Guy Pearce
What Should He Have Been Nominated For? Sadly, an Emmy win for “Mildred Pierce” is the closest the Australian actor’s come to an Oscar nod, though he’s now been a familiar face on U.S. screens for twenty years. Perhaps if he’d been better established already, his transformative turn in breakout “The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert” might have got some attention, while though “L.A. Confidential” received multiple nods, Pearce’s terrific weaselly-yet-principled performance as Ed Exley wasn’t among them. He’s done other work that deserved more attention — “The Rover,” “Results” and “Breathe In” in particular recently — but the miss that seemed most egregious for the star was his Best Actor-worthy turn in Christopher Nolan’s “Memento,” where he takes a near-impossible task and tears into it with relish, bringing noirish leading man chops, pathos and a light, wry touch to the puzzle-box structure.
Will It Happen? Pearce could have been a megastar, but seemed to actively steer away from it. We certainly wouldn’t rule it out, though, should the right role come along, though we suspect it’d be for a supporting role these days.
Robin Wright
What Should She Have Been Nominated For? Robin Wright’s had a funny sort of career: She was seemingly destined for megastardom in the 1980s and 1990s with first “The Princess Bride” and then “Forrest Gump,” but often seemed to shy away from it, only to become a household name, and Golden Globe and Emmy nominee, at last with “House Of Cards.” Wright’s arguably been doing the best work of her career on the Netflix show, but it still feels odd that she’s never been Oscar-nominated, given how good she is not just in the two movies above, but also in “State Of Grace,” “The Crossing Guard,” “Moll Flanders,” “Hurlyburly,” “The Pledge,” and many others. She’s definitely become better and better over time, so our votes would have been for one of two recent performances: Rebecca Miller’s disappointingly underseen “The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee;” and Ari Folman’s animated misfire “The Congress,” a strange, messy movie which Wright is undoubtedly fantastic in.
Will It Happen? “House Of Cards” has clearly given her career a boost, so we hope it’ll lead to more big-screen roles, too.
David Oyelowo
What Should He Have Been Nominated For? A pretty big name in the U.K. for his theater and TV work for a while, Oyelowo was one of those people who suddenly appeared to be everywhere overnight, Hollywood-wise, and racked up tiny roles in Oscar fare like “The Last King Of Scotland,” “The Help” and “Lincoln” before people really knew his name. He was terrific in supporting roles in “The Butler” and “A Most Violent Year” once he got more attention, but his lack of nomination for playing Martin Luther King in “Selma” is one of the biggest disgraces in recent Academy history. Being British and bearing relatively little resemblance to Dr. King, Oyelowo seemed like an odd choice, but with his “Middle Of Nowhere” director Ava DuVernay, he was transformed, embodying the spirit and the soul of the great man while shedding new light on him: This was MLK the politician, the flawed human, the husband. Last year was competitive in Best Actor, but we’d have taken Oyelowo over any of the eventual nominees (as would, it seems, Brad Pitt, who was so angry that the actor was snubbed that he convinced HBO to buy a tiny indie Oyelowo had starred in).
Will It Happen? It seems like only a matter of time, particularly given the projects he has coming up: “A United Kingdom” from “Belle” director Amma Asante, Mira Nair’s “Queen Of Katwe,” “Americanah” with Lupita Nyong’o, and a potential reunion with DuVernay.
Claire Danes
What Should She Have Been Nominated For? Some might call Claire Danes predominantly a TV actress, and it’s true that she’s bookended her career to date with two of her best-known roles, in “My So-Called Life” and “Homeland” (the latter of which has won her two Emmys, plus another for HBO movie “Temple Grandin”). But for the 15 years in between, Danes appeared exclusively in movies, and racked up as impressive a run of films as any actress of her generation. Films like “Little Women,” “Brokedown Palace,” “The Hours” and “Stardust” all feature excellent Danes performances, but the one we think should have brought her the most awards attention is Richard Eyre’s little-seen period drama “Stage Beauty.” Co-starring Billy Crudup, the film let Danes do everything that Gwyneth Paltrow did in “Shakespeare In Love” and more, and more effectively, and while the movie isn’t entirely successful, Danes was excellent in it.
Will It Happen? It depends. As and when “Homeland” ends, Danes could stay on the small screen, but if the right movie comes calling, her awards run on that show could well help.