Joaquin Phoenix and 19 of the Richest Oscar Nominees Who Never Won an Award
The 95th Academy Awards will be held March 12 and could see the expected winners or big underdogs take home the prize. For some celebrities, it marks another awards season without an Oscar to show for strong performances at the box office. Missing out on the famed Oscar statuette doesn't just mean these celebrities are going home empty-handed. It could mean they're missing out on potential pay increases for future films.
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Still, some stars have managed to make millions without winning Hollywood's ultimate prize. Take a look at the wealthiest winners and non-winners of yesterday and today, as reported by Celebrity Net Worth.
1. Richard Burton
Net worth: $50 million
Legendary stage and film actor Richard Burton had a whole lot of Oscar nominations -- seven in total -- starting with 1952's "My Cousin Rachel" and continuing onto 1977's "Equus." He didn't have any wins, though.
Burton's unfortunate nominations-to-wins ratio didn't affect his celebrity, acclaim or legacy, though. And it didn't affect his bank account either. Though he passed away in 1984, Burton accumulated a major net worth over the years.
2. Glenn Close
Net worth: $50 million
Glenn Close has eight Oscar nominations. Between 1982 and 1989, she received five nominations and picked up the others in 2012, 2019 and 2020, the most recent for her role in "Hillbilly Elegy." Other nods came from films including "The World According to Garp," "Fatal Attraction" and "Dangerous Liaisons." Despite never taking the Oscar statuette home, Close isn't close to the record of most nominations without a win. That distinction belongs to sound professional Greg P. Russell, who has 16 nominations from 1989 to 2016.
3. Ralph Fiennes
Net worth: $50 million
British actor Ralph Fiennes earned Oscar nominations for two of the biggest hits of the 1990s, "Schindler's List" and "The English Patient" but walked away from the ceremonies empty-handed. Fiennes also gave an unforgettable performance as the villain Lord Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" series. His most recent film, "The Menu," was released in November.
4. Peter O'Toole
Net worth: $50 million
When Peter O'Toole died in 2013, he left behind an incredible film career stretching back to the 1950s. You might feel safe betting that O'Toole took home the gold for his role as T.E. Lawrence in the all-time classic "Lawrence of Arabia" -- but you'd be wrong. In fact, from 1962 to 1982, he received seven Oscar nominations and lost every time.
In 2002, he finally netted an honorary Oscar to recognize his contributions to cinema history. Then, in 2006, he was nominated for an eighth time for his role in "Venus." He lost once again because the Academy works in mysterious ways.
5. Amy Adams
Net worth: $60 million
Amy Adams isn't just great at playing down-to-earth characters -- she's also great at getting Oscar nominations. Since 2005, she's been nominated a whopping six times for both leading and supporting roles.
Unfortunately, she hasn't yet managed a win. Her position as a dependable powerhouse actress, though, has landed her roles in blockbusters like "American Hustle," "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Vice." She most recently was seen in "Disenchanted," released in November, and stars in the upcoming "Nightbitch" for Hulu.
6. Sigourney Weaver
Net worth: $60 million
Sigourney Weaver makes up for her lack of Academy gold with a whole lot of success. Despite nabbing awards from the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, she has an interesting history as a three-time Oscar nominee.
Her nomination for an intense leading performance in "Aliens" was monumental for genre pictures. Though today's Oscars are littered with nods for films like "Lord of the Rings" and "Mad Max," a sci-fi actress in a major category was virtually unheard of in 1986.
Even stranger, she garnered a double nomination in 1988 for a leading performance in "Gorillas in the Mist" and a supporting role in "Working Girl." Sigourney might've gone home with nothing but a swag bag, but we'll always have Ripley.
7. Annette Bening
Net worth: $70 million
Annette Bening doesn't lack Oscar nominations or losses. In fact, she's got four of each thanks to "The Grifters," "American Beauty," "Being Julia" and "The Kids Are All Right."
The actress clearly doesn't lack critical acclaim, despite her lack of luck at the Oscars. Though she hasn't had any acceptance speeches cut short yet, she's one-half of a classic Hollywood power couple. Combined with her actor-producer-director husband, Warren Beatty, Bening's net worth is estimated at $70 million.
8. Bradley Cooper
Net worth: $100 million
It doesn't get much more A-list than Bradley Cooper. Whether he's playing a sniper, a cop or a CGI space raccoon, Cooper is cranking out hits that keep paying off at the bank.
Unfortunately, the "A" in A-list doesn't seem to stand for Academy love. Cooper saw a nomination each year from 2012 to 2014 -- for "Silver Linings Playbook," "American Hustle" and "American Sniper" -- but ended up with nothing to show at the after-party. In 2019, Cooper received three nominations for "A Star Is Born" and still left empty-handed. In 2019 and 2020, movies he produced -- "Joker" and "Nightmare Alley," respectively, were nominated for Best Picture - giving him a total of nine career nominations.
9. Liam Neeson
Net worth: $145 million
Liam Neeson's early career leaned toward drama, and his role in "Schindler's List" netted him his singular Academy Award nomination in 1993. It also netted him his first Academy Award snub, but that hasn't slowed him down at the box office. Today, Neeson lends his trademark gravitas to blockbusters like "Taken," which netted $226.8 million worldwide. His 100th career film, "Marlowe," was released in February.
10. Johnny Depp
Net worth: $150 million
Though Johnny Depp secured his place as an indie darling with quirky cult hits like "Cry-Baby," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Benny & Joon," his career skyrocketed with Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."
And it was none other than Jack Sparrow that got Depp his first, rather unexpected, nod from the Academy. It also got him his first Oscar snub. Since then, he's been nominated for 2004's "Finding Neverland" and 2007's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" -- and lost both.
11. Jim Carrey
Net worth: $180 million
Not only has Jim Carrey never won an Oscar, he has no nominations. Perhaps his brand of movie never appealed to Academy voters, but he has starred in some of the most recognizable movies by name, including "Liar Liar," "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "Dumb and Dumber." And that Oscar nomination might never come. He told "Access Hollywood" in 2022 that he thought his acting days were over and that he'd moved on to other interests, including art.
"I really like my quiet life, and I really love putting paint on canvas, and I really love my spiritual life, and I feel like -- and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists - I have enough," he said. "I've done enough. I am enough."
12. Bill Murray
Net worth: $180 million
Bill Murray's long career has produced one Oscar nomination, that for "Lost In Translation" in 2003. He joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1976, and it wasn't long before he became a movie star. He has more than 50 films to his credit, including classics such as "Ghostbusters," "Tootsie" and "Caddyshack," and he earned acclaim for playing Franklin D. Roosevelt in "Hyde Park on Hudson."
13. Alfred Hitchcock
Net worth: $200 million
"Spellbound," "Rear Window," "Psycho" -- these aren't just Alfred Hitchcock movies, they're films that never won the Master of Suspense a single Academy Award. Neither did the rest of his tenure as one of history's most influential directors, though he earned an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968.
14. Michelle Pfeiffer
Net worth: $250 million
Michelle Pfeiffer set the acting world on fire in the 1980s and early '90s, with Oscar nominations in "Dangerous Liaisons," "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Love Field" -- not to mention her cult-favorite take on Catwoman in Tim Burton's "Batman Returns," a box-office blockbuster the year it came out. None of Pfeiffer's nominations turned into wins, however. Younger audiences will know her from her roles in 2017's "Murder on the Orient Express" and the "Ant-Man and the Wasp" movies.
Her $250 million net worth is shared with husband David E. Kelley, a television writer and producer with credits that include "Ally McBeal," "The Practice" and "Doogie Howser, M.D." They will celebrate their 30th anniversary in November.
15. John Travolta
Net worth: $250 million
John Travolta hit the scene hard as an Academy Award nominee in 1977 with "Saturday Night Fever" but didn't see another nomination until Quentin Tarantino's revolutionary "Pulp Fiction" in the 1990s. But Travolta has certainly learned that an Oscar on the mantel isn't needed to earn a whole lot of money.
16. Harrison Ford
Net worth: $300 million
Harrison Ford might be iconic, but his career doesn't really scream Oscar bait. At the end of the day, Han Solo, Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan are more winners in the box office than among critics.
Even still, it's hard to believe that Ford's position as one of the most successful actors on the planet has only ever earned him one night as an Academy Award nominee. In 1985, he was recognized for his performance as John Book in the Peter Weir-directed drama "Witness." Despite never winning an Oscar, Ford remains one of the richest actors in the "Star Wars" universe. He's still busy today, and early this year he is starring in the "Yellowstone" prequel, "1923," and "Shrinking" for Apple TV+.
17. Robert Downey Jr.
Net worth: $300 million
It's easy to relegate Robert Downey Jr. to his leading role as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney's influential brand of interconnected, serialized blockbusters is surely a substantial contributor to the star's massive net worth. But, there was a time when he was known more for Oscar-nominated roles in 1992's "Chaplin" and the 2008 action-comedy "Tropic Thunder."
Neither nomination worked out for RDJ, but at least playing Iron Man has kept him busy -- and earned him millions.
18. Ridley Scott
Net worth: $400 million
Remember the gut-wrenching sci-fi flick "Alien"? What about the immaculate production design and mind-bending narrative of "Blade Runner"? Of course you do, because Ridley Scott hit us with more sci-fi when he directed "The Martian." Unfortunately, the Academy didn't take much notice.
The famed director didn't get any Oscar nominations for his seminal early work. It wasn't until 1991's "Thelma & Louise" that he became an Academy Award nominee. He became a director nominee again for 2000's "Gladiator" and 2001's "Black Hawk Down," but has yet to bring home the gold.
19. Mark Wahlberg
Net worth: $400 million
An acting nomination for "The Departed" and a Best Picture nod as a co-producer of "The Fighter" show Mark Wahlberg's versatility, and his fame has ballooned with blockbuster hits like the "Transformers" film series. Yet, despite two Oscar nominations and more hits than you can count, Wahlberg remains statue-less. At least he still has his family's chain of burger joints.
20. Tom Cruise
Net worth: $600 million
You know Tom Cruise is worth a whole lot of money. What doesn't add up like his money is that he has never received an Oscar, though he received nods for "Born on the Fourth of July," "Jerry Maguire" and "Magnolia."
Cruise didn't get an Emmy nomination for 2022's "Top Gun: Maverick," the film fattened his bank account. Variety estimated he would earn $100 million or more from his salary, a cut of ticket sales and his share of streaming revenue and rentals.
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Jami Farkas contributed to the reporting of this article.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Joaquin Phoenix and 19 of the Richest Oscar Nominees Who Never Won an Award
