Eddie Redmayne made the awards circuit rounds thanks to his chilling performance in Netflix's The Good Nurse. The actor failed to secure an Oscar nomination for his terrifying portrayal of a serial killer, but he received recognition from multiple organizations, including the Golden Globes and SAG.
Like Redmayne, many other actors have received acclaim and numerous accolades for playing villains in dramas, action films, and even superhero adventures. Unlike Redmayne, however, a few rode the wave of success all the way to the Oscars, claiming the business' most prestigious award for their antagonistic efforts.
10 Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Miloš Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest stars Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. Based on the eponymous novel, the film follows Randle McMurphy, a patient who arrives at a mental institution and closes with the steely and sinister Nurse Ratched.
Fletcher's performance was critically lauded. Her performance as the cruel and tyrannic Mildred Ratched became synonymous with the unchecked power held by institutions, usually at the expense of those they claim to serve. Fletcher won the Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA for her portrayal of Ratched, while the film itself won the Big Five Oscars at the 1976 ceremony.
9 Faye Dunaway - Network (1976)
Faye Dunaway stars alongside Peter Finch and William Holden in Sydney Lumet's wicked satire Network. With one of the all-time best screenplays by the great Paddy Chayefsky, the film follows an ambitious and unscrupulous television producer who uses an unhinged and disgruntled anchorman to launch a new age of outrageous and genre-pushing television.
Network was a massive critical and commercial success, earning nine Oscar nominations. As the cold and calculating Diana Christensen, Dunaway is "television incarnate:" unrelenting, selfish, and power-hungry, reducing human interactions to transactions and occupational hazards. Dunaway won the Oscar and Golden Globe and was nominated for the BAFTA.
8 Michael Douglas - Wall Street (1987)
Few films capture the cold-heartedness of 80s yuppie culture as perfectly as Oliver Stone's condemnation of greed, Wall Street. Starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen, the story follows Bud Fox, a young and ambitious stockbroker who begins working with the powerful but corrupt corporate raider Gordon Gekko.
Douglas' clinical and immoral performance received universal acclaim from critics. Crafting a character that's equal parts reprehensible and alluring, Douglas delivers a suitably impish performance that never chases the audience away despite the shamelessness of it all. For his work in the film, Douglas won the Oscar and Golden Globe.
7 Kathy Bates - Misery (1990)
There have been numerous adaptations of Stephen King's most famous novels, but Rob Reiner's Misery might be among the best. James Caan stars as Paul Sheldon, a prolific romance writer who suffers an accident on the highway, only to be rescued by the dangerously obsessive Annie Wilkes, played by Kathy Bates.
Playing Annie with an overt and excessive cheeriness meant to disguise the deviousness within, Bates delivers a tour-de-force performance. She makes Annie precise, methodical, and overbearing, dominating every second she's on-screen with the same control she exercises over the injured Paul. Bates earned universal acclaim for her performance, winning the Oscar and Golden Globe for her efforts.
6 Joe Pesci - Goodfellas (1990)
Joe Pesci has worked with Martin Scorsese four times, earning Oscar nominations for three of those films. However, he won his sole Oscar for playing the deranged gangster Tommy DeVito in 1990's Goodfellas. The film co-stars Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta and follows the rise and fall of mobster Henry Hill and his associates.
Widely considered one of the all-time best mobster movies, Goodfellas received six Oscar nominations, although only Pesci prevailed. His performance as the charming yet violent and unstable Tommy DeVito has long been considered among the best in the gangster genre. Pesci delivers a manic but precise performance that perfectly complements the film's chaotic and brutal nature.
5 Anthony Hopkins - The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Based on Thomas Harris' 1988 novel of the same name, The Silence of the Lambs is among the few horror films embraced by the Oscars. Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee hunting the serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. To profile and catch him, she seeks the help of notorious psychiatrist, serial killer, and cannibal Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins.
Although he is on screen for a little over fifteen minutes, Hopkins' performance is nothing short of iconic. Sinister, calculating, and always in control, Hopkins' Lecter is a real-life monster. The actor's soft-spoken, terrifying portrayal is bone-chilling, lingering even when he's not on-screen. Hopkins won numerous accolades for his work, including the Oscar and BAFTA, although he infamously lost the Golden Globe to Nick Nolte.
4 Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men (2007)
The noughties were a great time to play villains. 2007 saw the Academy embrace dark and violent films, with the big winner being the Coen brothers' neo-Western masterpiece No Country for Old Men. The plot follows Llewelyn Moss, an unsuspecting wielder who finds a bag of money in the desert and becomes prey to a hitman tasked with retrieving it.
Javier Bardem plays Anton Chigurh, the psychopathic hitman pursuing Moss and one of the smartest villains in movie history. Cold and utterly terrifying, Bardem's Chigurh is nearly inhuman, devoid of compassion and unrelenting in his quest. He relies heavily on chance, flipping a coin throughout the film to determine the faith of some of his would-be victims. Bardem's performance received universal acclaim, with the actor winning the Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA.
3 Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (2008)
The Joker is arguably the most famous and celebrated villain in comic book history. He had already been played by three-time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson when Heath Ledger portrayed him in Christopher Nolan's noir take on the superhero genre, The Dark Knight. However, Ledger redefined the character, turning the Clown Prince of Crime into a cinematic icon.
Ledger's performance is chilling and unsettling. His voice, laughter, and constant lip-smacking work together perfectly to create a deeply disturbing portrayal of mental illness, cruelty, and anarchy. Ledger's Joker is chaos embodied, a near-unstoppable force of nature that forever changed how critics and audiences view comic book characters. Ledger received numerous posthumous accolades, including the Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA Awards.
2 Mo'Nique - Precious (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire stars Gabourey Sidibe as Precious Jones, a sixteen-year-old mother-of-two struggling with poverty and abuse. Mo'Nique co-stars as Mary Lee Johnston, Precious' physical and emotionally abusive mother.
What's so disquieting about Mo'Nique's performance is the tremendously human aspect of her cruelty. Unafraid to go to the darkest sides of the character's psyche, Mo'Nique embodies the perversion of a parent's role, delivering one of the bravest and most uncompromising performances in cinematic history. Mo'Nique swept the 2010 awards season, deservingly winning almost every accolade under the sun, including the Oscar.
1 Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Some movie villains are simply iconic; such is the case for the cunning and devious Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 historical fiction war film Inglourious Basterds. The film presents an alternate history story about two plots to assassinate Nazi leadership during World War II.
Playing Landa as a suave, hyper-intelligent, absurd, and skillful manipulator, Waltz is the film's beating heart. His dynamic, electrifying performance keeps the film on its toes, with Landa acting as the common thread between the multiple storylines. Waltz received critical acclaim for his performance, winning numerous accolades, including the Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA awards.