Not Just Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons! Every Couple Nominated for Oscars in the Same Year

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Not Just Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons! Every Couple Nominated for Oscars in the Same Year

Feeling the love — from the Academy and each other! When the 2022 Oscar nominations were announced in February, two couples earned nods for their performances throughout the year. Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst both earned their first Oscar nominations — for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, for their performances in The Power of the Dog. The Little Women star was particularly excited to celebrate the historic achievement alongside her fiancé of four years, telling Us Weekly after the nominations that "to be honored by the Academy is a truly humbling experience. For both Jesse and I to get our first nominations together is beyond our wildest dreams." Meanwhile, Javier Bardem earned a best actor nomination alongside his wife of 11 years, Penelope Cruz. The Being the Ricardos star celebrated her accomplishment in a statement reacting to the nominations, noting that he "couldn’t be happier to share this celebration with my talented wife, Penelope, for her work in Parallel Mothers." Being nominated alongside their significant other will likely make awards season even more memorable for the quartet of actors. "[Having him next to me] wasn’t even a question," Alicia Vikander, who won Best Supporting Actress in 2016, told British Vogue about having now-husband Michael Fassbender with her at the ceremony. (Fassbender was up for Best Actor in a Leading Role that night, for his work in Steve Jobs, but lost to Casey Affleck.) [jwplayer 4YGdMoS2-zhNYySv2] She continued: "It felt like the right thing. We wanted to sit next to each other, simple as that. We wouldn’t have gone there and not sat together." Four years later, both Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach earned six nominations each for their films Little Women and Marriage Story, respectively, and did much of their awards season press together. "It’s exciting to have mutual acknowledgment of the work that he and I have both put into [our movies]," Gerwig told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2019. "There is a sense of wanting to show off for each other. At least on my part. I remember when I showed Noah cuts or drafts of Little Women. He’s my favorite filmmaker and my favorite writer. It means everything to me that he thinks it’s good." Baumbach was equally effusive about her work, describing Little Women as his "favorite movie of the year." The Squid and the Whale director added, "It feels like, 'How great that this is being recognized in the way that you hoped it would.'" Keep scrolling to see even more couples who were nominated for Oscars in the same year. [podcast_block]

Credit: Shutterstock

Not Just Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons! Every Couple Nominated for Oscars in the Same Year

Feeling the love — from the Academy and each other! When the 2022 Oscar nominations were announced in February, two couples earned nods for their performances throughout the year. Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst both earned their first Oscar nominations — for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, for their performances in The Power of the Dog. The Little Women star was particularly excited to celebrate the historic achievement alongside her fiancé of four years, telling Us Weekly after the nominations that "to be honored by the Academy is a truly humbling experience. For both Jesse and I to get our first nominations together is beyond our wildest dreams." Meanwhile, Javier Bardem earned a best actor nomination alongside his wife of 11 years, Penelope Cruz. The Being the Ricardos star celebrated her accomplishment in a statement reacting to the nominations, noting that he "couldn’t be happier to share this celebration with my talented wife, Penelope, for her work in Parallel Mothers." Being nominated alongside their significant other will likely make awards season even more memorable for the quartet of actors. "[Having him next to me] wasn’t even a question," Alicia Vikander, who won Best Supporting Actress in 2016, told British Vogue about having now-husband Michael Fassbender with her at the ceremony. (Fassbender was up for Best Actor in a Leading Role that night, for his work in Steve Jobs, but lost to Casey Affleck.) [jwplayer 4YGdMoS2-zhNYySv2] She continued: "It felt like the right thing. We wanted to sit next to each other, simple as that. We wouldn’t have gone there and not sat together." Four years later, both Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach earned six nominations each for their films Little Women and Marriage Story, respectively, and did much of their awards season press together. "It’s exciting to have mutual acknowledgment of the work that he and I have both put into [our movies]," Gerwig told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2019. "There is a sense of wanting to show off for each other. At least on my part. I remember when I showed Noah cuts or drafts of Little Women. He’s my favorite filmmaker and my favorite writer. It means everything to me that he thinks it’s good." Baumbach was equally effusive about her work, describing Little Women as his "favorite movie of the year." The Squid and the Whale director added, "It feels like, 'How great that this is being recognized in the way that you hoped it would.'" Keep scrolling to see even more couples who were nominated for Oscars in the same year. [podcast_block]

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Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons — 2022

The couple, who met on the set of the TV show Fargo in 2015, are fans of each other's work as actors. "The experience of making The Power of the Dog was one that I will cherish forever. Getting to work alongside such amazingly talented and wonderful people (such as the one and only Kirsten) was everything you hoped filmmaking could be," the Friday Night Lights alum said in a statement reacting to the nominations.

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Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz — 2022

Though both actors have previously won an Oscar — him in 2008 for No Country for Old Men and her in 2009 for Vicky Christina Barcelona — this is the first time that the couple have been honored in the same year.

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Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach — 2020

In addition to seeing their films earn Best Picture nods, Gerwig was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Little Women while her partner was up for Best Original Screenplay for Marriage Story. Though neither of them took home awards, they weren't too upset. "We already share a baby, so the nominations, that's easy," Baumbach told Ryan Seacrest in February 2020, referring to their son, Harold.

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Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender — 2016

The primarily private couple confirmed their romance at the 2016 Academy Awards when Vikander stopped to kiss the X-Men actor after winning Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Danish Girl. (Fassbender earned a best actor nod for Steve Jobs, but went home empty-handed.) They tied the knot in October 2017 and quietly welcomed their first child together in 2021. 

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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt —2009

Jolie, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2000, was nominated for Changeling, in which she played a mother united with a boy who she does not believe is her missing son. Pitt, meanwhile, was up for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but neither one was victorious that night. After four nominations, he finally took home the trophy in 2020. The couple called it quits in 2016 after eleven years together and two years of marriage.

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Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger —2006

After meeting on the set of Brokeback Mountain in 2004 and welcoming daughter Matilda one year later, the pair earned his-and-hers Supporting Actor nods the movie in 2006. Williams and Ledger called it quits in 2007 but remained close until his sudden death in January 2008.

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Frances McDormand and Joel Coen — 1997

The Nomadland actress earned her first Academy Award in 1997 for her performance in Fargo, which was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, making her the first person to win for a role directed by their spouse. The Coen brothers, meanwhile, won Best Original Screenplay. Together, the couple have won 10 Oscars over the years and have been nominated for a whopping 48.  

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Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins — 1996

The League of Their Own star took home the Best Actress in a Leading Role award for Dead Man Walking, which was directed by Robbins. Unlike his partner, however, the actor went home empty-handed after losing both Best Picture and Best Director that year. Sarandon and Robbins split in 2009 after 21 years together and they share two sons, Jack and Miles.

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Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson — 1986

The duo, who had a tumultuous on-and-off relationship from 1973 to 1990, were both nominated for the dark comedy Prizzi's Honor. Huston won the Best Supporting Actress trophy that night, but Nicholson lost Best Actor in a Leading Role to William Hurt.

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Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes — 1975

A Woman Under the Influence, which was written and directed by Cassavetes, earned two nominations at the 1975 Oscars: Best Director and Best Actress in a Leading Role for his wife and frequent collaborator, Gena Rowlands. The couple made ten films together from 1963 to 1984, many of which are considered cult classics today.

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Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman — 1969

The twosome was married for 50 years, from 1958 until Newman's death in 2008. They both earned nods for the film Rachel, Rachel in the late 1960s — Woodward for best actress and Newman as a producer for Best Picture. Both walked away empty-handed that evening.

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Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy — 1968

Both titans of Old Hollywood, Hepburn and Tracy starred in nine films together over the course of 25 years but were only nominated together for their final picture, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. The night was bittersweet, as Tracy died just weeks after the film was completed at the age of 67. He was posthumously nominated for the best actor award but did not win. Hepburn, his lover of 26 years, did take home the trophy for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she considered an honor for both of them.

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Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton — 1967

Taylor and Burton, who first married in 1964 and split in divorced ten years later, before reconciling and remarrying in 1976, starred opposite one another in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? They were both nominated in the acting categories — Burton for best actor and Taylor for best actress — but she was the only one who won that night.

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Rachel Roberts and Rex Harrison — 1964

The duo earned his-and-hers Oscar nominations two years after getting married in 1962. Roberts was in the best actress race for This Sporting Life, while Harrison was up for best actor, though neither were victorious that year. They later divorced in 1971.

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Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier — 1940

Leigh won Best Actress in a Leading Role for her breakthrough role as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, which swept the awards that year. The accolade made her the first British actress to win in that category. Her then-fiancé, Olivier, was nominated for playing Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights but lost to Robert Donat. The couple were married in August 1940 and remained together for 20 years.

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Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine — 1932

The first couple to be Oscar nominated in the same year accomplished the feat at the 5th ever Academy Awards ceremony. Neither actor won that year, which must have been particularly difficult for Lunt, as the two other best actor nominees tied for the honor.