Actors who won Oscar for playing famous historical figure
Take a look at just a few of the actors and actresses who have taken home that coveted gold statuette for their portrayals of famous historical figures. These 9 actors won Oscar for portraying themselves in famous historical figures.
# Ben Kingsley – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in ‘Gandhi’
The young actor struck Oscar gold in only his second film, the sprawling biopic of India’s most famous activist leader. His performance as Gandhi earned Kingsley a place as one of the most celebrated actors of his generation; he was knighted by the British government in 2001.
# Judi Dench – Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in love”
A year earlier, Dench had scored her first Academy Award nomination for playing another famous British queen, Victoria, in “Mrs. Brown.” As Queen Elizabeth I, she was famously on screen for only eight minutes, but stole every one of the scenes she was in.
# Nicole Kidman – Virginia Woolf in “The Hours”
To play Woolf, the left-handed actress learned how to write with her right hand and started smoking the writer’s preferred roll-your-own cigarettes. Sporting a frumpy makeup wig, heavy makeup and—most famously–a prosthetic nose, Kidman was nearly unrecognizable in the role, which won her a Best Actress statuette.
# Cate Blanchett – Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator”
Nominated for Best Actress back in 1999 for her fierce turn as Queen Elizabeth I in “Elizabeth,” Blanchett picked up her first Oscar for her supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s period drama about eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.
# Daniel Day-Lewis – Abraham Lincoln in “Lincoln”
To stay in character, the towering actor spoke in Lincoln’s voice between takes and even after filming wrapped. His Oscar win for “Lincoln” earned Day-Lewis membership in an elite club—of one—when he became the first performer ever to win three Academy Awards for Best Actor.
# Meryl Streep – Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady”
For her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” Though the film itself largely failed to impress many critics, Streep’s performance won nearly universal raves as a spot-on incarnation of the famously conservative prime minister from her early days in politics to her later life.
# Marion Cotillard – Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose”
For this role she work hard a lot even for this role she Cotillard shaved her eyebrows and her hairline and endured five hours in makeup every day. Cotillard, who lip-synched in the film to Piaf’s real voice, won the only Oscar awarded to date for a French-speaking role.
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