Has Margot Robbie ever received an Oscar nomination for acting?

Posted On July 3, 2024July 3, 2024

Earlier this year, a storm erupted around the announcement of 2024’s Oscar nominees for ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Actress’. The particular concern of most fans, journalists, and movie critics was that Margot Robbie, who played the titular role in one of last year’s two biggest movies, Barbie, hadn’t been nominated.

There were suggestions that Robbie had been overlooked because her performance as (literally) a stereotypical Barbie doll was dismissed on misogynistic grounds. The decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences not to nominate her seemed to underline precisely the point that her role and the film she starred in were making. In fact, whether or not it was worthy of an Oscar nomination, there’s no denying that Robbie’s often meta and occasionally emotive portrayal of Barbie had far more depth than she was being given credit for.

But hasn’t it always been that way for Margot Robbie? Her acting range and on-screen charisma make her one of the most coveted movie stars in Hollywood when there’s a lead role on offer. Yet once awards season comes around, she barely gets a look in.

It’s worth noting that several of Robbie’s strongest performances have come in films that have fallen short of critical expectations overall, despite the strength of her acting. Take Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, for example, an unfettered omnishambles of a movie which would have disintegrated altogether were it not for Robbie’s lively and captivating portrayal of ill-fated silent movie starlet Nellie LaRoy. Or 2019’s period drama Dreamland, which fails to engage the viewer aside from Robbie’s committed suspension of disbelief.

What about the Oscars, though?

Still, Robbie’s admirable performances in movies which misfired or otherwise haven’t warranted the attention of Tinseltown’s most prestigious awards. That is, with the exception of two films.

The 2017 mockumentary film I, Tonya earned Robbie her first (and only, to date) Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’. Robbie plays real-life ice skating champion Tonya Harding to tragicomic effect, as the movie charts Harding’s downfall as a professional skater after a brutal physical attack on her sporting rival.

The part was one of Robbie’s first leading roles on the big screen, but she was already a showstopper. She lost out at the Oscars, though, with the award instead going to second-time Frances McDormand for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Two years later, Robbie received her second Oscar nomination, this time for ‘Best Actress in a Supporting Role’. She was nominated for playing Kayla Pospisil, a composite character based on real victims of sexual abuse on the set of the TV show The O’Reilly Factor, in the film 2019 film Bombshell.

This nomination is a good example of Robbie earning recognition from the Academy despite the limitations of the movie she’s acting in. Bombshell never really went beyond surface-level depictions of its harrowing true story. However, Robbie still managed to bring depth and nuance to her character, even though she was one of the few actors who played a fictional person in the film.

Robbie may only have these two Oscar nominations to show for her acting work at this point. She’s just 34 years old, though, with barely a decade of experience in Hollywood behind her. There are bound to be many more Academy Award nominations heading her way in the coming years. And her impressive body of work will finally start getting the appreciation her fans are demanding.

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