang Lee's Lust, Caution and Hero.
Ian McKellan- The frontrunner as Gandalf. Other performances include Magneto, a former Nazi in Apt Pupil, a tortured director in Gods and Monsters and various theatrical adaptations.
Naomi Watts- Mulholland Drive is very well-regarded. She has also been nominated for 21 Grams and The Impossible, in addition to acclaimed performances in The Painted Veil and Best Picture winner-Birdman.

I do not have room in the pool for Bradley Cooper, Johnny Depp, Charlotte Rampling or Isabelle Hubert. And that is among working actors. I'm sure there are others I left out, so there is the "Other (Please Specify)" option.

[Zauriel]

I have not watched any of those films yet, but I think they are all good choices, since I read some critical reviews about the films mentioned in the post.

[Scott Taylor]

A life's work and a feeling of being jilted at the Oscars before may play into it. In which case I'd pick:

Robert Downey Jr. - deserved to win for Chaplin, but lost to a stellar performance by Al Pacino, plus he was perceived as "due"

Angela Bassett - deserved to win for the Tina Turner movie, but lost to Holly Hunter for the Piano. Isn't she getting an Academy Honorary Award?

[caj]

I'd go with Ralph Fiennes. Can't believe he hasn't won yet.

[JBatmanFan05]

Clint Eastwood - Considering Eastwood acted in a 2018 and 2021 film, and it's only 2023, I'm fine with not labelling him as retired (as far as being an actor). His next film will apparently see him retire, even though he's not acting in it apparently (so is he only retiring as a director perhaps?). So yeah, I must pick Clint Eastwood as the most due. As with RDJ, Eastwood lost his due award to Pacino's Scent of a Woman performance, which is amazing...perhaps all 3 actors deserved to share the Oscar that year.

[ChrisIII]

Think Ford's most critically acclaimed roles were those in the late 80s and early 90s, when he kind of started branching out more from Han and Indy-WITNESS, FRANTIC, PRESUMED INNOCENT and THE FUGITIVE.

[Mister Mets]

My initial guess was Willem Defoe, but I did want to wait until I saw Oppenheimer. With two of these actors in major roles in a movie coming out the day I did the poll, it seemed a good idea to wait two days to answer.

The argument for Defoe is simple. He has worked astoundingly well in different languages over decades. He's great in several categories, as a dangerous villain, a straight-forward good guy or as an eccentric genius.

But goddman Robert Downey Jr was good in Oppenheimer. I don't want to spoil it but he has an exceptional arc, and plays it well. He's had a good career before this, but if you add to it a performance better than what came before, I think he became the actor most due for an Oscar. I'm going to be interested to the extent to which others agree.

[AndrewCrossett]

Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe.

[babyblob]

I voted for Ian McKellan THe man has had so many great roles. And I really loved him in the BBC Comedy Vicious. I know tv doesnt get you an Award but he knocked it out of the park with that.

[Jim Kelly]

I've never known Toni Collette to give a bad performance. All her work is award worthy. I wanted her to get a prize for her role in THE SIXTH SENSE. However, I would not have wanted her to get an Oscar for HEREDITARY--I hated that movie and I thought everything about it was just ridiculous--it would have been a Pyrrhic victory if she'd won for that trash. Not that winning Oscars means anything anymore.

[Jokerz79]

RDJ since he robbed when he didn't get it for Chaplin.

Not only should he had won Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, Stephen Rea in Crying Game, & Denzel in Malcolm X were all better than Pacino in Scent of Woman.

Pacino got it because he didn't get it for the performances he deserved it for like Godfather, Godfather II, Dog Day Afternoon, and Serpico to name some.

Going to be honest while not horrible I think his performance in Scent of Women isn't anything special.

[JBatmanFan05]

Going to be honest while not horrible I think [Pacino's] performance in Scent of Women isn't anything special.

I disagree on this, without determining who most deserved the Oscar that year. Pacino's chemistry with Chris, his tango scene, his ability at capturing this embittered obnoxious complex character, I found his performance pretty amazing, with or without comparing it to Al's famous 70s roles.

[From The Shadows]

I chose Ian Mckellen. I've seen other Ian McKellen films which he deserved praise but Gods and Monsters he was most excellent. I know people go on about Gandalf, while wonderful, wasn't his best role to me.

[Kieran_Frost]

The only answer is Glenn Close. Period. She's been nominated for 8 Oscars. EIGHT! LEAD ACTRESS: Fatal Attraction (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Albert Noobs (2011) and the Wife (2017) SUPPORTING: the World According to Garp (1982), the Big Chill (1983), the Natural (1984) and Hillbilly Elegy (2020). And I predict she will be getting it for the upcoming Sunset Blvd musical movie; which she's already won the Tony and the Olivier award.

It's a great list of actors, they are all wonderful; but THE MOST DESERVING for an Oscar is the person who has been nominated 8 times, over 4 decades.

[JBatmanFan05]

The only answer is Glenn Close. Period.

I must admit, you do offer a strong case for Glenn Close.