This isn't really about who didn't deserve their Oscar win but who wasted their win by not following it up. Lack of quality in their filmography following the Oscar win or even lack of work period.

Best Actress
1. Helen Hunt - As Good As It Gets (1997) By far, the most wasted.
2. Cher - Moonstruck (1987)
3. Halle Berry - Monster's Ball (2001)
4. Gwyneth Paltrow - Shakespeare In Love (1998)
5. Reese Witherspoon - Walk The Line (2005)

Best Actor
1. Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Again, #1 with a bullet.
2. Adrien Brody - The Pianist (2002)
3. Geoffrey Rush - Shine (1996)
4. Kevin Spacey - American Beauty (1999)
5. Denzel Washington - Training Day (2001)

Best Supporting Actress
1. Geena Davis - The Accidential Tourist (1988) #1 and #2 were close.
2. Mira Sorvino - Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
3. Jennifer Connelly - A Beautiful Mind (2001)
4. Catherine Zeta-Jones - Chicago (2002)
5. Kim Basinger - LA Confidential (1997)

Best Supporting Actor
1. Cuba Gooding Jr. - Jerry Maguire (1996) Miles in front!!
2. Robin Williams - Good Will Hunting (1997)
3. Joe Pesci - Goodfellas (1990)
4. Chris Cooper - Adaptation (2002)
5. Jim Broadbent - Iris (2001)

Hm? I kinda disagree about Cage..what about Adaptation? And he certainly had his slew of success stories since then and some pretty good flicks (Face Off, Adaptation, Lord of War, Con Air, The Rock).


Cuba Gooding Jr. wins this by the distance between the earth and the sun. For all categories!

There's a pretty big window between Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation. Considering where he should be (like not the butt of jokes) and where he is, that's worthy of a #1 spot.

Eh, I think it's more the flaw with those making jokes than with him. He has got a pretty thriving career. The National Treasure films are a huge huge franchise, pretty much out of nowere and Ghost Rider likely gives him another franchise. He's got another Oscar nom to at least back up that the win was not a fluke and as I said, he consistently keeps curhning out successful films among the flops as well.

Now look at Adrien Brody...after The Pianist he went to what? A village idiot, dammit. None of his roles since then garnered any kind of praise and none of his successful films can in any way be attributed to him. His win is such a non-factor (and mind you, I love The Pianist) that it's just amazing!

Also, F. Murray Abraham falls within 25 years for Actor, so he's probably #2. Hell, considering he hasn't done anything of interest in 24 years (Sans playing a Star Trek movie villain), he should probably be #1.

The only thing that kept Brody out of my number 1 spot is the amount of time that has transpired. He's still managed to make films with M. Night, PJ, and Wes Anderson and that's with only 8 films since The Pianist.

Cage has made 24 films since Leaving Las Vegas and a vast majority are clunkers, many clunkers unfortunately from top-notch directors.

I think Kim Basinger totally outranks Jennifer Conelly. Little Children is better than anything Basinger's been invovled with since, and she's primarily known just for public divorce with Alec Baldwin. She also loses points because the role itself was such a cliched "Hooker with a heart of gold" part, and to be honest, her performance in that was a big old fluke.

I dunno, I'm still not convinced that F. MurraY Abraham or Brody don#t make a much better case since they're both kinda in obscurity. Cage had 10 #1 films since his Oscar win in 1995 and seven $100+ million grossers (and three further $70+ million grossers). Certainly great things on the financial side. Jzst compare it to what it was before the win:

http://boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/? ... ascage.htm

Only one of his films before that made over $50 million.

And films like The Rock, National Treasure (for most people), Face Off, Adaptation, Lord of War are quite well-liked by audiences too.

I think he's mostly just on the list because of The Wicker Man being in recent memory.

The Weatherman. A great film.

Cage shouldn't even be on this list. hes done a lot with his career. People may make fun of him ... but all the while, hes been in movies where he has either delivered a great performance, or run with a bag full of money to the bank.

I think quite a few oscar winners would love to give up their own career if they could have his.

I acgree. As I said, had it not been for The Wicker Man, I doubt he'd be anywhere near that list.

I mean, c'mon. He's the only ONE among the 20 folks up there to actually get another Oscar nom after his win, no?

Bangkok Dangerous, Next, Ghostrider.

Adaptation aside, he's pretty much given up (or has been abandoned) in terms of Oscar quality films. It's great that he has number 1 films and films that make $100 Mill. But that really hasn't much to do with his Oscar win for Leaving Las Vegas (maybe the first few films immediately afterwards).

He may be the only one of the 20 listed to have a second nom post win but many of the winners are from the 00s.

Maybe he doesn't want to do Oscar caliber films. That's fine. But its also a waste.

Ghost Rider was a success and since it actually sold quite well on DVD it looks like some people did like it.


Also, Lord of War, Bringing Out the Dead, The Waether Man and Matchstick Men don't quite indicate that he has given up trying to star in quality films (no matter what one actually thinks of themn, are are not really box-office baits).

Oh and the majority of the winners above is not from the 00s, actually, heh. Many of them had over 10 years now to get another nom and doesn#t seem they actually ever came close.

Oh and I was wrong, some of them actually did get a nom since then - Geoffrey Rush. But not the rest.

I didn't say majority, I said many. 8. About a 1/3.

Twilight sold well on DVD too and a tonne of money at the box office.

That leaves another 11. And by the looks of it, some of them are never gonna come close again.

Including Cage with Kick-Ass, Season of the Witch, Ghost Rider II, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, National Treasure III-XXI.

I will admit, I should have included Roberto Benigni. That Oscar was expired the moment he touched it.

Yeah, Begnini is actually an easy #1.

The only problem with Roberto Benigni, especially as an easy #1 is how exactly does he follow up Guido Orefice in La vita è bella. It's an insular performance, from an insular actor.

Eh, I'm sure that applies to other actors and performances too. He has made movies since then, they just mostly sucked. Anyone remember Pinocchio? Yes, I thought so.


Marion Cotillard seems to make better use of her Oscar already.

She's hot and young, not sure that's a fair comparison.

I don't have a problem if Cage needs to pay the bills. I can see his reasoning for doing all of these films, but I honestly thought he thought that Bangkok Dangerous would turn out to be deeper than what it came out as. That's often the fault of the director/creative team, rather than the actor.


Or maybe he just wants to do projects that come along that he finds enjoyment in? Or maybe the projects just aren't being thrown to him like he would like?

Unlike Will Smith, I don't think Cage is out there trying to necessarily "proove" anything. That may change at a later date, once these sort of throw-away-sci-fi-gangster-films that he's been in go away, but right now? I can't say I blame him.

shit, these pro-Cage didnt delete.

Cage rocks. Seriously, I can't think of any Hollywood actor in better action flicks of the 90s than him (The Rock, Face Off, Con Air...c'mon!)

Oh and I also think that Windtalkers is underrated.


But, anyway, if you put all four categories together, Cuba Gooding Jr. still wins by a mile. Also, I bet that before In the Bedroom (or maybe even before The Wrestler) Marisa Tomei would have appeared on the list.

Helen Hunt is still worse than Cuba Gooding Jr. I think. I mean, he's still bad but Helen's just WOW.

You forgot to mention the overrated Alan Arkin stealing an Oscar from Eddie Murphy for an overrated "indie" movie. How is a movie independent when it has 3 former Golde Globe nominees.

Also, Denzel should not have won for Training Day, but rather Malcolm X, where he puts on an acting clinic.