Will Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Join Them?

With Wicked: For Good slated to open in the U.S. on Nov. 21, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will be in the Oscar conversation for the second year in a row. Both stars were nominated earlier this year for the first Wicked – Erivo for best actress for playing Elphaba and Grande for best supporting actress for playing Galinda/Glinda.

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If they are nominated again when the nominations for the 98th annual Academy Awards are announced on Jan. 22, 2026, they will become just the seventh and eighth actors to be nominated for playing the same role in two different films.

Moreover, they’ll become the first actors to be nominated for playing the same role two years running since Bing Crosby in the mid-1940s, who received back-to-back nominations for playing genial Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley. And they’ll become only the second and third female actors to be nominated twice for the same role, following Cate Blanchett, who was nominated twice for playing Queen Elizabeth I.

Of course, just one of the Wicked: For Good stars could be nominated, or neither. If Grande, 32, is nominated, she’ll become the youngest actor to receive two nods for playing the same role in two different films in Oscar history. That record is currently held by Al Pacino, who was 34 when he was nominated for the second time for playing Michael Corleone. If Erivo, 38, is nominated, she won’t set any age records, but she’ll become just the second actor from England to achieve the feat, following Peter O’Toole.

The first Wicked did well in the Oscar nominations, receiving 10 nods, including best picture. It won two awards – best costume design and best production design.

Here’s a complete list of all the actors who have received Oscar nominations for playing the same character in two different films. The years shown are the year of the film’s release.

Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Character: Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley

Films: Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)

Notes: Crosby was nominated for best actor for both films. He was nominated in that category a third and final time for 1954’s The Country Girl. Going My Way won a total of seven Oscars, including best picture and best original song, for the smash hit “Swinging on a Star.” The Bells of St. Mary’s was nominated for best picture. Crosby, the most popular music star of the first half of the 20th Century, died in 1977 at age 74.

Peter O’Toole

Character: King Henry II

Films: Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968)

Notes: O’Toole was nominated for both actor for both films. Both films were nominated for best picture. The Englishman received eight acting nods, all in the lead actor category. In addition, he received an honorary award in 2002. He died in 2013 at age 81.

Al Pacino

Al Pacino

Character: Michael Corleone

Films: The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974)

Notes: Pacino was nominated for best supporting actor for The Godfather (his first nod) and best lead actor for The Godfather Part II. Both films won best picture. Pacino has received nine nominations, spanning 1972-2019. Four of those nominations are for best supporting actor, which puts him in an eight-way tie for most nods in that category with the likes of Jeff Bridges, Jack Nicholson and Mark Ruffalo. Pacino returned to the role of Michael Corleone in the trilogy’s final installment, The Godfather Part III, in 1990, but he wasn’t nominated.

Paul Newman

Character: “Fast Eddie” Felson

Films: The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986)

Notes: Newman was nominated for best actor for playing pool hustler “Fast Eddie” Felson in both films, winning for The Color of Money. The Hustler was nominated for best picture. Newman received nine acting nominations, spanning 1958-2002. He was also nominated as the producer of best picture nominee Rachel, Rachel, for which his wife, Joanne Woodward, was nominated as best actress. Newman also received two honorary Oscars – an honorary award (now called a Governors Award) and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Newman died in 2008 at age 83.

Cate Blanchett

Character: Queen Elizabeth I

Films: Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Blanchett is the only female actor with multiple same-character nominations. The Australian was nominated for best actress for both films. Elizabeth, a best picture nominee,brought Blanchett the first of eight nominations for acting.

Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone

Character: Rocky Balboa

Films: Rocky (1976) and Creed (2015)

Notes: These are Stallone’s only nominations for acting. He was nominated for best actor for Rocky and best supporting actor for Creed. He was also nominated for best original screenplay for Rocky. Stallone has the longest gap between Oscar nominations for playing the same character in two different films – 39 years. Rocky won three Oscars, including best picture. The film’s theme song, Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now,” was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and an Oscar nominee for best original song.

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