The most egregious Oscars snubs of all time

When The Last Showgirl was first released in the US, several critics predicted that Pamela Anderson would win Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars. However, the Baywatch alum wasn’t even nominated. 

Pamela gracefully responded to the snub, telling Elle: 

“Oh my gosh, it’s not something I ever expected. Doing the work is the win. 

“That’s what I like to do, and I think we can lose sight of that sometimes in this whole crazy awards season, but it’s nice to be recognised, and it’s all a bonus.”

Nicole Kidman was widely expected to be nominated at the 2025 Oscars for her performance in Babygirl. However, the Australian actress — who already has one Oscar and five nominations under her belt — surprisingly didn’t make the cut. 

The third snub for the 2025 Oscars was Angelina Jolie. Again, critics were sure she’d be nominated for her performance in Maria. But Angelina, like Pamela and Nicole, was left off the nominees list… 

Despite being the highest-grossing film of 2023 and sparking the “Summer of Barbie”, when the Oscar nominees for 2024 were announced, Barbie‘s Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were snubbed. 

The decision to snub Margot in the Best Actress category and Greta in the Directing category sparked instant outrage from fans, politicians, and cast members of the film.

Ryan Gosling, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, took to Instagram and wrote:

“To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement. Their work should be recognised along with the other very deserving nominees.”

Hillary Clinton also took to Instagram to send her support to Margot and Robbie, writing: “While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you.”

“You’re both so much more than Kenough,” the former presidential candidate added.

Greta Gerwig was similarly snubbed by The Academy for her 2019 adaptation of Little Women. Despite the film having a star-studded cast, excellent cinematography, and a cult-like following, Greta did not receive a Best Director nomination.

English director Alfred Hitchcock was a pioneer in his own right.

The ‘Master of Suspense’ gave us multiple classic films like Psycho, Rear Window, and The Birds.

But despite his significant legacy in front of and behind the camera, Alfred did not win a single Academy Award.

Cumulatively, Alfred’s films collected 46 Oscar nominations as well as five nominations for Best Director.

However, while he never took home the coveted statue, in 1968, The Academy’s Board of Governors presented him with the Thalberg award.

John Hughes was responsible for some of the most beloved films in pop culture such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Sixteen Candles.

However, like Alfred Hitchcock, John was never recognised by The Academy with an accolade for his prolific work.

The Shawshank Redemption is a film that is often touted as one of the best of all time.

The spine-tingling prison drama nabbed seven nominations in 1995, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Morgan Freeman. However, the film did not win a single award.

Instead, Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump starring Tom Hanks managed to beat out The Shawshank Redemption in just about every category.

The Oscars have seen some truly egregious snubs in its time — think La La Land or Brokeback Mountain.

However, there is a general consensus amongst fans that one of the most shocking Oscars snubs was when Steven Spielberg’s World War II blockbuster, Saving Private Ryan, lost most of the awards it was nominated for.

Despite rocking audiences and breaking multiple records, Steven’s epic war flick lost out to the Harvey Weinstein produced rom com, Shakespeare in Love.

Almost instantly, Shakespeare in Love’s win became marred with controversy after it was revealed that the film may not have nabbed its coveted awards purely on merit — Harvey was playing a tawdry game of politics behind closed doors with members of The Academy.

Though Saving Private Ryan missed out on several big awards, the film did manage to nab Steven his second-ever Academy Award for Best Director after Schindler’s List.

Before Leonardo DiCaprio became infamous for consistently losing out on a coveted gold statue, there was another unlucky A-Lister with an ‘Oscars Curse…’ Steven Spielberg!

Despite churning out blockbuster hits one after another (such as Jaws, ET, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Steven consistently lost out on Best Director.

His breakthrough finally came through when in 1994, Steven was finally awarded Best Director for Schindler’s List — a sobering and shockingly realistic portrayal of the Holocaust.

Like Greta Gerwig’s Oscars snubs, Broadway powerhouse-turned-Hollywood icon Barbra Streisand was also snubbed by The Academy in her directorial work.

Barbra made history in 1983 when she became the first woman to star, direct, produce, and write a feature film.

Despite this incredible feat, Yentl was largely snubbed at the Academy Awards and Barbra’s contributions were overlooked entirely. 

Barbra was snubbed once again in 1992 for her directorial work on The Prince of Tides.

However, in the decades since, the singer has reflected on how her snub shone a light on the ‘boys club’ that The Academy was. 

“I didn’t mind it for one reason: It really showed sexism. I thought by not being nominated, I put a spotlight on the issue; I thought, ‘Wow. This is so transparent.’”