The Oscars: Get to know the 2019 nominees and their best TV roles

With The Oscars airing this Sunday on ABC, what better way to honor the nominees than watching some of the boob tube work?

The 91st annual Academy Awards is this Sunday! And I don’t know about you, but I am stoked for The Oscars.

Oscar Sunday is one of my favorite days of the year. I like to cook a fancy dinner, drink a little wine, and roll out a (tablecloth) red carpet for my dog to walk on. I ask him who he’s wearing, and he typically takes the fashion risk of no clothing and a collar.

This year, I have decided to have my own Oscars viewing party complete with small plates, Oscar statue cookies, and swag bags.

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You must be thinking, “Why is she writing about The Oscars? This is Show Snob!” I know this is a website for those who love television.

First of all, The Oscars are televised and have been since the 25th ceremony in 1953. And granted, ratings for last year’s telecast were down; still, 26.5 million people watched.

I get it. The ceremony is crazy long. Many people haven’t seen the movies nominated. (Side note, if you don’t have the time or money to find these movies in theaters, but you have a yearly goal of seeing all the nominees, you resort to buying The Favourite through Amazon and being stuck with it forever! ::eyeroll::)

But for us show-snobbers, you probably know many of these nominees because you’ve been watching them on television for years! Some are strictly movie actors – like, Christian Bale (Vice), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), and Rachel Weisz (The Favourite). One nominee was never in any acting role before the film she was nominated for (Yalitza Aparicio in Roma).

But everyone else either got their start on television or dove into a television role after they were already famous for something else.

Here are your 2019 Academy Awards nominees and their best television roles.

1. Amy Adams: Best Supporting Actress for Vice

Why yes, Adams was the “hot girl” on The Office for three episodes to date Jim. She also appeared in minor roles on Smallville and Dr. Vegas. But after dominating the movie world with six Oscar nominations, she returned to the small screen in the HBO series Sharp Objects last year. Though she was nominated for a Golden Globe and SAG Award, she didn’t take home the prize – although it was much-deserved.

2. Mahershala Ali: Best Supporting Actor for Green Book

While he’s already getting Emmy buzz for his current role on the third season of True Detective, Ali spent a lot of time on the T.V. screen. Before winning an Oscar for Moonlight, he appeared on Crossing Jordon, The 4400, Threat Matrix, Treme, and Luke Cage. But his best role had to be as Remy Danton on House of Cards. A fan-favorite, his character survived the show, even having dirt on Frank Underwood. That’s rare!

3. Glenn Close: Best Actress for The Wife

She’s Hollywood royalty and has been nominated seven Oscars and never won. So, she will probably win a lifetime achievement Oscar this year for The Wife. (When someone wins for a body of work and not necessarily for their work they actually win for.) With a ton of T.V. movies and some minor guest appearances on Will & Grace and The West Wing, Close starred on The Shield for its fourth season. But she took the lead role on the crime drama Damages, where she played Patty Hewes. She won a Golden Globe and Emmy for the role.

4. Olivia Coleman: Best Actress for The Favourite

While Coleman will be taking over royal duties from Claire Foy on The Crown for Season 3, she has a ton of television creds. And I’m not going to pretend I’ve seen any of them because frankly, I never heard of her before she was announced as Foy’s replacement. Most recently, she appeared as Ellie Miller on Broadchurch, which won a bunch of BAFTAs including a Best Leading Actress award for Coleman.

5. Bradley Cooper: Best Actor for A Star is Born

Cooper’s first acting gig came when he played Jake, one of Carrie’s love interests during the second season of Sex and the City. While he’s mostly known as a movie actor, this multiple Oscar nominee is well-known to Alias fans, having appeared as Sydney Bristow’s bestie Will Tippin. Just a few years later, he would go on to appear in The Hangover and become a bonafide movie star. Maybe he’ll return to his roots on T.V.

6. Marina de Tavira: Best Supporting Actress for Roma

You may have never heard of de Tavira before seeing Roma. But she is no stranger to Mexican audiences since she has appeared in many Spanish-speaking movies and television shows. If you loved her Roma performance, you could catch her on the Amazon Prime series Falco.

7. Adam Driver: Best Supporting Actor for BlacKkKlansman

Most people know that Driver fell into acting after his stint in the Marines. And now you know him as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars franchise – but not before appearing on the HBO-Lena Dunham series Girls. He played Adam, Hannah’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. He brought a lovely mixture of weird uncomfortableness and tenderness to his character. After a while, he was the only reason I stuck with the series because the four main girls were so insufferable by the end. It was clear he would be a star and eventually nominated at The Oscars. So, I’m glad he’s getting recognition. It won’t be the last time either.

8. Sam Elliot: Best Supporting Actor for A Star is Born

Elliot has been acting since the late ‘60s and has guest-starred on dozens of shows throughout his long career. He’s known for stints as being a cowboy, so it’s no surprise that you can currently see him on the Netflix series The Ranch as the head of the Bennett clan, Beau.

9. Lady Gaga: Best Actress for A Star is Born

When she appeared in A Star is Born, she was already an A-list celebrity, having sold millions upon millions of albums worldwide. Though her first appearance on TV happened when she popped up on the MTV game show, Boiling Points, she didn’t appear on any series until Ryan Murphy came calling for his American Horror Story: Hotel series. She won a Golden Globe for her performance. So, it’s no surprise that she is gaining accolades for her latest role.

10. Richard E. Grant: Best Supporting Actor for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Grant is in a ton of shows and movies, and you’re sort like, “I know him, but I don’t know his name.” It’s the hallmark of a great character actor. He’s been on Downton Abbey, Grace & Frankie, Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, and more recently A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix. It sounds like he’s paid his dues, so this first Oscar nomination is well-earned.

11. Regina King: Best Supporting Actress for If Beale Street Could Talk

King got her start as the daughter on the 80s sitcom, 227. While my first memory of her was in Jerry Maguire, she has since solidified her place on the A-list for television. Having appeared on 24, Southland, and The Leftovers, she gained critical acclaim for her work on American Crime. She won two Emmys for her work on the show.

12. Rami Malek: Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody

Malek is another actor who made the rounds on various television shows before landing a few movie roles, including Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 as Benjamin. But his big break really came when he landed the role of Elliot Alderson on Mr. Robot. He won an Emmy and was nominated for a Golden Globe. And with the series ending after its fourth season, there’s plenty of time to binge watch the first three.

13. Melissa McCarthy: Best Actress for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

If you’re a girl in your 30s, you first met McCarthy as Sookie on Gilmore Girls. She was the best friend a girl could have and was really missed in the majority of the reboot. It was clear that McCarthy was destined for stardom. Having had a stint on the canceled-too-quickly Samantha Who, she landed the co-lead role on Mike and Molly, a show she was both funny and able to show her serious side. After she appeared in Bridesmaids and her star really rose, you could see Molly start to become an extension of Megan, and it just wasn’t as interesting. But I’m glad she’s had a chance to show her chops in meatier roles like in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

14. Sam Rockwell: Best Supporting Actor in Vice

Rockwell isn’t known much for his television roles, but he has been in a couple shows, like Prince Street and F is for Family. But you will get the chance to see him on the upcoming FX series Fosse/Verdon playing the mad dance genius himself, Bob Fosse. Every musical theater geek, including myself, will be watching!

Next. 5 TV shows coming in 2019 that we want to binge (and 5 we’re sad to see go). dark

15. Emma Stone: Best Supporting Actress for The Favourite

If you love musical competition shows and the fictional family band The Partridge Family, you caught Stone on The New Partridge Family, where she won the part of Laurie Partridge in a TV movie. And after some bit parts on Malcolm in the Middle and the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Stone has stuck with an illustrious movie career, which led her to an Oscar win for La La Land. She returned to television as Annie Landsberg in the Netflix series Maniac. I only got through a few episodes before I gave up. It was mad confusing.

Are you excited for The Oscars? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!

Sources: A lot of imdb

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2019 Oscar nominees and their best TV roles

By Ashley Weyler | Feb 23, 2019