The Academy Awards are the most important event in the entertainment industry, epitomizing cinematic excellence and, to a lesser degree, Old Hollywood glamour. In today's ever-evolving entertainment industry, winning an Oscar is one of a performer's greatest achievements. Indeed, Oscars might not be career-changing, but they are usually career-defining, adding a layer of prestige to an actor's resumé.
The Best Actress is usually the most interesting and consistently exciting category at any given Oscars ceremony. Thus, most people have a favorite that they support, even if her chances of winning are slim to none. Over the nearly 100 years that the Academy has existed, most of the winners of the Best Actress award are cherished, though some are more contentious than others. Based on their reputation, the individual legacy of their performances, and how divisive their wins still are today, this list will rank the Best Actress Oscar winners who are the least liked.
10. Emily Blunt
Two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone is among the most popular actresses working today. Known for her versatility and on-screen charm, Stone is a bonafide movie star who excels in everything from rom-coms to musicals, period dramas, and sci-fi comedies. Stone won her first Oscar for Damien Chazelle's La La Land, a romantic musical co-starring Ryan Gosling.
Stone does an excellent job in La La Land, but no one would argue that she was better than Isabelle Huppert's incredible and daring performance in Elle or Natalie Portman's heartbreaking Jackie performance. Then there's the criminally snubbed Amy Adams, whose career-best work in Arrival was also superior in pretty much every way. Stone's brilliant and irreverent performance in Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things earned her her second Oscar, but her victory in La La Land remains contentious.
9. Streep Meryl
First things first: the mighty Meryl Streep is among the all-time best actresses, period. Streep has been in movies like Sophie's Choice, Silkwood, Postcards from the Edge, The Bridges of Madison County, The Devil Wears Prada, and The Post for nearly five decades. Streep has won three Oscars, two of which rank among the best in their respective categories. However, it must also be noted that Streep's third victory is not particularly well-liked.
In the weak biopic The Iron Lady, Streep plays the notorious Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and is consistently solid but not particularly impressive. She has the right voice, but the performance is more of a bland imitation than a true portrayal of one of history's most notorious leaders because of the showmanship. In hindsight, it's hard to see this win as anything other than a career win, a way to give Streep a third Oscar after years of worthy performances going home unrewarded.
8. Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford, one of the Silent Age's most recognizable stars, won the second Oscar. Arguably the first woman to receive the America's Sweetheart moniker, Pickford dominated 1920s cinema with her work in classics like Pollyanna and The Taming of the Shrew.
In 1929's Coquette, Pickford made her acting debut in an unconventional role as a scheming heiress. It's fair to say that Pickford is actively bad in Coquette, despite the harsh assessment. In fact, it might not be an exaggeration to say that Coquette is a bad movie. The film itself has nothing to sing about. However, Pickford harms the material as well by giving a confused performance that never quite feels natural or believable. Pickford does not elevate the material either. In addition, the fact that Pickford was a founding member of the Academy has led many to believe that she was more directly involved in her victory.
7. Helen Hunt
There seems to be no in-between when it comes to the comedy As Good as It Gets, which came out in 1997. You either love it or hate it. The same can be said about its victories in the Lead Actor and Actress category, where the iconic Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt won for their performances as a bitter and cantankerous writer with OCD and a struggling mother and waitress, respectively.
The most contentious of the two is Helen Hunt's victory. Comedies seldom win at the Oscars, and when they do, they often face scrutiny. Hunt's work in As Good as It Gets is indeed good enough for the nomination and, arguably, the win. It's still up for debate whether it was more valuable than the other candidates she considered. It must also be said that Hunt's competition that year was far from challenging, as arguably the best performance of the year, Pam Grier in Jackie Brown, was scandalously snubbed.
6. Tandy, Jessica
Driving Miss Daisy is often ranked among the all-time worst Best Picture winners, and it's not hard to see why. At best, it's disingenuous and overly sentimental; at worst, it's offensive and mind-numbingly ignorant. Yet, it prevailed at the 1990 ceremony, claiming the big prize of the night and a few others.
Of the film's wins, perhaps none is as polarizing as Best Actress, which went to veteran stage legend Jessica Tandy. For her work as the haughty and wealthy widower Daisy Werthan, Tandy won several awards, so it's not like her performance is undeserving. Still, Driving Miss Daisy's overwhelmingly bad reputation has made Tandy's victory seem more like a part of the film's wave rather than a worthy acknowledgment of the actress' work. In hindsight, many believe Michelle Pfeiffer, who swept awards season for her work in The Fabulous Baker Boys, was the rightful winner of the 1990 Best Actress Oscar.
5. Sandra Bullock
Few modern actresses are more beloved than Sandra Bullock. Bullock, the embodiment of America's Sweetheart, emerged as a rom-com queen in the 1990s before establishing herself as a genuine movie star in the 2000s. Bullock's first Oscar nomination came for her work in the biopic The Blind Side, ultimately winning the 2010s Best Actress Oscar.
Like Driving Miss Daisy, The Blind Side is often considered a white savior movie that modifies history to make its protagonists, the Tuohy family, seem more sympathetic. From the moment Bullock stepped onto the stage, the award for Best Actress was up for grabs. However, the controversy only got worse when the subject of the movie, Michael Oher, filed a lawsuit against the Tuohy family, claiming that they never adopted him but rather established a conservatorship that was solely for their benefit. Nowadays, the whole narrative around The Blind Side is ugly and reprehensible, making Bullock's win all the more shunned.
4. Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly is one of the most well-known Hollywood actresses of the Golden Era. Her name has become associated with class, elegance, and unchanging beauty. Kelly was in a lot of the most famous movies of the time, but her only Oscar was for her lead role in the 1954 film The Country Girl, which was based on the play of the same name.
Kelly's portrayal of a struggling wife is moving and definitely deserving of an Oscar. However, it had the misfortune of beating what is considered one of the all-time greatest acting showcases in cinematic history: Judy Garland in A Star Is Born. Reactions at the time ranged from surprised to outright insulted, with Groucho Marx calling Garland's loss "the greatest robbery since Brink's." Nowadays, considering all we know about Garland and how meaningful A Star Is Born was to her career, it's hard not to wish she had won. Grace Kelly will always be iconic, but this victory truly belonged to Judy.
3. Judy Holliday
In Born Yesterday, Judy Holliday shines. As the young and "untamed" Billie Dawn, Holiday is incandescent and magnetic, delivering a wonderful performance that one simply cannot look away from. In any other year, her victory would be a no-brainer, but in 1950, it was a true head-scratcher.
See, Holliday prevailed over two of what are often considered among the all-time best female performances ever recorded on screen: Bette Davis in All About Eve and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. The titanic tour de force portrayals of these two are the very definition of what an Oscar-winning performance ought to be. They are outright legendary works of the silver screen. Sadly, Holliday's work and her film pale compared to these two icons, making her win unpopular at best and outright disliked at worst.
2. Gwyneth Paltrow
One simply cannot talk about disliked Oscar wins without mentioning Gwyneth Paltrow. The actress won the 1999 Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the period romantic drama Shakespeare in Love, a win that was debated then and continues to be a hot topic today. Everyone and their mother has discussed her win, including Glenn Close, who outright said fellow nominee Fernanda Montenegro was more deserving of the Oscar. Others maintain Cate Blanchett was the rightful winner, but few will defend Paltrow's win.
Of course, the movie's many Oscars also have the unfortunate legacy of being remembered as the crowning achievement of convicted sex offender and Hollywood creep Harvey Weinstein, further staining its legacy. As for Paltrow, she has never returned to the Oscar stage, meaning her sole win remains surrounded by polarizing opinions within and outside the industry.
1. Luise Rainer
It's bizarre that Luise Rainer, the first actress in history to win Best Actress twice, doesn't have as much of a name recognition as many of her peers at the time. Once MGM's most promising player, Rainer won her first Oscar for The Great Ziegfeld, one of the lowest-rated Best Picture winners. Still, her performance there was decent, if not necessarily Oscar-worthy.
However, her subsequent Oscar, which she won for her role as O-Lan in the movie adaptation of The Good Earth, will go down in Oscar history as one of the most snubbed and questioned awards ever. See, Rainer, a German-born actress, plays Chinese farmer O-Lan in the film, meaning she's in yellowface for the entirety of her performance.