The five best Bafta-winning performances that weren’t nominated for an Oscar
Over the past 15 years, only a small handful of ‘Best Actor’ Bafta winners have failed to win the prize at the Oscars, with the most recent example being Robert Aramayo, whose Bafta win for I Swear comes without a single nod from the Academy Awards.
He’s not the only actor to have won a Bafta while the Academy failed to acknowledge that same performance, though. It’s not all that common for a winner of the former to completely elude the Academy, but it has happened on enough occasions to make you wonder how differently Britain and the United States see great performances.
Over in Britain, it’s more common to find foreign actors, British stars, and less ‘Hollywood’ performances in the running for a Bafta alongside the usual suspects, but across the pond, it’s genuinely surprising if a relatively unknown British actor gets a nod from the Academy. Aramayo is a prime example, but again, he’s not the first who has been woefully snubbed by the Oscars despite having the chops to pick up a Bafta.
So, from child stars to more surprising snubs, here are five Bafta-winning performances that didn’t even get a glance from the Oscars.
Five Bafta-winning performances that missed out on an Oscar nod:
Stéphane Audran – ‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’
It’s rare for the Academy to nominate foreign stars in their major categories, although it’s not impossible, but the Baftas are much more keen, which led to French actor Stéphane Audran winning for her roles in both Luis Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Claude Chabrol’s Just Before Nightfall, and while both are great, it’s the surreal classic that stands out as a real snub.
The actor, who also appeared in classics like Babette’s Feast and various French New Wave movies, starred as one of the dinner party guests who gathered in Buñuel’s crazy film. Incredibly entertaining, Audran gives a great performance, as ever, but it just wasn’t recognised by the Academy, though the film did take home the Oscar for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’.
Judy Davis – ‘My Brilliant Career’
Australian actor Judy Davis would earn Oscar nominations for her roles in A Passage to India and Husbands and Wives, but not for her seminal performance as the young, ambitious writer in My Brilliant Career, which served as her second-ever film role. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, the adaptation of Miles Franklin’s novel is a beautiful period piece in which Davis is simply captivating as the determined dreamer who sets her sights on a life greater than the rural upbringing she has been given.
The Baftas recognised her talents, crowning her ‘Best Actress’ against competition from the likes of Meryl Streep for Kramer vs Kramer and Shirley MacLaine for Being There, and the actor certainly deserved to be appreciated by the Oscars, but of course, it was Streep who bagged that prize, her first of many.
Robert Aramayo – ‘I Swear’
At the most recent Baftas ceremony, the relatively unknown English actor Robert Aramayo found himself up against Hollywood legends such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, and Ethan Hawke, nominated for his role as the Tourette’s activist John Davidson in the biographical drama I Swear, surprising many viewers when he landed the prize against such stiff competition, especially considering that only he and Jesse Plemons were absent from the Oscars’ ‘Best Actor’ nominees.
Before now, Aramayo’s best-known role has been playing Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, with I Swear standing as his first proper leading role in a film. Yet, his masterful performance as Davidson, who has struggled with the neurological condition since he was a teenager, subsequently dedicating his life to educating people about it, proves just how skilled a star Aramayo really is.
Scarlett Johansson – ‘Lost in Translation’
Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation was the director’s second feature after The Virgin Suicides, which proved to be her biggest success, earning her an Academy Award for ‘Best Original Screenplay’, but the 17-year-old lead’s name was notably absent from the ‘Best Actress’ nominees list at the Oscars, with Charlize Theron earning the accolade for Monster.
However, in Britain, Scarlett Johansson was in the running twice with Lost in Translation and Girl With a Pearl Earring against Uma Thurman for Kill Bill, Naomi Watts for 21 Grams, and Anne Reid for The Mother, with the tender turn as Charlottle bagging her her first Bafta, and while it’s a crime that her introspective performance didn’t even get a look-in from the Academy, she pulled a similar two-hander nod from them in 2019 for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit.
Jamie Bell – ‘Billy Elliot’
Child acting can often be flawed, especially when dealing with a hefty script and difficult themes, but Jamie Bell took to the challenging nature of Billy Elliot like a duck to water, pirouetting into the shoes of the working-class boy who finds a passion for ballet. Being a lover of the form, the Teeside-born boy was perfect for the role, and while he had never starred in a feature film before, he managed to impress with an audition that kick-started the beginning of his career.
As a result of his phenomenal performance that was funny, passionate, and emotional, Bell became the youngest winner of the ‘Best Actor’ Bafta, yet he wasn’t even considered for an Oscar nomination, and instead, Russell Crowe basked in the glory of an Academy Award for his role in Gladiator, a shame, because Bell’s performance as Billy remains one of the greatest roles ever executed by a child.
