This list of Academy Award records is current as of the 98th Academy Awards ceremony held on March 15, 2026.
Most awards or nominations
Most awards won by a single film: 11 Three films have won 11 Academy Awards: Ben-Hur (1959): nominated in 12 of the 15 possible categories Titanic (1997): nominated in 14 of the 17 possible categories The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): nominated in 11 of the 17 possible categories Most nominations received by a single film: 16 Sinners (2025): out of 17 possible categories Most nominations lost by a single film: 12 Sinners (2025): won 4 of its 16 nominations Most nominations received by a single film without winning an award: 11 Two films have received 11 nominations and won no awards: The Turning Point (1977): from 14 possible categories The Color Purple (1985): from 17 possible categories Largest sweep (winning awards in every nominated category): 11 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) won in every category for which it was nominated: Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Makeup, Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. Most total awards won by a person: 22 Walt Disney Dennis Muren holds the record for the most awards by a living person: 9 Most total nominations received and awards won by a woman: 35 and 8 Edith Head, all for Best Costume Design Meryl Streep holds the record for the most nominations for a living woman: 21 Most total nominations for a person: 59 Walt Disney John Williams holds the record for the most nominations by a living person: 54 Most nominations and awards for a person in a single year: 6 and 4 In 1954, Walt Disney received six nominations and won four awards, both records. He won Best Documentary, Features for The Living Desert; Best Documentary, Short Subjects for The Alaskan Eskimo; Best Short Subject, Cartoons for Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom; and Best Short Subject, Two-reel for Bear Country. He had two additional nominations in Best Short Subject, Cartoons for Rugged Bear; and Best Short Subject, Two-reel for Ben and Me. In 2025, Sean Baker won four awards from four nominations. He won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing, all for Anora. Most competitive awards won by a living person: 8 Composer Alan Menken has won eight competitive awards Milena Canonero, Colleen Atwood, and Frances McDormand have all won four competitive awards, making them the most awarded living women Note: Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren has won nine Academy Awards: six competitive awards, two "Special Achievement" awards, and one "Technical Achievement" award Most competitive awards won for Acting: 4 Katharine Hepburn, all for Best Actress Most competitive awards won for Directing: 4 John Ford Most competitive awards won for Writing: 3 Woody Allen, all for Best Original Screenplay Charles Brackett, for both Best Adapted and Original Screenplay Paddy Chayefsky, for both Best Adapted and Original Screenplay Francis Ford Coppola, for both Best Adapted and Original Screenplay Billy Wilder, for both Best Adapted and Original Screenplay Most competitive awards won for Film Editing: 3 Ralph Dawson Michael Kahn Daniel Mandell Thelma Schoonmaker Most competitive awards won for Cinematography: 4 Joseph Ruttenberg Leon Shamroy Most competitive awards won for Film Music Composition and Songwriting: 9 Alfred Newman, all for Best Original Score Note: Alan Menken has won eight awards in musical categories John Williams has won five awards and holds the record for the most nominations by a living person at 54. Sammy Cahn won four awards, all for Best Original Song Johnny Mercer won four awards, all for Best Original Song Jimmy Van Heusen won four awards, all for Best Original Song Most competitive awards won for Art Direction: 11 Cedric Gibbons, who designed the Oscar statuette, received 38 nominations Most competitive awards won for Costume Design: 8 Edith Head has received 35 nominations in total and holds the records for the most nominations and awards for a woman Most competitive awards won for Makeup: 7 Rick Baker, who has received 11 nominations in total Most competitive awards won for Visual Effects: 8 Dennis Muren, who has received 15 nominations in total Most competitive awards won for Special Effects (discontinued in 1962): 3 A. Arnold Gillespie, who received 12 nominations in total Most awards won for Animated Feature Film: 3 Pete Docter, who has received four nominations in total Most nominations received for Animated Feature Film: 4 Pete Docter, winning 3 Hayao Miyazaki, winning 2 Chris Sanders, winning 0 Byron Howard, winning 2 Most awards won by a country for Best International Feature Film: 14 Italy, which has received 33 nominations in total Most nominations received by a country for Best International Feature Film: 43 France, which has won the award 12 times Most nominations received by a country for Best International Feature Film without an award: 10 Israel Most awards won by a non-English language film: 4 Four non-English language films have won four Academy Awards: Fanny and Alexander (1982) won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score Parasite (2019) won Best International Feature Film, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) won Best International Feature Film, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score Most nominations received by a non-English language film: 13 One non-English language film has been nominated for thirteen Academy Awards: Emilia Pérez (2024): Best International Feature Film, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song (x2)
Awards for acting and directing debuts
These people won Academy Awards for their debut performances in film:
Best Actor None Best Actress Shirley Booth (Come Back, Little Sheba, 1952) Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins, 1964) Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl, 1968) Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, 1986) Best Supporting Actor Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946) Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, 1980) Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields, 1984) Best Supporting Actress Gale Sondergaard (Anthony Adverse, 1936) Katina Paxinou (For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1943) Mercedes McCambridge (All the King's Men, 1949) Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront, 1954) Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden, 1955) Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon, 1973) Anna Paquin (The Piano, 1993) Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls, 2006) Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave, 2013) Honorary Award Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946) Academy Juvenile Award Claude Jarman Jr. (The Yearling, 1946) Vincent Winter (The Little Kidnappers, 1954)
These people won Academy Awards for their directing debuts:
Best Director Delbert Mann (Marty, 1955) Jerome Robbins (West Side Story, 1961) Robert Redford (Ordinary People, 1980) James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, 1983) Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, 1990) Sam Mendes (American Beauty, 1999)
Big Five winners
Three films have received the Big Five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay (Original or Adapted; all won for Best Adapted Screenplay).
It Happened One Night (1934) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Most consecutive awards in each category Any awards Walt Disney received record 10 awards in the eight consecutive years from 1931/32 through 1939. Eight (listed below) are for Short Subject (Cartoon), and two were Special Awards: one for the creation of Mickey Mouse, and one recognizing the innovation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Best Picture David O. Selznick produced two consecutive Best Picture winners Gone with the Wind in 1939 and Rebecca in 1940 (He himself was not awarded the Oscars as at the time the statuette went to the studio instead of the producer) Best Director Three directors have won two consecutive awards (of which, one of each of their films (in bold) won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and one did not): John Ford – The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941) Joseph L. Mankiewicz – A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950) Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Revenant (2015) Best Actor Two actors have won two consecutive awards: Spencer Tracy – Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938) Tom Hanks – Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994) Best Actress Two actresses have won two consecutive awards: Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937) Katharine Hepburn – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Lion in Winter (1968) Best Supporting Actor Jason Robards won two consecutive awards for All the President's Men in 1976 and Julia in 1977 Best Supporting Actress No consecutive winner for Best Supporting Actress Best Adapted Screenplay Two screenwriters have won two consecutive awards: Joseph L. Mankiewicz – A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950) Robert Bolt – Doctor Zhivago (1965) and A Man for All Seasons (1966) Best Original Screenplay No consecutive winner for Best Original Screenplay Best Art Direction Thomas Little won four consecutive awards for Best Art Direction. He won Best Art Direction, Black and White, for the films How Green Was My Valley in 1941, This Above All in 1942, and The Song of Bernadette in 1943, and then he won an Oscar the next year in 1944 for Best Art Direction, Color for the film Wilson Best Cinematography Emmanuel Lubezki won three consecutive awards for Gravity in 2013, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) in 2014 and The Revenant in 2015 Best Costume Design Of Edith Head's eight awards won for Best Costume Design, three were won in consecutive years: in 1949 for The Heiress, in 1950 for All About Eve, and in 1951 for A Place in the Sun for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White; in 1950 she also won for Samson and Delilah for Best Costume Design, Color Best Film Editing Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter won for The Social Network in 2010, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2011 Best Original Score Roger Edens won three consecutive awards for composing the scores for Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), and Annie Get Your Gun (1950) Alfred Newman won two consecutive awards in Best Scoring of a Musical Picture for With a Song in My Heart (1952), and Call Me Madam (1953). André Previn won two consecutive awards on two occasions; first in Best Scoring of a Musical Picture for Gigi (1958) and Porgy and Bess (1959), then in Best Scoring of Music-Adaptation and Treatment for Irma La Douce (1963) and My Fair Lady (1964) Alan Menken won two consecutive awards for composing the scores for Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992) Gustavo Santaolalla won two consecutive awards for composing the scores for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Babel (2006) Best Original Song Three composers have won two consecutive awards for best original song, but under different award names: Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) shared the awards in Best Music (Song) for "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961, and "Days of Wine and Roses" from Days of Wine and Roses in 1962 Alan Menken (music) won twice consecutively in Best Music (Original Song) for "Beauty and the Beast" from Beauty and the Beast (lyrics by Howard Ashman) in 1991, and "A Whole New World" from Aladdin (lyrics by Tim Rice) in 1992 Best Sound Mixing