When Was the Last Time a Horror Movie Won an Acting Oscar? Why Amy Madigan’s Win Is Rare
When Amy Madigan won Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 98th Academy Awards, it marked a rare moment for how horror movies are treated during Hollywood's biggest awards ceremony. While the genre has produced many iconic performances over the years, actors from horror movies have very rarely been rewarded with an Oscar win.
Madigan's win over her fellow nominees, including Teyana Taylor, has fans asking a simple question. When was the last time a horror movie actually won an acting Academy Award?
The Last Time A Horror Movie Won An Acting Academy Award Was in 2010
Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Amazingly enough, it had been 16 years since a horror movie last won an acting Academy Award, as a history of scary movie actors winning Oscars shows. During the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, which took place in 2010, Natalie Portman won Best Actress in a Leading Role for her Black Swan performance. The psychological horror movie was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing, but lost in all of those categories.
Before Portman's win, it had been 19 years since actors from the genre last took home Oscars. In 1991, Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Jodie Foster won Best Actress in a Leading Role thanks to their iconic work in The Silence of the Lambs. In a rare occurrence, Foster's win came only one year after another horror movie performance won that category. In 1990, Kathy Bates earned the Best Actress in a Leading Role Academy Award for her role in the movie Misery.
The following list of every horror movie performance to win an acting Oscar shows how rarely the Academy has given actors from the genre credit for their work:
Every Horror Movie to Ever Win An Acting Oscar:
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Amy Madigan for Weapons in 2026
- Best Actress in a Leading Role - Natalie Portman for Black Swan in 2010
- Best Actress in a Leading Role - Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991
- Best Actor in a Leading Role - Anthony Hopkins for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991
- Best Actress in a Leading Role - Kathy Bates for Misery in 1990
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Ruth Gordon for Rosemary's Baby in 1968
- Best Actor in a Leading Role - Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1931
Why Amy Madigan’s Oscar Victory Is So Rare
The fact that Amy Madigan is only one of seven actors to ever win an acting award at the Oscars for a scary movie performance in the ceremony's almost 100-year history says a lot. Clearly, the Academy voters who weigh in on the acting categories have long overlooked the genre. Another way to underline the rarity of Madigan's accomplishment is by looking at the following list of acclaimed recent horror movie performances that weren't even nominated:
- Toni Collette in Hereditary
- Lupita Nyong'o in Us
- Florence Pugh in Midsommar
- Mia Goth in Pearl
- Demi Moore in The Substance
- Naomi Scott in Smile 2
- Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out
- Nicolas Cage in Mandy
- Christian Bale in American Psycho
- James McAvoy in Split
- Song Kang-ho in The Host
- Bill Skarsgård in It
- Joel Edgerton in It Comes at Night
- Justice Smith in I Saw the TV Glow