In the days leading up to the 88th Academy Awards, FilmBuffOnline will be offering profiles on all the nominees in the major categories. Some may be well known, others might be new to you, but if you need a refresher on these talented nominees, here it is for Best Actor.
Bryan Cranston
Nominated for: Playing blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo.
Other honors for this role:
Cranston has been nominated in 16 other places for the this role, and has won two awards for it.
Where you might know him from:
Cranston has spent the better part of the last sixteen years creating two iconic roles on television: Hal in Malcolm in the Middle and Walter White in Breaking Bad. His more notable film roles include Godzilla, the recent Total Recall remake, and Argo.
History with Oscar:
This is Cranston’s first nomination.
Matt Damon
Nominated for: Playing an astronaut stranded on Mars in The Martian.
Other honors for this role:
Damon has received 24 other nominations for this role, and has won three awards, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes
Where you might know him from:
Damon has
History with Oscar:
Matt Damon has three previous Oscar nominations and one win.
1998: Won, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Good Will Hunting (shared with Ben Affleck)
1998: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Good Will Hunting (Lost to Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets)
2010: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Invictus (Lost to Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds)
Leonardo DiCaprio
Nominated for: Playing a trapper left for dead, fighting for survival in The Revenant.
Other honors for this role:
DiCaprio has been nominated in this category with 41 other organizations, winning 27 awards, including the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Where you might know him from:
DiCaprio is one of the most famous actors working today, thanks largely to his role in the blockbuster, Titanic. He has also appeared in Catch Me If You Can, Django Unchained and The Great Gatsby.
History with Oscar:
Leonardo DiCaprio has four prior Oscar nominations and is also nominated for Best Picture this year as a producer of The Wolf of Wall Street.
1994: Best Actor in a Supporting Role, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape ( Lost to Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive).
2005: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, The Aviator (Lost to Jamie Foxx, Ray)
2007: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Blood Diamond (Lost to Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland)
2014: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, The Wolf of Wall Street (Lost to Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club)
Michael Fassbender
Nominated for: Playing Steve Jobs in Steve Jobs.
Other honors for this role:
Fassbender has been nominated 34 times for this role, winning 12 awards.
Where you might know him from:
Fassbender is an actor as at home in big budget films such as X-Men: First Class and Prometheus as he is in art house fare such as Shame and A Dangerous Method.
History with Oscar:
This is Michael Fassbender’s second Oscar nomination.
2014: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, 12 Years a Slave (Lost to Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club)
Eddie Redmayne
Nominated for: Playing a Einar Wegener, one of the first people to attempt gender reassignment surgery in The Danish Girl.
Other honors for this role:
Redmayne has received 17 other nominations for this role, winning two awards.
Where you might know him from:
You might recognize Redmayne from his roles in My Week With Marilyn, Les Miserables, or if you were one of the four people that saw Jupiter Ascending.
History with Oscar:
This Eddie Redmayne’s second Oscar nomination. He won the award last year.
2015: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, The Theory of Everything.
