It’s Oscars season again already, which means that film buffs across the world are getting excited to see if their favourite actors will take home the trophy this year. The 2022 awards are set to be particularly competitive, and potentially divisive, as this year the Oscars panel have brought back the previously unpopular “fan favourite” category.
When we consider famous actors and those that have done well at The Oscars in the past we tend to think about Hollywood actors and all the glitz and glam there – however, actually there is plenty of home-grown talent that has done well too! So while we sidestep the controversy and the American superstars, we should sit back and wait to see who will take home a coveted award this year. While we do that, let’s take a minute to look back at some of London’s best Oscar nominees from previous years.
- Gary Oldman – Gary Oldman is first on the list. A born and bred Londoner, hailing from New Cross in the South East, Oldman picked up the award for Best Actor in 2018 thanks to his compelling performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.
Oldman was actually predicted to win an award six years earlier for his performance in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy but was beaten by Jean Dujardin for his starring role in The Artist.
Despite becoming known for playing these darker roles in recent years, Harry Potter fans will most likely recognise him as Sirius Black. Whatever you remember him for; Gary Oldman is without a doubt one of the best acting talents to come out of our capital in recent years.
- Eddie Redmayne – Eddie Redmayne is perhaps not a name that would come to mind straight away, but it should be. Born in Westminster, Redmayne had a series of more minor roles before becoming known for his incredible performance in The Theory Of Everything, when he played Steven Hawking.
Redmayne has had a few close calls with awards – he lost out on the award for Best Actor when he was beaten by Leonardo DiCaprio. Finally, in 2015, Eddie Redmayne collected his award for Best Actor thanks to his performance as Steven Hawking.
Since then, Redmayne has become known for a series of large scale productions, such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in 2016, and The Aeronauts in 2019. To date, Redmayne has won 24 awards and been nominated on an incredible 75 occasions.
- Dame Helen Mirren – Dame Helen Mirren is potentially one of the most recognisable names on this list, which includes her notable performance as Queen Elizabeth in The Queen in 2007.
The Chiswick native has become known for her roles in a number of hugely popular films like Berlin, I love You, Eye in the Sky and Woman in Gold. She won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in The Queen, but she has also been nominated for 134 awards as well as winning an impressive 127 awards.
Some big names have brought an Oscars trophy back to London in previous years, so who will be representing the capital at the 2022 Oscars awards?
This Year’s Londoners Tipped To Do Well
The first London-born Oscars nominee will come as no surprise. Benedict Cumberbatch has become a national treasure in recent years, partially thanks to his performance as Sherlock Holmes. The Hammersmith-born actor has recently been applauded for his starring role in Spiderman: No Way Home too, but it’s actually something entirely different that will see him hopefully return to the stage.
Benedict Cumberbatch has been nominated for Best Actor this year, owing to his role in The Power of Dog. The actor has previously been nominated for two Oscars, but overall he’s been nominated for 154 separate awards and has accumulated a whopping 64 wins.
Betting sites currently have Dame Judi Dench as the favourite for Best Supporting Actress, so she’ll also be gracing the Oscars red carpet – while she wasn’t born in London, she now lives in a village just outside of the capital, and her award nomination is too special not to mention. The incredible actress is a household name, and her 2022 nomination for Best Supporting Actress sees her become the oldest person ever to be nominated for this award. Dench has been nominated for her role in Belfast, which became a breakout hit this year. Despite Dench’s impressive career, she has only won one previous Oscar. However, she has enjoyed 68 other wins and an incredible 183 nominations.
Betting On The Oscars
The Oscars is going to be difficult to predict this year, but there will be a lot of British pride at the awards thanks to the resident Londoners that will be attending. You can head to plenty of bookmaker websites that will give you odds on various actors, films and other winners but these odds are changeable right up until the last minute. Not only that but as past award ceremonies have shown us, being the firm favourite doesn’t mean that they’re guaranteed to win – surprise winners and losers are nothing new to anyone that follows The Oscars.
If you are looking to place a bet then it is wise to keep an eye on things like celebrity news websites and even social media to see how odds are changing or what celebrity news might change things.
One thing for sure is that whether or you’re someone that wants a flutter on The Oscars or not this year is set to be an exciting ceremony with plenty of unexpected winners and losers – with a full-on ceremony full of glitz and glamour which is going to make for an exciting watch for audiences at home. So, get in some decent snacks, your favourite drink and get ready to watch some of your favourite actors and actresses waltz down the red carpet and enjoy a night of celebrating some of the industry’s greatest achievements.
