In the Oscars‘ 94-year history, only six actors have ever been nominated for playing the same character on separate occasions. It’s not uncommon for different portrayals of the same character to be nominated or even win an Oscar. However, in these instances, the character is played by different actors, typically in remakes of the original movie.
Many actors do reprise their Oscar-nominated roles in other movies, like sequels or spinoffs, down the line, but it’s rare that this return performance also earns a nomination. To this day, only six actors in Oscars history have received nominations for both of their own portrayals of the same character in different movies. Of these six actors, only one is an actress, and only two have won either of their nominations. Most of the second nominations were for sequels of the first films, but there are a few exceptions.
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6 Bing Crosby as Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley
Going My Way (1944) & The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
In 1944, Bing Crosby played a Roman Catholic priest by the name of Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley in Leo McCarey’s Going My Way. His performance earned him the first Oscar nomination and win of his decades-long career. Crosby didn’t waste any time reprising the role in the sequel, The Bells of St. Mary’s, which premiered the year after the first movie. This return performance earned him another Best Actor nomination, the second of his career.
Crosby’s back-to-back nominations in 1945 and 1946 for his performances as Father Chuck O’Malley made him the first actor to be nominated twice for playing the same character in different movies. He is also one of only two actors on this list to win either of his nominations for portraying the same character. Crosby would go on to receive just one more Oscar nominationin 1955 before his death many years later, in 1977.
5 Peter O’Toole as King Henry II
Becket (1964) & The Lion in Winter (1968)
Peter O’Toole became the next actor after Crosby to receive a second nomination for a role he’d played before. In 1964, O’Toole received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance as King Henry II of England in Becket, based on Jean Anouilh’s play by the same name. Four years later, O’Toole was nominated again for playing the same historical ruler in The Lion in Winter, based on the play of the same name by the film’s screenwriter, James Goldman.
While both films feature O’Toole as Henry II, The Lion in Winter is not considered an official sequel to Becket. Regardless, O’Toole still played the same real-life person in both films and received Best Actor nominations for both. He may have lost both awards, but he became a part of Oscars history nonetheless.
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4 Al Pacino as Michael Corleone
The Godfather (1972) & The Godfather Part II (1974)
One of the most nominated male actors in Oscars history, Al Pacino has a total of nine Oscar nominations. He’s been nominated for five Best Actor awards (including one win) and is tied for the highest number of Best Supporting Actor nominations with four nominations. Before he racked up these impressive numbers, though, Pacino’s first-ever Oscar nomination in 1973 was for his iconic role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Pacino was nominated again two years later for his return as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II, this time for Best Actor. With these two nominations for playing this same character in The Godfather trilogy, Al Pacino joined Crosby and O’Toole as one of the few actors nominated for playing a character more than once. Many years later, Pacino returned to the role in the trilogy’s final installment, The Godfather Part III, in 1990, but did not receive a nomination this time.
3 Paul Newman as “Fast Eddie” Felson
The Hustler (1961) & The Color of Money (1986)
Newman received his first nomination for playing pool hustler “Fast Eddie” Felson before O’Toole’s or Pacino’s nominations, but he had to wait 25 years for the second nomination before he could join the club. He ended up losing his nomination for Best Actor for his performance as Eddie Felson in The Hustler in 1962, but the long wait proved to be worth it. In 1987, Newman won for reprising the role in Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money, the sequel to The Hustler.
With this win, Newman joined Crosby as the only two actors to win an Oscar for a character they played twice. While The Color of Money was his only competitive Oscar win, like Pacino, Newman remains one of the top nominated male actors in Oscars history. Before his death in 2008, Newman earned a total of nine Oscar nominations, all for Best Actor.
2 Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth (1998) & Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
One actress who is no stranger to Oscars records is Cate Blanchett. She has been nominated for eight Oscars in total and is the only actor on this list with two competitive Oscar wins. Blanchett also happens to be the only actress among these six actors with multiple same-character nominations.
In 1999, Blanchett received her first-ever Oscar nomination for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998).She reprised the role in the sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and received another nomination for Best Actress for her second portrayal of the historical figure. This second nomination made Blanchett the first and only actress to be nominated twice for playing the same character. To this day, no other actress has joined Blanchett in achieving this feat.
1 Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa
Rocky (1976) & Creed (2015)
The most recent actor to receive a second nomination for the same role is Sylvester Stallone. Unlike the other actors on this list, who all boast multiple nominations and some wins for other film roles throughout their careers, Stallone has only ever received acting nominations for playing the iconic boxer, Rock Balboa, a role he created. His first nomination was for Best Actor in 1977 for his first of many portrayals of the titular character in the first Rocky movie.
Stallone would go on to star in five more installments of the Rocky franchise, but he didn’t receive another nomination for the role until nearly 40 years later, giving him the largest gap between Oscar nominations for playing the same character. In 2016, Stallone was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for reprising his role as Rocky Balboa in the Rocky spin-off, Creed. Stallone continued to play Rocky in the sequel Creed II, but was not nominated for any more Oscars.
