5 Actors and Actresses Who Clearly Didn't Deserve an Oscar

While some iconic actors wait years for their Oscars, others seem to have gotten their statuettes by mistake. Here are five stars who didn't deserve an Oscar but got it anyway.

Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer

For sure, Kramer vs. Kramer is a touching story, but the movie doesn't seem to deserve all the awards it was given. Even the film's star Dustin Hoffman admitted that his performance as Ted Kramer was not his best.

Instead, the 1980 Oscar for Best Actor should have gone to Peter Sellers for Being There, or to Roy Scheider for All That Jazz.

Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep is one of those actresses who can win an Oscar just for getting out of bed — however, that's also the reason why people's expectations for her are much higher than for other Hollywood stars. It's still a mystery why the Academy members decided to recognize Streep's role as Margaret Thatcher in the lifeless biopic, a movie that no one paid attention to when it was released in 2011.

Perhaps the 2012 Oscar for Best Actress should've been awarded Viola Davis for her role in The Help.

Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich

In Steven Soderbergh's movie, Julia Roberts proved herself to be a great dramatic, comic, and romantic actress, all at the same time. But the Oscar Roberts won in 2001 belonged to someone else.

That very year Ellen Burstyn was also nominated for her role of Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream. In fact, the same critics who professed their love for Roberts' Erin recognized their mistake later, saying that Burstyn should have won an Oscar, as her performance was much more complex, and the movie itself was more artistically powerful.

Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman

In Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino portrayed a blind retired officer, showing the audience and Chris O'Donnell's main character what it means to be a real man. However, we believe that the actor should've gotten his Oscar earlier, for one of his stronger roles in truly outstanding movies (Al Pacino was nominated for the award nine times, only winning once).

Instead, the 1993 Oscar statuette should have gone to Robert Downey Jr. for his role in Chaplin, or to Denzel Washington for Malcolm X.

Nicole Kidman for The Hours

We can argue about how convincingly Nicole Kidman played the writer Virginia Woolf in The Hours, but it's impossible to deny that the actress simply looks weird in the movie. If you've seen it, you'll probably agree that the makeup team did a horrible job with Roberts' fake nose, which really ruined her dramatic character.

A better choice for the 2003 award would be Julianne Moore, who gave a stunning performance as Cathy Whitaker in Far From Heaven.