Oscars: Denzel Washington would be the eighth actor to win at least three times

Denzel Washington is on his way to making Oscar history for his performance as a former slave who plots to be the emperor of Rome in Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II,” the latest from director Ridley Scott. Right now, he has two Academy Awards to his name for “Glory” (1989) in Best Supporting Actor and “Training Day” (2001) in Best Actor. If he were to prevail for “Gladiator II” in early 2025, he would join an exclusive list of seven other people to win at least three times in the acting categories.

Here are the actors who have achieved this important Oscars milestone:

Katharine Hepburn (4)
Won Best Actress for “Morning Glory” (1933), “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967), “The Lion in Winter” (1968), and “On Golden Pond” (1981)

Frances McDormand (3*)
Won Best Actress for “Fargo” (1996), “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017), and “Nomadland” (2020). *She also has a fourth Oscar for producing “Nomadland.”

Meryl Streep (3)
Won Best Actress for “Sophie’s Choice” (1982) and “The Iron Lady” (2011), and Best Supporting Actress for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979).

Jack Nicholson (3)
Won Best Actor for “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “As Good As It Gets” (1997), and Best Supporting Actor for “Terms of Endearment” (1983).

Daniel Day-Lewis (3)
Won Best Actor for “My Left Foot” (1989), “There Will Be Blood” (2007), and “Lincoln” (2012).

Walter Brennan (3)
Won Best Supporting Actor for “Come And Get It” (1936), “Kentucky” (1938), and “The Westerner” (1940).

Ingrid Bergman (3)
Won Best Actress for “Gaslight” (1944) and “Anastasia” (1956), and Best Supporting Actress for “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974).

What makes Washington stand out, should he nab Oscar recognition in the coming months, is that he would be the first Black actor to be in the three-timers club, a major place in history. Even with his nomination, he would be the first Black performer to break double digits and the sixth overall. Currently, he is sitting at nine acting citations, tied with Spencer Tracy, Paul Newman, and Al Pacino, and while that is a prestige list of actors to be counted among, he has the opportunity to join Laurence Olivier (10), Bette Davis (11), Hepburn (12), Nicholson (12), and Streep (21).

As of this writing, Washington has odds of 5/1 to win Best Supporting Actor, according to our combined predictions at Gold Derby, with the backup of 29 experts, eight editors, and 18 of our top 24 users. He trails behind Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”) at 37/10 odds and Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”) at 9/2 odds. Completing the top seven are Clarence Maclin (“Sing Sing”) at 6/1 odds, Yuri Borisov (“Anora”) at 17/2 odds, Stanley Tucci (“Conclave”) at 15/1 odds, and Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”) at 22/1 odds.

Two editors and seven experts predict a historic third victory for Washington come March 2, which would be a crowning achievement for his standout performance in “Gladiator II” and his groundbreaking career.

In addition to winning for “Glory” and “Training Day,” Washington’s seven additional acting nominations are for “Cry Freedom” (1987) in Best Supporting Actor, “Malcolm X” (1992) in Best Actor, “The Hurricane” (1999) in Best Actor, “Flight” (2012) in Best Actor, “Fences” (2016) in Best Actor, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” (2017) in Best Actor, and “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (2021) in Best Actor. He also has a Best Picture bid for producing “Fences.”

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