Top 10 Oscar CATEGORY FRAUD Examples of ALL TIME 

To me, it’s less about screen time, and more about how the film frames its characters. A character can be in a whole movie, but if the movie always frames them in support of other actors then to me that’s supporting.

Whats interesting is that Viola's Role in the Broadway Adaptation of Fences won Lead Actress at the Tony Awards. People were so confused as to why she was nominated in the supporting role when she gave a lead performance and had ample screen time.

Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained annoyed me a bit when I saw the film sometime after his win. Firstly he was in 80-90% of it so arguably co-lead and secondly that slot could have gone to Leonardo DiCaprio whose scene-stealing role in that movie was most definitely supporting.

Brando was totally supporting in The Godfather. I don’t want to defer to screentime, but Brando’s in it so little I feel like he’d get an ‘and’ credit if it came out today.

I’m surprised i didn’t hear you talk about Lakeith Stanfield being supporting in Judas and the Black Messiah. That was the craziest nomination i’ve seen since I started following the oscars

Also Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada. They swapped their roles at the Oscars too and that was just prely based on their reps

A case I have always thought of was Dev Patel in Lion from 2016. Patel plays the main character of the movie, its his story, but Patel is only in the second half. The first half is about the main character as a child. So I understand why Patel is in supporting actor due to limited screen time but it still isn't really a supporting role. Patel takes over as lead in Lion.

Val Kilmer was robbed for his role in Tombstone. He played the best Doc Holiday ever seen on the big screen

For me, the one nomination that hurts the most was Mahershala Ali's for "Green Book." He was definitely the co-lead of the film and his win in supporting actor cancelled out easily the best supporting performance of the year, and one of my all time favorites: Richard E. Grant in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?," a performance so good that I will always think in my heart he was the true winner of the Oscar that year.

Clearly, both DiCaprio and Pitt have leading roles. They both did a great job!

I believe Viola Davis was basically to sure up the win. The Academy is very unpredictable. I do think her Role in The Help was more Supporting than Fences.

Brendan Gleeson is someone that should’ve been nominated in lead actor for the banshees of Inisherin rather then supporting actor

I always thought Talia Shire should have been in the Supporting category for "Rocky" (1976). She would've won then

My dad was not happy that Haley Joel Osment was nominated in the "supporting" category, instead of "lead" for The Sixth Sense. I tried explaining to him that not only was Bruce Willis a well-established star with top billing, but the film begins and ends with his character rather than Osment's. My dad was not having it, he strongly believed that Osment was playing A main character, at least, although not THE main character. Similar to Jennifer Connelly, Frances McDormand appears kind of late in Fargo...and yet, she WON in the "lead" category. Of course, McDormand got top billing in Fargo. She didn't play second fiddle to anyone like Brando, Russell Crowe or Tom Cruise. In your opinion, have there been any performances in ensemble casts ( such as The Big Chill or Contagion, where there is no one specific main character) that deserved to be nominated in Oscar's "lead" category?

I absolutely agree with all of these, however I remember at the time I didn’t care which category Timothy Hutton was nominated in, I just wanted him to win for Ordinary People … I was a teenager and his performance there left me breathless !!!

LaKeith Stanfield in Best Supporting Actor for Judas and the Black Messiah. Seriously WTF?

I think Viola knew that they wanted Emma to win her category. She couldn’t take her chances so she positioned herself to get whatever trophy she could. They weren’t going to make Emma wait 20 years to win like they did Viola. Unfortunate.

Fun fact about the viola in supporting conversation, Denzel did an interview somewhere and made a comment on how he thought she should’ve been competing in the lead category. And I mean she did win the lead actress tony for the same role.

Great video, dude. This is a hot button issue for me. People will say “it’s not about screen time”….but it is. As you said in your final example, it’s not fair to put up true supporting performances against performances with 40+ minutes. It just isn’t! Having performances much longer than 30 minutes defeats the entire purpose of recognizing supporting performances in the first place. Your Carol example is important, but even there, you float the possibility of Blanchet being in supporting. She has over an hour of screen time. That would be vastly unfair to the other supporting nominees. Both women in that film should be in lead. The same can be said for Notes on a Scandal. I know people are going to come back to “it’s not about screentime…” but I won’t budge on this. It’s a hill I’m willing to die on.

🤔 I see your point about Connelly, but I have to disagree. Her character's entire arc in that story is rooted on being Crowe's link to reality, and therefore his support. If the movie focused more on her personal life outside of her relationship with Crowe, I would agree with you, but as the screenplay is written she is there entirely to showcase how John's illness impacted his later life as a father and husband. Connelly's character is reacting to his behavior for almost her entire time on screen. She is in a good chunk of the movie, but like Ledger in the Dark Knight, sometimes supporting performances require much more screentime in order to best support the lead character in driving the story. So in my eyes, Connelly was a perfect example of a Supporting Actress.

Gotta side with Pacino - his character in The Godfather was certainly not in a supporting role.

I’m glad you think Viola Davis would have won in lead for Fences because unfortunately, it’s still rare that black actresses are even nominated in the lead category. However, I’m doubtful that La La Land would have only won Director that year.

Donald Sutherland and the Elusive Oscar Nomination

I KNEW number 1 would be Tatum O'Neal!

2002 is interesting too! I think you can easily argue that Nicole Kidman's 'Virginia Woolf' in "The Hours" was a supporting role due to screen time (she was also 3rd billed). At the same time, you can argue the Catherine Zeta-Jones 'Velma Kelly' was a lead in "Chicago". Both Roxie and Velma have always been nominated in "Lead Actress" at the Tony Awards. In this case, I think it was setting her up for a win...and wisely so! However, I think Zeta-Jones actually had more screen time than Kidman did!

It’s crazy that Viola Davis and Denzel Washington have played these roles on Broadway and each won lead actor Tonys

Ethan Hawke in Best Supporting Actor for Training Day

With Tatum O’Neal there was an actual Oscar rule that caused the category mishap. Back then kids were always in the supporting category no matter the role. I think you forgot an important one… Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago. Now I absolutely ❤ that performance and the actress in general but Velma Kelly is a lead. There is zero room for debate. The leads are Velma and Roxie Hart. The supporting females are Mama Morton( Queen Latifah) and Mary Sunshine (Christine Baranski ), which a larger role in the stage version. Amos Hart ( John C Reilly) is also supporting. If any role is on the border it’s Richard Gere as Billy Flynn.

You missed 3 big ones, Ethan Hawke was in every scene of Training Day and yet was nominated for supporting actor, he had more scenes than Denzel Washington who won for best actor, Geena Davis was the female lead in The Accidental Tourist not supporting and Jessica Lange was the female lead in Tootsie but won because she lost to best actress in Frances to Meryl Streep for Sophie's Choice, he costar in Tootsie, Teri Garr, was a true supporting actress and should have won that year.

One that really annoys me, is Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained. He was the co-lead with Jamie Foxx. The reason it annoys me so much is because Samuel L Jackson gave one of the best supporting performances I’ve ever seen in any movie. I was sure he would get a supporting actor nomination and should win. It had never even crossed my mind that Christoph Waltz would be nominated in that category. But he was, and Jackson didn’t get nominated. And by the way, another annoying example was from the same year. Philip Seymour Hoffman. Co-lead with Joaquin Phoenix in The Master but was nominated in supporting.

I can understand why Viola decided to campaign for supporting. The Academy still has a ways to go in terms of inclusion. The Best Lead Actress Oscar is almost exclusively white outside of Halle Berry(biracial) and Michelle Yeoh.

If Hailee Steinfeld had gone to the Lead category then Mila Kunis would've made it into the Supporting Actress nominees at the Oscars 😢

Nicole Kidman in The Hours had least amount of screen time that her two costars yet was out as lead and won. Julianne Moore with more screen time was supporting, but was lead nominated for Far From Heaven and I think should have won for that. Nicole was ok, but not Oscar worthy especially as lead.

Brian!! This is an AWESOME topic, I'll be watching after work but just wanted to say I LOVE your channel and I LOVE the ideas you come up with! Keep doing your thing my friend!!!

The Top 10 ones that Brian Rowe left out which I would consider category fraud: *Winner *Walter Matthau (The Fortune Cookie) * Peter Ustinov (Topkapi) Ethan Hawke (Training Day) *George Burns (The Sunshine Boys) * Christian Bale (The Fighter) Robert Preston (Victor/Victoria) LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) *Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) *Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) River Phoenix (Running on Empty)

Reminds me of taking a test on The Great Gatsby in high school when another student thought Nick Carraway was the main character because the story was from his point of view.

Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls being considered supporting when her and Beyonce were co leads always made me annoyed but also I’m glad she won so

I honestly thought Brad Pitts performance was absolutely supporting.

An explanation of how the Academy decides what is a lead and what is a supporting role would have been nice.

Blanchett and Mara were lead Brad was supporting. I think Connelly could be either but the focus wasn’t on her. Possibly the same can be said about Davis Hutton and O’Neal were leads

I agree about Ali in Green Book, Viola in Fences, Jaime in Collateral, Tatum in Paper Moon = actually I agree with all! You may need to do an extended version of this - Top 25 Category Fraud !!

River Phoenix in Running on Empty. Very similar situation to the ones you described. The movie was LITERALLY. ABOUT. HIM! But because he was only 17 and no one (understandably) wanted to go up against Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, he was totally misplaced in supporting.

With regards to Fences, Mary Alice in the original Broadway production was nominated and won for featured actress instead of lead, which is probably why Viola decided to run for supporting in the Oscars, because in the Academy history only Halle Berry has won for lead being an African American woman

Unfortunately Viola Davis’s winning for best actress in Fences, while deserved, probably wasn’t going to happen and she knew it. To this day not one mono-racial black actress has ever won best lead actress at the oscars. Not once in 95 years.

I still don’t understand why Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz were both nominated for best supporting actress and Olivia Coleman was nominated (and won) for best Actress for The Favourite. Stone and Weisz should have been nominated for best actress and Coleman should have been nominated for best supporting actress. The roles of the former were much larger than that of the latter.

I saw The Silence Of The Lambs on a double bill at the cinema in 1992. Anthony Hopkins is a supporting role. You are 1001% right about Timothy Hutton.

This year we've got Ryan Gosling in Barbie as supporting actor. Ridiculous. Other category shifts: Dev Patel - Lion Pacino - The Irishman Stone - The Favourite Michelle Williams - The Fabelmans and Manchester by the Sea Waltz - Django Unchained Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal Streep - Devil Wears Prada

They need to consult screenwriters to understand what a "protagonist" is. Lol.

Thank You, Brian, for bringing always great quality content 😊

I'm surprised you didn't use the most recent example. Stephanie Hsu in EEAAO is in no way a supporting performance. It's a mother-daughter story, and she's the second female lead. However, I guess the logic was to focus on Michelle Yeoh for lead and avoid any potential vote splitting.

I normally don't enjoy list shows or care about awards shows but I really enjoyed this video. It was really well researched and well argued, even though I haven't seen any of these movies or have much of an idea of Oscars politics, the foundation was really well laid to where I could understand your opinions about them. 👍

What a fun video! Brian, can you please, please, please do a video on 1973 Supporting Actor, How Joel Grey won? This was an extraordinary win because it was never certain. Some people think Al Pacino protesting gave this to Grey, but Cabaret won 8 Oscars that year, and The Godfather won 3. Grey’s performance is a true supporting role, and the movie itself rivaled The Godfather for a win. I think it would be great to hear your take on this, as I haven’t seen many videos covering it at length. 😎😎😎

The biggest Oscar fraud happened in 1994, when Tommy Lee Jones stole Ralph Fiennes' fucking Oscar. I mean... Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List: becomes one of the most memorable villains. TLJ in The Fugitive: just acts like TLJ, cool and commanding. And you give the Oscar to the latter? Really?

I think Olivia Colmans nomination in Lead for The Favourite is an honorable mention.

With the way that the biggest Oscars (Lead actor/actress and Director) seem as often to be recognition for a distinguished career as one particular movie, there seems to be a concern that it not go to someone who is brand new and their great performance might be a one-off or a fluke somehow. So the supporting often becomes “best acting by a new face” and it’s where the child/teen actors and debuts land, regardless of screen time.

Jennifer Hudson for supporting Actress in Dreamgirls, that is a LEADING roll. Then that season they forced a for your consideration for Beyoncè in lead actress in the 2007 award season

This may sound silly, but I just LOVE when you refer to a performance as a “turn”. I don’t know why, I just think it’s delightful haha! ❤

Brian, thank you for another compelling and accurate video. I agree with all of your choices. Keep up the excellent work!

My choice is Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist. It's an OK performance - I think she is miscast since the character is supposed to be homely and irritating. Neither of which she is in the film. But there is no way that it is a supporting performance. She is in the film far more than second billed Kathleen Turner and is the film's leading lady. It also kills me that her lead performance prevented a true supporting performance from Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl.

The 'lead performance' should be based on the protagonist. Whose story are we watching? In True Grit, it is Matty Ross' story, and Rooster and LeBeouf are Steinfeld parts of it. Matty is the one driving the story forward, so she should get nominated for Best Actress. Jennifer Connelly was supporting in A Beautiful Mind. She has plenty of screen time, but it is John Nash's story. Take her out, and you still have a story. Take out Crowe's role, and the story disappears. So Jennifer was fair to be nominated for Best Supporting.

Excellent video, Brian. I agree with each of the top 10 choices. Some honorable mentions: David Nivens - Separate Tables (won for Lead Actor for 23 minutes of screentime) Patricia Neal - Hud (won lead with only 22 minutes of screentime) Patty Duke - The Miracle Worker (supporting performance win that should have been in lead) Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (won for Lead Actress with only 22 minutes of screentime) Nicole Kidman - The Hours (with 30 minutes of screentime, less than Julianne Moore's 33 minutes though I'm aware Moore was rightfully nominated for lead in Far From Heaven that year)

Julia Roberts in 'August: Osage County' bugs me the most. Not just because Barbara is a lead and not just because the story revolves around that character, and not Violet, but mainly because it took the oxygen out of the room to get the real Supporting Actresse in the movie - Esteemed Character Actress Margo Martindale a nomination! Somethings she's never got!

Same for Louise Flecher in Cuckoo's Nest. She was in the movie for only 22 minutes and won Best Actres.

Yeah you can believe all you want that Viola Davis would have won Best Actress but history has proven this was a wise call. Despite the Best Picture loss, the Academy loved La La Land and I do think Emma Stone would have won over Viola even though Viola had the better performance. Tatum O’ Neal in Best Supporting for that film is crazy but again I am not sure that they would have given her that Oscar if she was in Best Actress and that would have been worse.

I remember watching "Awakenings" and was shocked to find out that Robert De Niro was nominated for Lead Role, instead of Supporting Role, If I remember correctly. Also, how did Robin Williams not get nominated for Lead

Loved you mentioning Hopkins' work at the outset. I agree in his case and with Patricia Neal in "Hud" they are, respectively, the male and female leads of their movies supporting a central character with more screen time, but they make such a strong impression their wins are still warranted, and all the more impressive given their limited time onscreen.

Fantastic topic for a video, and another wholly entertaining and thought-provoking video, bravo!

To compound Davis's category fraud, she had already won a Tony Award as LEAD actress in the same role on stage in Fences.

the category fraud that I despise is Mary Badham for To Kill a Mockingbird. Like, Scout is the one who narrates the story and TKAM is from Scout's perspective! I was legitimately shocked to see that she was nominated for supporting

I totally agree about Tatum O’Neal’s incredible performance in Paper Moon. I came across that movie on accident and was astounded that movie existed and I’d never heard of it.

Another person who should be mentioned is Christoph Walz the second time. Granted nobody was beating Daniel Day Lewis for actor. But he’s really the heart of Django Unchained. Plus as far as screen time goes he’s right up with both Tatum O’Neal and Mahershala Ali in Green Book. If you look up the reported screen time of every acting nominee. There are mere seconds separating the 3 longest supporting actor/actress winners. Tatum O’Neal 1:06:58. Mahershala Ali (2) 1:06:32. Christoph Walz (2) 1:06:17.

Great topic and video! I'm thrilled that you included Timothy Hutton here. He's the central player, and the film is (literally) about him, but they threw him in the supporting category? Please... but I guess it paid off for Hutton. My personal bugaboo on the topic came in 1950, when Anne Baxter campaigned for the lead category, which led to a predictable voter split and prevented Bette Davis (!!!) from claiming her 3rd (and most deserved) Oscar. Ironically, Baxter's insistence on being a "lead" reflected perfectly the personality of the character she played in the film... and probably reveals A LOT about her personally, as well. As anyone might have predicted, BOTH Baxter AND Davis went home empty-handed that evening. I've hated Baxter my entire adult life for that stunt. Sorry... not sorry.

Another awesome list! Honorable mention: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah). It's even in the title. On another topic: We need a reverse category fraud video. Cases where the actor is arguably supporting but goes lead and gets the Oscar nomination. A few examples come to mind: 1. Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) 2. Olivia Colman (The Favourite) 3. Michelle Williams (The Fablemans) 4. Nicole Kidman (The Hours) 5. Patricia Neal (Hud) 6. David Niven (Separate Tables) 7. Lilly Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon 🤭)

For me, the 2017 Oscars had three blatant examples of category fraud. Viola Davis isn't just the female lead in Fences, she's THE lead, period. I agree that she would have had a good chance of winning best actress that year and for me the whole thing is made worse by the fact that Ruth Negga got nominated for best actress that year for what was much more of a supporting role in Loving. Even though she played the biggest female character in that movie and is featured throughout most of it, her character doesn't do very much and it feels much more like Joel Edgerton's movie. That was also the year when Dev Patel got nominated for best supporting actor in Lion, even though he was the clear lead of that film. But since best actor was kinda stacked that year, the studio decided to launch a campaign for him in the supporting category, using the logic that the little kid who played the child version of the same character in the first half of the film was the lead. However, the most egregious example of category fraud that I can remember in recent years was Judas and the Black Messiah, where Daniel Kaluuya and LaKieth Stanfield were co-leads (they shared top billing and every poster I've seen for the film features the two of them and nobody else) and they both got nominated for best supporting actor.

I’ve never watched any of these awards shows, but I love social history and well-made movies, so your videos are so interesting! 🎉

Just came here to say I will always stick by that Viola is supporting in Fences, her character isnt developed enough as Troy and Jennifer Connelly was definitely supporting in A Beautiful Mind

Totally agreed with Collateral and especially The Godfather. The Godfather is literally the story of Michael Corleone and his rise. Brando was the lead in the first 1/3rd of the movie but then moved behind in the second 1/3rd and is barely even there in the last 1/3rd

Whoa whoa whoa! Brian !!!!!! It’s not just Viola Davis’ decision to went for Best Supporting Actress that year, it was Paramount Picture who made that called ! Don’t blame her, blame the studio, bro !!!!!!!!!

I’d be interested in a follow up video focused on a similar idea of category fraud, but it’s looking at Golden Globe nominations where Dramas or Musicals/Comedies are miscategorized

Credibility lost immediately when you refuse to call out Hopkins

Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep in August: Osage county… Julia’s character was actually a lead role

I agree with the number 1 choice, but I always feel you omit the Academy has course corrected this and has nominated child actresses for lead: Keisha Castle Hughes and Quvenzhané Wallis come to mind

I always thought James Stewart was more of a supporting actor in The Philadelphia story, with Cary Grant, the lead.

Just a related point regarding FENCES and putting Viola Davis in Supporting. I do know that the original play on Broadway won a Featured (Supporting) Actress in a Play Tony Award for Mary Alice's performance of the same role. I'm not familiar enough with either script to know how much was changed between the play and the film versions. Anyone have more insight?

1000% agree. Doesn't matter how much time if you're the lead, as the ones with short times usually have such an impact over the entire movie. I don't think you should be in more than 35% of the movie to be a supporting character. I think it deprives people who will never be a lead in a film from winning an Oscar. I would say Patty Duke also could be here, she was a co-lead and on the screen almost as much as Anne Bancroft.

James Franco not nominated for The Disaster Artist is what made me avoid the Oscars. He was denounced due to the MeToo movement and they went safe with a Denzel Washington performance that nearly nobody saw. Pissed me off.

The saddest thing about this is that the performers who deserved to be in that category are robbed of their nominations and/or wins, especially those who have never been nominated yet at all.

Timothy Hutton - Ordinary People Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York

One that I always thought was weird was both Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya both nominated for Judas and the Black Messiah. Seriously, isn't Lakeith Stanfield the lead? How can there be 2 supporting actors and no lead?

I really believe Meryl Streep should have campaigned for Best Supporting Actress for "The Devil Wears Prada" and in this case she would definitely have beaten Jennifer Hudson

Love the videos, man. Keep it up!!!

Another example is haing s ngor for the killing fields.. he was the central character of that movie .. but because no one knew who he was he won supporting actor .

A couple of others that immediately come to mind: Patty Duke should have been nominated for Best Actress in The Miracle Worker; Simone Signoret should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Room at the Top (even though both won in the actual categories).

Great Video as always Can you please make a video for Rooney Mara and her elusive Oscar?

I always thought Louise Fletcher was a supporting character in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. She was arguably the main actress in the movie, but she doesn't have that much screen time. I think that was one of those years when the best actress category was wide open. I think they actually had trouble coming up with five nominees.

It’s so interesting because I don’t really care about how much screen time actors get. Sometimes you see actors almost the whole movie and they still are supporting actors lol

Viola Davis in supporting blocked a win for Naomie Harris whom I think would have changed the narrative and won for her outstanding and heartbreaking work

Lily Gladstone is doing it this year for Killers of The Flower Moon. Don't get me wrong her performance is great but it feels more of a Supporting Actress role than lead.

I was fully expecting to hear about Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago in supporting. She's a co-lead for sure.

Realizing Thelma and Louise is 30 years ago. *cries in old*