Which actor is most due for an Academy Award?

[Kieran_Frost]

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

Awwwww; thank-you. *blushes*

[krazijoe]

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

Her career is all the case you need.

[JBatmanFan05]

Her career is all the case you need.

I don't follow all the award shows and count all the nominations, and I just didn't plum realize she was nominated so many times. I love her work, just didn't realize how many noms she got. Fatal Attraction and Dangerous Liaisons are the nominations that rung a bell.

[Mister Mets]

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.

There's a strong case for Close.

However, the performances aren't great because she was nominated.

Tony Leung has never been nominated, but that's because the Academy has failed in its job of recognizing the best performances.

In the Mood For Love was recently voted by Sight& Sound critics as the fifth best movie ever, and he's the male lead. He also has Chungking Express. (88th place) Three more films: A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995) and Lust, Caution (2007) have won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. He had major roles in Hard Boiled and Infernal Affairs (remade as The Departed.) And he was one of the male leads in Happy Together, which was recently voted the third-best LGBTQ+ film by the British Film Institute.

If big parts of an actor's body of work are in areas traditionally ignored by the academy (genre films, comedy, foreign films, etc.) it doesn't make an actor less due. Robert Downey Jr wouldn't be better as Iron Man if he had been nominated for it a few times.

[Mister Mets]

I was tempted to try to rank the actors, but I would definitely need to see more of their work. I definitely need to see more of Basset, Close and Leung. There are some specific films that I should catch, like Junebug, Invictus and Gods and Monsters.

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.

There is a bunch that would have my highest possible recommendation.

Er, did you mean to say you haven't seen all of the films. It's a bit surprising if you haven't seen The Sixth Sense, Iron Man, Pulp Fiction and Knives Out.

[Kieran_Frost]

STRONGLY OVERDUE
Glenn Close. 8 nominations. Film, TV and theatre goddess. This is the right answer.
Amy Adams. 6 nominations. She has always delivered, and done such a range of roles. I think she should have won over Melissa Leo for the Fighter (2010).
Willem Defoe. 4 nomination. He's been wonderful for decades; and doesn't get thought of for 'range' when he absolutely delivers that. I think his best chance would be in a non-serious/dark role. That would solidify the deal.

CONTENDERS
Angela Bassett. 2 nominations. Always a fierce goddess of screen, but sadly too often she's been great in so so roles. She imbued power but is often denied roles that really get to showcase her talents.
Toni Colette. 1 nomination. Frankly shocked she's only been nominated once. She's so good.
Tom Cruise. 4 nominations. I don't consider him 'overdue' because he stood a chance of winning Best Supporting for Collateral (2004) had he not insisted on being up for Best Actor, and therefore missed out on nomination all together. And he hasn't done a seriously respected acting performance since. Plus... Scientology...
Robert Downey Jr. 2 nominations. He is an incredible talent, though his association with the MCU is hindering his accolades a bit.
Ian McKellan. 2 nominations. I love Sir Ian, so so so so SO MUCH. And I'd have given him the award for the Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring (2001) BUT the overriding love and respect of his talent in the industry is due to his theatre work NOT his film work.
Tony Leung. 0 nominations. A wonderful actor. Due a nomination, at-least. Though winning an acting award for a film not in English is very hard, because it can be much harder to appreciate the performance.

NAH
Matt Damon. 3 nominations. He does have an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997). He's a very solid performer, but I've not seen him knock it out of the park enough to be 'owned' an Oscar for his acting.
Ralph Fiennes. 2 nominations. I think Voldemort actually downplayed how good he is; and damaged his 'respectability' as a serious contender.
Harrison Ford. 1 nomination. He's a star, more than an actor.
Samuel L Jackson. 1 nomination. His body of work is too inconsistent to be 'due' an award for his acting. And in some films his 'acting'.
Naomi Watts. 2 nominations. Like Matt Damon a very solid performer but not delivering enough gold consistently.

There's a strong case for Close.
However, the performances aren't great because she was nominated.

While I understand your point... as this about who is due AN OSCAR; I think who's been nominated the most is very very VERY much part of the discussion.

In the Mood For Love was recently voted by Sight& Sound critics as the fifth best movie ever, and he's the male lead. He also has Chungking Express. (88th place) Three more films: A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995) and Lust, Caution (2007) have won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. He had major roles in Hard Boiled and Infernal Affairs (remade as The Departed.) And he was one of the male leads in Happy Together, which was recently voted the third-best LGBTQ+ film by the British Film Institute.

Personally I don't care about Sight and Sound, they are a tad too pretentious in their film choices. They almost never seem to care about acting, but instead laud 'the shot' and 'the concept'. So I don't think, when talking about Oscars for acting, their opinion holds weight.

[Nods]

white supporting American character actors are the most overlooked. A lot of them are going unt to be dying off in the next ten years. John Gooodman Harvey Keitel Steve Busemi Donald Sutherland are all long overdue

[Scott Taylor]

While Glenn Close is a great actress, I feel the only way she gets one at this point is either an honorary one or if the Academy hands out one of those "overdue" Oscars to an inferior performance just to make up for previous "snubs" of more deserving efforts. No one questions her acting chops and an Oscar sure as heckfire isn't going to convince her or anyone else that she is a great actor across genres. She's proven it time and time again!

The Oscars are weird. There are people who won inexplicably who completely did not deserve it at all for the performance they gave. Sometimes I wonder if the Academy people just get enamored by the newest shiny object. Some of the Oscars that have been handed out over the years are laughable. Laughable!

And of course the Academy also has its darlings.

[Peyton Westlake]

Tom Cruise did win Golden Globes for his acting (Born on the 4th of July, Jerry Maguire & Magnolia).
He's been snubbed too long; I think he's most deserving of an Oscar.
An Honorable mention of Harrison Ford as well. He was nominated for an Academy award & Golden Globe for Witness in 1986.
And nominated for Golden Globes for Mosquito Coast & the Fugitive. He is long overdue as well.

[Mister Mets]

Well, Downey's no longer eligible.

[Zauriel]

Yeah, Robert Downey Jr got an Oscar.