Amy Adams

There’s a joke that says every time Amy Adams finishes shooting a movie, she’s immediately besieged by awards obsessives urgently prognosticating about her Oscar chances.

While it’s true that the film community may be a little more invested in Amy’s road to Oscar than she is herself, with six nominations and no win to date, she’s just two non-victories away from matching the tally of the queen of Oscar bridesmaids, Glenn Close.

Gradually emerging through small roles in Drop Dead Gorgeous, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Catch Me If You Can, Adams shot into Oscar contention in 2005 for her heartbreaking performance as a young expectant mother in the quiet indie drama Junebug. It was an instantly star-making moment, and she probably came reasonably close to winning Best Supporting Actress that year, ultimately losing to the more established Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener.

Shortly after that, she proved her leading lady chops in the delightful Disney comedy Enchanted. Her second nomination in Best Supporting Actress came in 2009 for her turn as a quiet but resolute young nun in Doubt. Probably splitting the vote with her co-star Viola Davis, who was also nominated for the film, they both ultimately lost to Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

This kicked off a streak of nominations through the early 2010s, primarily in the supporting category. In 2011 she was again up against a co-star, this time Melissa Leo in The Fighter, who won. In 2013 she held her own alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix in Paul Thomas Anderson’s unsettling masterpiece The Master. This would have been another worthy win, had Anne Hathaway not had the category virtually locked down for her turn as the tragic Fantine in Les Miserables.

In 2014 she received her first and only lead nomination to date, playing a resourceful con artist in David O. Russell’s American Hustle. She was once again unlucky to be up against a virtually nailed-on winner, this time Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine.

In 2016 Adams was infamously and indefensibly snubbed for what many consider to be her career-best performance in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. She received her last nomination to date in 2019 for playing Lynne Cheney in Vice, again in the Supporting Actress category. Unlike Arrival, this was nobody’s idea of the role that deserved to earn Adams her by-now long overdue Oscar win, and Regina King deservedly swept the category for If Beale Street Could Talk.

Since 2019, Adams fortunes have waned a little. She was probably close to a nomination for Hilbilly Elegy, but the film and her performance drew mixed reviews at best. She did her best to elevate the terrible Netflix thriller The Woman In The Window, and passed largely unnoticed in the much-mocked film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen. There was also a belated sequel to Enchanted, which few people seemed very enthusiastic about.

In 2024, she may finally be back in contention after teaming with Marielle Heller in the wonderfully titled Nightbitch. Whether this year or in a future project, Adams has probably clocked up enough industry goodwill that she and her supporters can still keep the faith that she’ll finally lift have a trophy of her own on the shelf before too long.