This blog is a comparison of all the people in Hollywood that have won an Academy Award for “Best Actress” and the ones who have been nominated the most. One would assume that Mae West, Shirley Temple, or Katharine Hepburn were some of the contenders for this list, but in reality it’s Marlee Matlin.
In 1985 she won best actress with her performance in “Children of a Lesser God”. She has gone on to be nominated again 18 more times since then and still hasn’t won.
Marlee is deaf and was born with amacusia which means she can not understand speech nor can she speak. It took her several years to learn how to communicate with her family and friends. She did not receive any formal education, but instead was homeschooled until the age of 10 and then began attending a special school for the deaf. Her first role in a film was in 1988 in “The Midnight Swim”.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture as well as two other major awards. The only other person she had been nominated against that year was Lorraine Bracco who won the award for best actress while Marlee went home empty handed at that time.
Which legendary actress has lost the best actress oscar a whopping 18 times?
There are many people who would never think of Marlee Matlin as a “legendary actress” when they hear her name. But when someone else wins an oscar for best actress, she is not only one of the most famous winners in movie history, but has also been nominated more times than almost any other winner in recent years. That is why this question seems to always pop up whenever her name is brought up.
1. Marlee Kathryn Matlin (born August 24, 1965).
She is a deaf American actress, author, and co-producer of the Academy Award-winning film Children of a Lesser God. In addition to her Academy Award win, she has received a Golden Globe award for best performance by an actress in a television film for Enemies: A Love Story and an Emmy Award for her role in the television film Temple Grandin. She has also been nominated 18 times for various awards and won once.
2. 18 times.
This is a huge number of times for an actress to get nominated for an award and to still be unsuccessful. She has been nominated for 4 primetime Emmys, 2 of which she won in 1989, 5 Satellite Awards and 3 Satellite Award nominations, 7 Golden Globes, 2 SAG Awards and 1 DGA nomination.
Despite her many nominations she has only won 1 Oscar, 1 Golden Globe and 1 Emmy during her career. But with Oscar winner Marlee Matlin being only the fourth deaf performer to ever win a competitive acting award (the others being Cheryl Miller in 1986; Kate Reid in 1945; and Jayne Atkinson in 1999), she has definitely made history.
3. From 1988-1997
Matlin maintained steady acting work, but from 1998 until 2012 she took a break from acting in movies and television. She then appeared in the series Switched at Birth and has been nominated for 3 more awards. Her most recent nomination was for her role in Homeland.
4. In addition to her Academy Award win.
She has received a Golden Globe award for best performance by an actress in a television film for Enemies: A Love Story and an Emmy Award for her role in the television film Temple Grandin. She has also been nominated 18 times for various awards and won once.
5. Marlee was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role in the television film Temple Grandin.
She went on to star as Grandin in the HBO film Temple Grandin, which garnered her an Emmy nomination. Marlee Matlin, who portrayed Grandin in both instances, showed even more of a connection between the two. Her portrayal’s authenticity earned her an Emmy Award in 2010 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.
A year later, Matlin was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children’s Programming for Switched at Birth as well as Best Performance by an Actress at the 83rd Academy Awards.
6. She has been nominated 18 times for various awards and won once.
Marlee Matlin, who was born on August 24, 1965 in Morton Grove, Illinois, is a prolific actress who has been nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards 18 times without winning a single time. Until 1999, when she won Best Supporting Actress at the 67th Academy Awards, Matlin had been nominated 17 consecutive years from 1985 to 2001 without winning! Her first nomination was for her role as Sarah Norman in Children of a Lesser God in 1986. She lost to Cher for her role as Ruby Gallagher in Moonstruck.
