Oscars nominations: ‘Comeback kids’ Michelle Yeoh and Brendan Fraser are dominating awards season

The Academy has finally announced the nominees for this year’s Oscars – which will take place on March 12, 2023 – and the list of people up for awards is filled with so many stars who have been in the industry for decades but have yet to be awarded for their work.

When awards season kicked off at the Golden Globes earlier this month and continued with the Critics Choice Awards weeks later, many actors and actresses who have had impressive, long-lasting careers, but hadn’t won any official honors for their work were finally recognized – leaving many to wonder, will the ‘comeback kids’ continue to dominate at the Oscars? 

Take The Whale star Brendan Fraser, for example. He’s been acting since 1991 – starring in a slew of big movies like The Mummy, Crash, and George of the Jungle – but despite his impressive list of roles across his 30-year career, it wasn’t until this year at the Golden Globes – which happened on January 10 – that he took home his first major award. And now, he is nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars.

In addition, Everything Everywhere All at Once actress Michelle Yeoh won the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 2023 Golden Globes, and it marked her first accolade, despite appearing in more than 50 titles since she entered the scene in the ’80s. She is now up for the award for Best Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Stars like Brendan and Michelle, among others, have reigned Hollywood for years – acting in fan-favorite movies that grossed millions of dollars and blowing away millions of viewers with their portrayal of beloved characters.

But despite becoming well-known and respected thanks to their numerous roles, immense popularity, and hard work, many famous faces have yet to earn awards for their acting – until now, that is.

With less than two months to go until the Academy Awards – the question remains, are other deserving stars who have been in the industry for years finally going to earn their first award? 

As the nominations for the Oscars are announced, FEMAIL has rounded up all the iconic actors and actresses on the list who will earn their first award if they win, despite acting for decades, as well as the stars who took home their first award during the 2023 awards season so far – from Downsizing legend Hong Chau to Breaking Bad alum Bob Odenkirk.

Hong Chau, 43: Nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards

Hong Chau, 43, has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards for her role in The Whale.

In the movie, she played Liz, a nurse and best friend of Fraser’s character, Charlie, who helps take care of him. 

The star, originally from Thailand, started acting in 2006 – nearly 20 years ago – and her first major role was in the show, Treme, in 2010.

Her other acting credits include Inherent Vice, Big Little Lies, Downsizing, Homecoming, Driveways, American Woman, Watchmen, Showing Up, and The Menu. 

Chau was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for her role in Downsizing in 2017, but she unfortunately didn’t win either.

So if she takes home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, it will be her first major win.

Kerry Condon, 40: Nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards

Kerry Condon also made the list of nominations at the upcoming Oscars. She too is up for the award for Best Supporting Actress for her part in The Banshees of Inisherin.

Starring alongside Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson, Condon, 40, played Siobhán Súilleabháin in the movie, which is about a man who was determined to repair a broken friendship.

Condon – who hails from Ireland – first started acting in 2001, when she was just age 18, starring in the Broadway play The Lieutenant of Inishmore. 

After appearing in a series of plays, she switched over to on-screen roles, including Ned Kelly, Intermission, Unleashed, Rome, The Last Station, The Walking Dead, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Better Call Saul, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

If Condon wins the award for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, it will certainly be a pivotal moment of her two-decade-long acting career.

Andrea Riseborough, 41: Nominated for Best Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards

Andrea Riseborough, 41, has earned a nomination for Best Actress at the 2023 Oscars for her role in To Leslie.

She played Leslie Rowlands, a single and poverty-stricken mom whose life suddenly changed after she won the lottery.

The actress has a long list of acting credits under her belt, with her career launching in 2006 when she starred in the flick Venus.

She’s also appeared in Happy-Go-Lucky, Never Let Me Go, Brighton Rock, Made in Dagenham, Shadow Dancer, Disconnect, Welcome to the Punch, Oblivion, Birdman, Nocturnal Animals, Battle of the Sexes, The Long Walk to Finchley, National Treasure, The Death of Stalin, The Grudge, and Professor.

Aside from winning the Critics Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble alongside her Birdman castmates in 2014, taking home the Oscar will mark her first major accolade.

Brendan Fraser, 54: Nominated for Best Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards and won Best Actor at the Critics Choice Awards

Fraser, 54, is nominated for Best Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards. He also took home the award for Best Actor at the Critics Choice Awards earlier this month – marking the first time he won a major award, despite a decades-long career.

The actor was awarded for his recent role in Darren Aronofsky’s drama The Whale, in which he played a reclusive English professor who tried to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.

Fraser has been acting since 1991, when he made his film debut in the flick Dogfight, and he has starred in a slew of big movies and TV shows since then – like Encino Man, School Ties, George of the Jungle, Gods and Monsters, The Quiet American, Crash, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Texas Rising, The Affair, Doom Patrol, and No Sudden Move.

He is also well-known for his role as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy trilogy – which became wildly popular, with the three films grossing more than $1 billion altogether.

Despite his vast career and immense success, Fraser hadn’t received many accolades for his work – until now.

The only award he took home before this year was the Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, which he won alongside his Crash co-stars in 2006.

Michelle Yeoh, 60: Nominated for Best Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards, and won Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes

Yeoh, 60, is up for the award for Best Actress at the Oscars, thanks to her exceptional performance in the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Weeks earlier, she won the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 2023 Golden Globes.

She played Evelyn Quan Wang, a laundry mat owner, who was tasked with saving the universe after an interdimensional rupture unraveled reality.

Yeoh first started acting in the ’80s in a series of martial arts movies, however, her true Hollywood breakout came in 1997 when she starred in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.

Since then, she has starred in tons of big movies and TV shows, like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, Reign of Assassins, The Lady, Crazy Rich Asians, Last Christmas, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, Star Trek: Discovery, and The Witcher: Blood Origin.

Despite appearing in more than 50 titles over the years, Yeoh didn’t win any major awards for her work until the Golden Globes.

Ke Huy Quan, 51: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards, and won Best Supporting Actor at the Critics Choice Awards and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture at the Golden Globes

Ke Huy Quan, 51, is also nominated for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. He’s up for the award for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars.

He played Waymond Qang, Evelyn’s husband, in the movie, which earned him the award for Best Supporting Actor at the Critics Choice Awards and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture at the Golden Globes.

Like his costar Yeoh, Quan has been acting for decades but hadn’t received any major awards for his work until now.

He actually became an actor at the young age of 12, starring as the sidekick in the Harrison Ford-led movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. 

His early acting credits also include The Goonies, Together We Stand, Head of the Class, and Encino Man.

As he entered adulthood, Quan -who had studied Taekwondo throughout his childhood – took a break from acting to focus on choreographing fighting sequences in movies, working on flicks like X-Men, The One, and 2046, to name a few.

He then returned to acting in 2021, when he starred in the Netflix movie Finding ‘Ohana.

Bob Odenkirk, 60: Won Best Actor in a Drama Series at the Critics Choice Awards

Odenkirk, 60, was honored for his role in the AMC series Better Call Saul at the Critics Choice Awards, winning for Best Actor in a Drama Series.

He starred as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, a lawyer and former scam artist, in the legal drama show, which premiered in February 2015 and went on for six seasons before it concluded in August 2022.

Like Fraser, Odenkirk has had a massive career. He began as a writer for Saturday Night Live in 1987, where he worked for four years.

He was also behind shows like Get a Life, The Dennis Miller Show, The Ben Stiller Show, and Mr. Show.

In addition, the star is a talented actor, and has appeared in things like The Larry Sanders Show, The Cable Guy, Fargo, Little Women, Spectacular Now, and most arguably, his best known role, Breaking Bad, which inspired the spinoff Better Caul Saul. He has also branched into directing and producing. 

While Odenkirk scooped up two Emmy Awards early on in his career for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Program – thanks to his work on SNL and The Ben Stiller Show – he wasn’t awarded for his work as an actor until recent years.

Despite entering the industry in the ’80s, it wasn’t until 2014, when he took home a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in Breaking Bad, that he earned his first major accolade.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for five of Better Call Saul’s six seasons, but has yet to win any.

January 15 marked his third Critics Choice Award win for the show.

Giancarlo Esposito, 64: Won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the Critics Choice Awards

Giancarlo Esposito, 64, also took home an award for his part in Better Call Saul, winning Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the Critics Choice Awards.

He played Gus Fring in the series, the owner of the fast food chain Los Pollos Hermanos, which was used as a front to distribute cocaine to the Mexican cartel. 

The actor has certainly been around for a long time, starting his career off as a Broadway star in the ’60s and ’70s, before switching to on-screen roles in the ’80s. 

He has now racked up an impressive list of acting roles like the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street, ABC’s Once Upon a Time, Netflix comedy show Dear White People, The Mandalorian, Godfather of Harlem, Westworld, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Malcom X, The Usual Suspects, Last Holiday, The Jungle Book, and of course, Breaking Bad.

Before January 15’s win, his only other recognition was when he took home another Critics Choice Award for his role in Breaking Bad in 2012.

Jennifer Coolidge, 61: Won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the Critics Choice Award and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series at the Golden Globes

Jennifer Coolidge, 61, is making huge waves in the acting world recently. She took home the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work in The White Lotus at the Critics Choice Award on January 15, as well as the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series at the Golden Globes earlier this month.

In the HBO series, Coolidge starred as socialite Tanya McQuoid, who was vacationing at a fancy resort in Italy with her husband – where chaos ensued after an unidentified body washed up ashore in the idyllic seaside town.

Coolidge has been acting since 1993 – when she made her first on-screen appearance in one episode of Seinfeld – but it wasn’t until last year, at age 60, that she started taking home awards for her work.

Her other big roles include the American Pie film series, Legally Blonde, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, A Cinderella Story, Click, Date Movie, The Secret Life of the American teenage, 2 Broke Girls, and The Watcher.

The actress won her first major award in 2022 when she was given an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in White Lotus, followed by her recent wins. 

Sheryl Lee Ralph, 66: Won Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the Critics Choice Awards

Sheryl Lee Ralph, 66, won the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the Critics Choice Awards, thanks to her role in ABC’s Abbott Elementary.

She played Barbara Howard, a kindergarten teacher, in the series, which was all about a group of educators at a Philadelphia public school. 

Ralph started acting back in 1977 – landing her first role in the crime comedy movie A Piece of Action – but despite her impressive career that spans across more than three decades, her award last night was her first major recognition.

The star has received critical acclaim in the past for her roles in The Mighty Quinn, To Sleep with Anger, Mistress, The Distinguished Gentleman, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, It’s a Living, New Attitude, Instant Mom, and Moesha.

She is also a well-renowned singer and Broadway star, appearing in Dreamgirls and Wicked over the years – among others. 

Even so, it wasn’t until 2022 that she won her first big award – taking home an Emmy for her role in Abbott Elementary. 

Mike White, 52: His show, The White Lotus, won Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television at the Golden Globes

White, 52, who is behind the popular series The White Lotus, has been propelled into the public eye recently thanks to the show’s success, but he’s actually had a long and impressive career.

On top of Coolidge’s awards for her part in the series, it also took home the award for Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television at the Golden Globes.

White has worked behind-the-scenes on many shows and movies, either serving as a writer or producer on Dawson’s Creek, The Good Girl, School of Rock, Nacho Libre, Enlightened, The Emoji Movie, and Brad’s Status.

Despite contributing to so many popular titles, it wasn’t until The White Lotus that he started receiving awards.

The show also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series in 2022, as well as Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.