List of actors with three or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have presented their annual Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, for over 90 years. The Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress have been presented since the 1st ceremony in 1929, and the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress have been presented since the 9th ceremony in 1937.^[1] Of the 954 Academy Award nominees in an acting category, a total of 354 have received two or more acting nominations, 179 women and 175 men.

A three-time Oscar winner, Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer in the acting categories, with 21 nominations between 1979 and 2018.^[2] Streep's total includes a record 17 best actress nominations. Seven actors have won three or more Oscars in the acting categories, with Katharine Hepburn being the only person to win four acting Oscars, spanning from her first in 1934 to her fourth in 1982. Ingrid Bergman and Streep each have two statuettes for leading and one supporting actress win, while Jack Nicholson nabbed the same tally for male actors. Daniel Day-Lewis became the first and currently only man to win three best actor Oscars, while Frances McDormand became only the second woman and third of her counterparts overall to achieve the same. Finally, Walter Brennan won his three supporting actor Oscars every other year between 1937 and 1941.

Thelma Ritter has a record six best supporting actress nominations, albeit without a win. Bette Davis is the only other female with a double digit tally of nominations, ten total. The only women to have won two Oscars in the supporting actress category are Shelley Winters and Dianne Wiest. The seven women to have won in both the lead and supporting actress categories are Bergman, Streep, Helen Hayes, Maggie Smith, Jessica Lange, Cate Blanchett, and Renée Zellweger.

Jack Nicholson is the most nominated male performer in the acting categories with eight for best actor and four for best supporting actor, for a total of 12 nominations and 3 wins.^[3] The record for most best actor nominations is nine, for both Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier. With Olivier's one additional supporting actor nod, his total is ten, ranking him secondmost. Along with Tracy, Al Pacino and Paul Newman are among the most nominated overall actors, with nine each. Seven actors have each received four best supporting actor nominations. The six men to have won in both the lead and supporting actor categories are Jack Lemmon, Robert De Niro, Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, and Denzel Washington.

Peter O'Toole and Glenn Close jointly hold the record for most nominations in the acting categories without a win, with eight; followed by Richard Burton with seven; and Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter, and Amy Adams with six. Both O'Toole and Kerr did receive the Academy Honorary Award.^[4]