People who have won Best Actor or Best Actress for playing a real person

The third-ever winner for Best Actor earned the award for playing a real person. That award went to Arliss for playing Benjamin Disraeli in “Disraeli.” Interestingly, one of the actors he beat for that award was… George Arliss in “The Green Goddess.”

Laughton was an acclaimed actor for many years, although he died at the age of 63. He played iconic roles in movies like “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Mutiny on the Bounty.” However, his Best Actor award came for playing Henry VIII in “The Private Life of Henry VIII.”

It would feel a little weird if a biopic about a microbiologist won somebody a Best Actor award these days. Of course, Muni won his Oscar back in 1936. He played Louis Pasteur in “The Story of Louis Pasteur.” That feels like a film of an entirely different era, which to be fair it very much was.

In 1937, Tracy won Best Actor for “Captain Courageous.” In 1938, he pulled off a super-rare feat and won Best Actor again. This time, it was for playing Father Flanagan in a biopic about the founding of Boys Town, fittingly called “Boys Town.”

When “Sergeant York” was released in 1941, nobody knew that the United States would be entering World War II by the end of the year. By the time people were voting for the Oscars, they may have had war on their mind, and this biopic of a decorated World War I soldier as well. Whatever the reason, Cooper’s turn as York was honored.

Cagney became famous for playing crooks and mobsters. When he won his Oscar, though, it was for a very different type of role. He played George M. Cohan in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and won Best Actor. Then, he went back and did some more gangster pictures.

Since “The King and I” is a brightly colored musical, you may forget that the titular king was a real person. King Mongkut ruled Siam for 17 years. Now, Brynner wasn’t Thai, but he possibly had some Mongolian ancestry, which would mean it wasn’t entirely some white guy playing an Asian man. His lineage is murky, though.

“A Man for All Seasons” won Best Picture for 1966, and the man at the center won that award season as well. Scofield played Sir Thomas More, who would also end up a Catholic saint. The movie focuses on the last years of More’s life, which ended abruptly after he wouldn’t sign off on Henry VIII’s divorce.

General George S. Patton was a controversial, though celebrated, figure. Scott was sort of the same, at least in the world of the Oscars. The actor famously hated the very idea of the Academy Awards. Scott had refused a nomination for “The Hustler,” and he also refused a nomination for “Patton.” This time the Academy didn’t listen, though, and rewarded him anyway. To nobody’s surprise, he never accepted the award.

Getting played by a legend like De Niro could be an honor. Then again, “Raging Bull” doesn’t paint the most flattering picture of boxer Jake LaMotta. De Niro definitely gave it his all, though, and he easily won the Oscar for arguably one of the most impressive acting performances ever.

“Gandhi” was an Oscars darling, the kind of epic biopic that the Academy tends to love. It won Best Picture, and Ben Kingsley also won Best Actor for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi. That award went to Kingsley, who while British had Indian lineage on his father’s side.

What a coup for Abraham. He won Best Actor for “Amadeus,” and he wasn’t the guy who played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Now, that movie’s portrayal of Antonio Salieri wasn’t historically accurate, but he was a real person.

Day-Lewis is one of the most venerated actors to ever live. His work as Abraham Lincoln or Daniel Plainview may get most of the attention now, but back in 1989 he won his first Best Actor Oscar. He played the writer and artist Christy Brown in “My Left Foot,” a physically transformative performance.

The story of Claus von Bulow and Sunny von Bulow has not had stickiness in the popular imagination. However, in 1990 the sordid tale was still on many peoples' minds, so much so it led to the movie “Reversal of Fortune.” Irons played Claus opposite Glenn Close as Sunny. Irons won, and Close remains the actress with the most nominations without a win.

There’s a joke in a “Simpsons” episode where Homer claims to be the piano genius from the movie “Shine.” When asked for his name, the best he can come up with is “Shiny McShine.” We remember “Shine” like Homer does, and we remember Rush won Best Actor for it. However, you may not remember the name David Helfgott. Hopefully it sticks with you now.

Brody made history when he won for “The Pianist.” At 29, he was the youngest-ever winner of the Best Actor award. In the film, he played the real Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman.

Foxx wasn’t necessarily taken seriously as an actor early in his career, as he was a comedian first and foremost. Then he played Ray Charles in “Ray” and won an Oscar. Since then, well, he kind of lost that luster. However, he did get to host “Beat Shazam.”

Hoffman was an incredible actor, and had he not died sadly at the age of 46, he likely would have won more than one Oscar. Instead, he only won once, and he did that for playing Truman Capote in “Capote.” At the same time, Toby Jones played Capote in a different film, but Hoffman’s turn is the one everybody remembers.

This is the third Best Oscar winner in a row that won for playing a real person. After Foxx and Hoffman came Whitaker, although he won for playing a less-than-great guy. Whitaker was chilling as violent dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland.”

Two actors were nominated for Best Actor in 2008 for playing very different politicians. Frank Langella got nominated for playing the embodiment of the GOP in Richard Nixon. On the flip side, Penn got nominated for playing Harvey Milk in “Milk.” The gay activist and politician was a force in California before his untimely demise, and Penn won Best Actor in telling his story.

This was another battle between actors playing real people. We had Firth as King George VI in “The King’s Speech” versus Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network.” That year the Academy went all-in on the classic – some might say staid – option and Firth and “The King’s Speech” were big winners that night.

Day-Lewis did it again. We mentioned that he played Lincoln earlier. This was when he won for playing Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” The voice may have been jarring, but the performance was a typically committed one from DDL.

Four different actors playing real people were nominated this year. However, we were in the midst of the McConaissance here. McConaughey won for playing Ron Woodruff in “Dallas Buyers Club,” and he got to do his usual schtick in his acceptance speech. Alright, alright, alright.

Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists ever. He also unfortunately suffered from a debilitating physical malady. In telling his story, Redmayne won an Oscar for “The Theory of Everything.”

Finally, DiCaprio won his Oscar. All the Academy asked of him was to go through the wringer and put himself through hell. That’s what Hugh Glass went through in real life, and that’s what DiCaprio personified in “The Revenant.”

Was “Darkest Hour” a good movie? Most would say no. However, even people who didn’t like it tended to enjoy Oldman’s performance as Winston Churchill. Sure, makeup and costuming did a lot of work too, but so did Oldman.

As the years go on, this win feels odder and odder. Was Malek all that good as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody?” After all, he didn’t even do his own singing. That’s not ideal when you are playing a man famous for being, you know, a singer.

Smith was once the biggest movie star on the planet. He was just missing an Oscar. Finally, he won it for playing Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena, in "King Richard." Prior to winning, though, he stormed the stage and slapped Chris Rock in the face during the ceremony. Smith has his Oscar, but he is also banned from the Academy.

It would take a little longer for the first woman to win Best Actress for playing a real person. It happened in 1936 when Rainer played Anna Held in “The Great Ziegfeld.” The next year, she won Best Actress again, this time for “The Good Earth.”

The second Catholic saint on the list, Jones won for playing Bernadette Soubirous in “The Song of Bernadette.” You may know her better as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. Or maybe you don’t. Either way, Jones still got the win.

Bergman was an all-time great actor, and has the Oscars to prove it. She won three Academy Awards for acting, and only Katharine Hepburn has won more. The Swedish actor won for “Anastasia” for playing Anna Koreff, who for many years claimed to be Anastasia, but was proven to be a fraud.

“I Want to Live!” seems like a weirdly sordid film to win any Oscars, let alone Best Actress. And yet, it happened. Hayward played Barbara Graham, who along with two accomplices in a robbery that led to a murder, was executed on the same day. The actor got the win in her fifth and final nomination, so it may have been a bit of a cumulative effect in her winning.

“The Miracle Worker” won for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in this film about Annie Sullivan’s work with Helen Keller, played by Patty Duke. Arguably they both could have been considered leads, but Bancroft played the titular miracle worker, and so she took this category. While she’s best known for playing Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate,” Bancroft won her Oscar here.

We mentioned earlier than Hepburn won four Oscars. This is the one she won for playing a real person. That person in question is Eleanor of Aquitaine in “The Lion in Winter.” Eventually, Cate Blanchett would win an Oscar for playing Hepburn in “The Aviator.”

Streisand and Hepburn actually tied for Best Actress in 1968. Both of them played real people. We just mentioned Hepburn’s role, but Streisand was playing comedian Fanny Brice in the movie “Funny Girl.”

Loretta Lynn rose from poverty to being a country music star. Ultimately, though, she was still a coal miner’s daughter. That was the name of one of her songs, and also the biopic of her life. Spacek played Lynn in that movie, winning her Oscar.

Sister Helen Prejean spent years advocating for the abolishment of the death penalty. This quest was chronicled, in part, in the movie “Dead Man Walking.” While it’s the kind of heavy-handed message movie that “The Player” parodied, those movies evidently do work. After all, the Academy gave Sarandon Best Actress.

“Boys Don’t Cry” is brutal. It’s a rough watch. That being said, if you can push through that, Swank’s performance is quite impressive. She won her first of two Best Actress Oscars here, though we’re pretty sure it’s when she won for “Million Dollar Baby” that she forgot to mention her then-husband Chad Lowe.

The year 2000 was big for Steven Soderbergh. He had both “Traffic” and “Erin Brockovich” come out that year. “Traffic” won Benicio del Toro an Oscar, while Roberts finally won her first Oscar for playing crusader Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name.

Kidman got an Oscar nomination for playing Lucille Ball in “Being the Ricardos.” She wore a lot of makeup to look more like Ball. Kidman also did the same thing to play Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.” It was one of several instances in that era of women winning Oscars in movies where they de-glamorized themselves.

Speaking of de-glamorizing, Theron is almost unrecognizable as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in “Monster.” Some biopics are uplifting and positive. “Monster” is…whatever the opposite of that is. It’s bleak and grim, but it won Theron an Oscar.

“Walk the Line” is a biopic of Johnny Cash, but June Carter Cash is a key character in the story as well. Joaquin Phoenix didn’t win for playing Johnny, but Witherspoon did win for playing June.

Playing royalty is a good way to win an Oscar. Usually, though, it’s a long-dead royal. That wasn’t the case for Mirren. She won for playing Queen Elizabeth II – the then-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom – in “The Queen.”

This was a surprise win. Cotillard took home Best Actress for playing famed singer Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose.” It’s a French-language film that didn’t make much money in the United States, certainly not before Cotillard won Best Actress. That’s not to knock Cotillard’s performance. It was just unexpected.

This definitely felt like a career achievement award. That was the narrative at the time. Not many people liked “The Blind Side.” People didn’t even necessarily think Bullock was particularly great in it. Whatever the reason, Bullock won for playing Leigh Anne Tuohy in this attempt at a feel-good sports movie.

Streep has been nominated for 21 Oscars. On more than one occasion she’s been nominated for playing a real person. In her three Oscar wins for acting, Streep was playing a real person once. That was for “The Iron Lady,” where she played Margaret Thatcher.

“The Favourite” is not necessarily going for factual accuracy. Nevertheless, Colman is playing the real Queen Anne. Colman is pretty beloved among awards voters, and she also gave quite a charming speech when she won for “The Favourite.” It’s an odd movie that isn’t for everybody, but that didn’t stop her from getting this win.

This was a little strange. Zellweger had won an Oscar before, so this wasn’t a makeup award or a career achievement thing. Plus, basically nobody saw “Judy.” It wasn’t well-received or critically acclaimed. Zellweger did a good Judy Garland impression, but it wasn’t necessarily a great performance. Maybe people just wanted to reward Garland in a weird way.

Chastain is a great actor. It was almost inevitable she would win an Oscar. We just didn't figure on it being for "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." The film is not good, and the lack of awards love outside of Chastain speaks to that. However, Chastain does admirable, if not remarkable, work as Tammy Faye Baker. Maybe they just felt like giving her an award in a down year for the category?