A winding history of all Bradley Cooper’s big award snubs

Social media has been buzzing with the major upsets since the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were announced. Most people have been talking about the Barbie drama, but the upcoming ceremony looks like it’s about to become a repeat of the Golden Globes, especially in the race for Best Actor.

People were quick to point out Bradley Cooper’s quietly furious reaction to Cillian Murphy’s win a couple of weeks ago, having been nominated for his role as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Murphy, of course, won for Oppenheimer, and pretty much everyone is sure that he’ll win at the Oscars. Some think that Paul Giamatti also stands a chance for The Holdovers – but no one has been saying the same for Bradley (sorry king).

Bradley Cooper is no stranger to losing out at major award shows – this is his fifth Oscar acting nomination and twelfth overall. So, here is a quick rundown of every major award show snub he’s received over the years, in honour of what will (most likely) be his next one.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Bradley was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA for his role in Silver Linings Playbook but didn’t win any of them – though he did win a Critics’ Choice award. On the bright side, Jennifer Lawrence picked up a Best Actress Oscar for her role opposite Bradley, giving us all an iconic moment and lasting meme when she tripped up the stairs (see, it happens to all of us).

American Hustle (2013)

Bradley was nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar the next year for playing Richie DiMaso in American Hustle. Unfortunately, this one failed to win any of its ten nominations at the Oscars, with Jared Leto picking up the Oscar. And Bradley didn’t win the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Award or BAFTA either. However, he did get a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast, alongside Amy Adams, Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence – not a bad line-up.

American Sniper (2014)

Bradley picked up a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor in an Action Movie for American Sniper. He played Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in American history – cheery stuff. He earned his third consecutive Oscar acting nomination and his fourth overall when it was nominated for Best Picture, as he also served as a producer.

A Star Is Born (2018)

Bradley returned to the Oscars after a few years with the critically acclaimed A Star Is Born, an extremely depressing remake of the classic version. As well as starring opposite Lady Gaga (slay) he also wrote, produced and directed it, and looked set to do very well after being nominated for eight Oscars.

Sadly, Bradley lost out on Best Actor, Picture and Adapted Screenplay. Even worse, he wasn’t recognised in the race for Best Director at the Oscars at all, though was nominated at a few other major award shows. It’s not all bad – A Star Is Born earned him two Grammys for Shallow, as well us giving us the infamous performance between Bradley and Lady Gaga – I still need answers.

Joker (2019)

I can’t lie, I had no idea he was even involved in this but apparently he was a producer for Joker, which was nominated for Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars, garnering Bradley his eighth Oscar nom. Parasite ended up winning instead, though Joaquin Phoenix won Best Actor for his portrayal of the Joker. Don’t worry Bradley, A Star Is Born will always be my joker xx

Nightmare Alley (2021)

Another producing nomination here, as Bradley ended up being snubbed in the Best Actor category at literally every award show. Oops. The Guillermo del Toro directed flick looks kind of fun though, and luckily people only remember the 2022 Oscars for one thing so it doesn’t really matter.

Maestro (2023)

Last year’s biopic of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein looks like the ideal Oscar candidate, and in all fairness, has done pretty well. Bradley directed, wrote, produced and starred in this one, and it’s garnered an impressive seven Oscar nominations. He seems to really really want it too, going perhaps a little too extreme with the method acting (think Austin Butler Elvis minus the voice). Unfortunately, he’s up against some tough competition, so I don’t think anyone expects him to win.

We’ll have to wait until the ceremony on March 10th to see who wins out, but it doesn’t look good for Bradley. They say history repeats itself – Leonardo DiCaprio also had five acting nominations before winning his Oscar – so maybe next time. And hey, at least he was nominated!

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