All the couples nominated for Oscars in the same year
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In 1932, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne made history as the first couple to be nominated for an Oscar in the same year. While both lost, they started a prestigious tradition that very few couples have been able to achieve.
Click through the gallery to see which couples defied the odds and were nominated for Oscars in the same year.
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1940: Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh won the Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind while her soon-to-be-husband Laurence Olivier was nominated for best actor in Wuthering Heights.
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1967: Richard Burton and Liz Taylor
Married couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were both nominated for their roles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Burton lost, but Taylor won.
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1968: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn won for her role in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? But her co-star Spencer Tracy, who died 10 months earlier and with whom she had 25-year affair, was only nominated and did not win poshumously.
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1969: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
Married couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were both nominated for their film Rachel, Rachel, in which she starred and he produced.
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1975: John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands
Married couple John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands were nominated for their work on A Woman Under the Influence — him for best director and her for best actress.
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1982: Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton
Warren Beatty won best director for his film Reds, while Diane Keaton was nominated for best actress in that same film. They were dating at the time of the Oscars but split up shortly after.
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1986: Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston
Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston starred together in Prizzi's Honor, and were dating at the time they were both nominated for an Oscar. Huston won for Best Supporting Actress while Nicholson lost.
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1996: Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon won her first Oscar for her role in Dead Man Walking while her partner at the time, Tim Robbins, was nominated but lost for Best Director for the same film.
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1997: Joel Coen and Frances McDormand
The 1997 awards ceremony was a good night for this married couple, as Fargo earned both writer-director Joel Coen and actress Frances McDormand each their own Oscar.
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2006: Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams
Brokeback Mountain stars and real-life couple at the time (they broke up before his death) Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams were both nominated he for best actor, she for supporting actress — but neither won.
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2009: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Real-life couple at the time Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were both nominated at the same awards ceremony — him for best actor for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, her for best actress for Changeling. Both of them lost.
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2016: Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander
Now-married couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander were dating at the time they were both nominated for Oscars. She won for her role in The Danish Girl while he lost for his role in Steve Jobs.
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2020: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach earned a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Marriage Story and Greta Gerwig was recognized with a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Little Women. While both were snubbed for Best Director nominations, their respective films were both up for Best Picture in 2020.
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2022: Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem
In 2022, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem scored his-and-hers Oscar nominations in the lead actor and actress categories. Cruz was nominated for her role in Parallel Mothers, while Bardem was recognized for playing Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. (This is the fourth nomination for both stars, who won previously for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and No Country for Old Men, respectively.)Â
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2022: Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons
Call it the power of The Power of the Dog: Real-life couple Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst both earned their first Oscar nominations for their supporting roles (playing a couple!) in Jane Campion's suspenseful, moody Western, a film that earned the most 2022 nominations from the Academy with 12 in total.Â