Potential 2020 Oscar Nomination Stats: BEST ACTOR

Each year of Oscar nominations brings with it the possibility of breaking records, making history, extending history, moving people around in all-time rankings or just some fun statistics to carry us through. In this four-part series, I’ll detail some possible stats that could arise with the 2020 Oscar nominations in all four acting categories. First up, Best Actor.

If Christian Bale is nominated

-He’ll became the Welsh thespian with the most Oscar nominations at five (or tied if Hopkins is also nominated).

-He’ll be the 6th British male actor with most Oscar nominations at five, after Laurence Olivier (10), Peter O’Toole (8), Richard Burton (7) and Daniel Day-Lewis and Michael Caine (6).

-He’ll be the most nominated actor this decade, with one nomination every two years.

-He’ll be the first/second youngest living male actor with 5 nominations (depending on DiCaprio).

If Antonio Banderas is nominated:

-He’ll be the third Spanish thespian nominated at the Oscar after the golden couple of Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.

-He’ll be the second Spanish male actor to be nominated after Javier Bardem.

-He’ll be the first male actor of this decade nominated for a full non-English speaking role since 2010’s Javier Bardem.

-He’ll be the 7th performer to be nominated for a full (or almost full) Spanish speaking role after Benicio Del Toro, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.

-He’ll be the 8th Best Leading Actor nominee ever nominated for a full non-English speaking role after Marcello Mastroianni, Giancarlo Giannini, Max Von Sydow, Gerard Depardieu, Massimo Troisi, Roberto Benigni and Javier Bardem.

If Robert De Niro is nominated:

-He’ll be tied with Denzel Washington, Marlon Brando and Peter O’Toole with 8 nominations (Al Pacino currently has 8 nominations). Only Jack Nicholson (12), Laurence Olivier (10), Paul Newman and Spencer Tracy (9) have more.

-He’ll be the 4th oldest Best Actor nominee.

If Leonardo DiCaprio is nominated:

-He’ll break his own record as the current non60s male actor with most Oscar nominations at six.

-He’ll be the second lead actor nominated in this category for a Tarantino film after 1994’s John Travolta.

If Adam Driver is nominated:

-He’ll be just the second actor born in San Diego nominated here, after Robert Duvall.

-He’ll be the fourth actor born in the 1980s to have two nominations after Jonah Hill, Eddie Redmayne and Ryan Gosling. There’s still no actor with 3 or more.

If Taron Egerton is nominated:

-He’ll be the first male actor born in Liverpool (metro area) to be nominated at the Oscars.

-He’ll be the second youngest British male acting nominee this decade, just behind 2016’s Dev Patel and 2017’s Daniel Kaluuya.

-He’ll be the third youngest British thespian nominated in lead ever, just behind 1989’s Kenneth Branagh and 2017’s Daniel Kaluuya.

If Eddie Murphy is nominated:

-He’ll be just the third Saturday Night Live alumni with multiple nominations after Joan Cusack and Robert Downey Jr.

If Joaquin Phoenix is nominated:

-He’ll be tied with Christian Bale (if he doesn’t get the nom) as the 2nd most nominated actor born in 1970s with 4.

-He’ll be tied with Anthony Quinn as the actor born in Latin American territory with most Oscar nominations with 4 (Phoenix was born in Puerto Rico).

-He’ll joined in the exclusive list of the actor who was nominated for a role previously played by another Oscar nominee/winner (Heath Ledger).

If Jonathan Pryce is nominated:

-He’ll be the first (or second simultaneously, possibly) actor nominated to play a Pope.

-He’ll be the 6th oldest nominee.

-He’ll be the oldest British nominee in this category.

If Adam Sandler is nominated:

-He’ll be the 7th Saturday Night Live alumni to be nominated at the Oscars after Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd, Robert Downey Jr., Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy and Kristen Wiig.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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