“Killers of the Flower Moon,” the latest acclaimed epic drama from Martin Scorsese, is now in theaters, and the film’s star Leonardo DiCaprio is already an early favorite to receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance. In honor of the new movie from Apple Original Films, let’s look back at his seven Oscar nominations and talk about why DiCaprio finally won his first gold trophy at the 2016 Academy Awards for “The Revenant” (2015).
His first Oscar nomination came in the Best Supporting Actor category for “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” (1993). DiCaprio’s only Academy Award nom of the 1990s put him up against older acting titans — Ralph Fiennes for “Schindler’s List,” John Malkovich for “In the Line of Fire,” Pete Postlethwaite for “In the Name of the Father” and Tommy Lee Jones, who won for his performance in “The Fugitive.” DiCaprio’s biggest hurtle that first time around was that he was the only Academy Award nomination for “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” a film that did well with critics but was pretty much shut out of awards season.
Many thought DiCaprio was going to receive an Academy Award nomination for “Titanic” (1997), but his performance was snubbed in a stacked year for Best Actor. He gave two more great performances in 2002 in “Gangs of New York” and “Catch Me if You Can,” but he also missed at the Oscars for those. His next Academy Award nom arrived in the Best Actor category for “The Aviator” (2004). DiCaprio won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Actor and was likely in second place to win the Oscar, but nobody that season could beat Jamie Foxx, who won nearly every prize he could for his celebrated performance as Ray Charles in “Ray.”
Two years later, many thought DiCaprio was going to receive his third Oscar nomination for “The Departed,” but although the 2006 Scorsese movie went on to win Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, DiCaprio was mostly recognized that award season for his terrific performance in “Blood Diamond.” Actors aren’t allowed to be nominated at the Oscars in the same category for two films, and so the academy elected to nominate him for “Blood Diamond,” which also netted a Best Supporting Actor nom for Djimon Hounsou. And once again, DiCaprio was no match for the front-runner, this time Forest Whitaker, who swept the season for his acclaimed performance as Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland.”
DiCaprio’s best chance yet at an Academy Award win arrived when he received nominations for both Best Actor and Best Picture for Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013). Giving one of his most confident and courageous performances to date, DiCaprio won the Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Actor, and if Matthew McConaughey hadn’t been winning most of the major prizes for his physically demanding performance in “Dallas Buyers Club,” DiCaprio probably would’ve taken the Best Actor prize at the Oscars. Sadly, he had to remain in his seat once again.
However, DiCaprio’s time finally arrived two years later with his incredible performance in “The Revenant” from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. For the first time in his many years nominated at the Oscars, DiCaprio had a massive box office and critical hit released at the tail-end of the year and had no formidable competition throughout awards season. Bryan Cranston for “Trumbo,” Michael Fassbender for “Steve Jobs” and Eddie Redmayne for “The Danish Girl” were just happy to be there, and although Matt Damon gave a well-liked performance in “The Martian,” nobody could get close to the overdue narrative for DiCaprio. Thus, he finally won the gold trophy in the Best Actor category for “The Revenant,” the crowd leaping to their feet after Julianne Moore announced his name. DiCaprio ended his speech by saying, “I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.”
After a four-year absence from films, DiCaprio returned in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019), which became a big hit with critics and audiences. Brad Pitt won numerous Best Supporting Actor prizes for his role in the movie, and DiCaprio was nominated most everywhere. When he lost the comedy Golden Globe to Taron Egerton for “Rocketman,” some might have doubted DiCaprio’s chances of making it into the Oscars. But after his performance was recognized with nominations at SAG and BAFTA, the Academy Awards became a sure thing, too. DiCaprio got in there while Egerton was surprisingly shut out. However, DiCaprio couldn’t compete anywhere against Joaquin Phoenix, who had his own overdue narrative that season for his celebrated performance in “Joker.”
After being ignored at the Oscars for his turn in Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” (2021), DiCaprio looks to return to the Academy Awards in 2024 with his eighth nomination to date for his well-regarded performance as real-life criminal Ernest Burkhart in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Some of his potential competition will likely be Cillian Murphy for “Oppenheimer,” Bradley Cooper for “Maestro” and Colman Domingo for “Rustin.” Does DiCaprio have a shot at a second Oscar victory? Only time will tell.
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