Every couple nominated for Oscars in the same year (and who took home the gold statuette)

Starry pairs like Brangelina were up for major awards at the same time.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attend the 81st annual Academy Awards on Feb. 22, 2009; Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor attend the BAFTA Awards dinner in London on April 26, 1967; Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig attend the 92nd annual Academy Awards on Feb. 9, 2020
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attend the 81st annual Academy Awards on Feb. 22, 2009; Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor attend the BAFTA Awards dinner in London on April 26, 1967; Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig attend the 92nd annual Academy Awards on Feb. 9, 2020. Credit:

Steve Granitz/WireImage; Trevor Humphries/Central Press/Getty; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Call it a workplace event, but the Academy Awards is inherently a romantic spot for date night: You get dressed up in your finest, out of the house, and served free-flowing drinks. And while many nominees bring their significant other as their plus one to the ceremony — and often single them out in their acceptance speeches — it's an even greater relationship flex when both partners are in the race for either the same or separate projects.

From the first couple to score acting nods in 1932 to today's lovebirds sharing the same ballot, here's a rundown of the couples who've earned Academy Award nominations in the same year.

1932: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne

Alfred Lunt (standing) and Lynn Fontanne at a piano in London on Jan. 6, 1929
Alfred Lunt (standing) and Lynn Fontanne at a piano in London on Jan. 6, 1929.

New York Times Co./Getty

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne made history as the first couple to be nominated for an Oscar in the same year. After sharing the screen in The Guardsman, they were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. —James Mercadante

1940: Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier attend the 12th annual Academy Awards on March 2, 1940
Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier attend the 12th annual Academy Awards on March 2, 1940. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

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. Sydney Bucksbaum

1967: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor attend the BAFTA Awards dinner at Grosvenor House in London on April 26, 1967
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor attend the BAFTA Awards dinner at Grosvenor House in London on April 26, 1967. Trevor Humphries/Central Press/Getty Images

Married couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were both nominated for their leading roles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Though Richard Burton lost, Elizabeth Taylor won. —S.B.

1968: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn on the set of 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,' circa 1967
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn on the set of 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,' circa 1967. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Katharine Hepburn won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. But her costar, Spencer Tracy — who died 10 months earlier and with whom she had a 25-year affair — was nominated for Best Actor and did not win posthumously. —S.B.

1969: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward arrive at the 41st annual Academy Awards on April 14, 1969
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward arrive at the 41st annual Academy Awards on April 14, 1969. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Married couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were both nominated for their film Rachel, Rachel, in which she starred and he produced (and directed, though he only got a nomination that year for Best Picture). —S.B.

1975: John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands

John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands arrive at the 47th annual Academy Awards on April 8, 1975
John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands arrive at the 47th annual Academy Awards on April 8, 1975. Max B. Miller/Fotos International/Getty Images

Frequent collaborators and 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. —S.B.

1982: Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton and Warren Beatty arrive at the 54th annual Academy Awards on March 29, 1982
Diane Keaton and Warren Beatty arrive at the 54th annual Academy Awards on March 29, 1982. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Warren Beatty won Best Director for his film Reds, while Diane Keaton was nominated for Best Actress in that same film. (Beatty was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Reds, though lost in those three categories.) They were dating at the time of the Oscars but split up shortly after. —S.B.

1986: Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston

Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson arrive at the 58th annual Academy Awards on March 28, 1986
Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson arrive at the 58th annual Academy Awards on March 28, 1986. Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston starred together in Prizzi's Honor, and were dating at the time they were both nominated for Oscars. Huston won for Best Supporting Actress while Nicholson lost Best Actor to William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). —S.B.

1996: Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins pose in the press room during the 68th annual Academy Awards on March 25, 1996
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins pose in the press room during the 68th annual Academy Awards on March 25, 1996. Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Susan Sarandon won her first Oscar for her leading role in Dead Man Walking while her partner at the time, Tim Robbins, was nominated, but lost for Best Director for the same film. —S.B.

1997: Joel Coen and Frances McDormand

Joel Coen and Frances McDormand arrive at the 69th annual Academy Awards on March 24, 1997
Joel Coen and Frances McDormand arrive at the 69th annual Academy Awards on March 24, 1997. Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

The 1997 awards ceremony was a good night for this married couple, as Fargo earned both co-writer Joel Coen (who wrote the script with his brother, Ethan) and lead actress Frances McDormand each their own Oscar. Coen was also nominated for Best Director. —S.B.

2006: Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams

Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams arrive at the 78th annual Academy Awards on March 5, 2006
Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams arrive at the 78th annual Academy Awards on March 5, 2006. Steve Granitz/WireImage

The Brokeback Mountain stars were a couple at the time (they broke up before his death) and both Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams were nominated: he for Best Actor, she for Best Supporting Actress — but neither won. —S.B.

2009: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrive at the 81st annual Academy Awards on Feb. 22, 2009
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrive at the 81st annual Academy Awards on Feb. 22, 2009. Dan MacMedan/WireImage

Being Hollywood's power 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. —S.B.

2016: Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander hug during the 88th annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016
Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander hug during the 88th annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016. Chris Pizzello/Invision/Shutterstock

Now-married couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander were dating at the time when they were both nominated for Oscars. She won for her role in The Danish Girl while he lost for his role in Steve Jobs. —S.B.

2020: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach arrive at the 92nd annual Academy Awards on Feb. 9, 2020
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach arrive at the 92nd annual Academy Awards on Feb. 9, 2020. Steve Granitz/WireImage

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.

In 2024, the couple were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Barbie — which they co-wrote together — but lost to Cord Jefferson for American Fiction. —S.B.

2022: Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem

Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz attend the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival in 2018
Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz attend the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival in 2018.

Stephane Cardinale — Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

In 2022, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem scored Oscar nominations in the lead actress and actor categories. Cruz was nominated for her role in Parallel Mothers, while Bardem was recognized for playing Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. (This was the fourth nomination apiece for both stars, who won previously for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and No Country for Old Men, respectively.) —S.B.

2022: Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons

Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst attend the ceremony honoring Dunst with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Aug. 29, 2019
Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst attend the ceremony honoring Dunst with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Aug. 29, 2019. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

Call it the power of The Power of the Dog: Hollywood 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. Neither Plemons nor Dunst won in their respective category. —S.B.

2024: Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley

Tom Ackerley and Margot Robbie attend the 96th annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024
Tom Ackerley and Margot Robbie attend the 96th annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Barbie star and producer Margot Robbie and her husband, Tom Ackerley — with whom she co-formed her production company, LuckyChap Entertainment — earned their first Oscar nomination as a duo. They vied for Best Picture alongside fellow producers David Heyman and Robbie Brenner. —J.M.

2024: Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas

Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas attend the 96th annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024
Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas attend the 96th annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.

Mike Coppola/Getty

The 96th Academy Awards wasn't the first time producer Emma Thomas shared an Oscar nomination with her director husband, Christopher Nolan — she had been previously recognized for Inception in 2011 and Dunkirk in 2018 — but it was the first time they took home the gold. The same night Nolan won Best Director, the couple bagged Best Picture for Oppenheimer. —J.M.

2024: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

Arthur Harari and Justine Triet accept the Best Original Screenplay award on stage during the 96th annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024
Arthur Harari and Justine Triet accept the Best Original Screenplay award on stage during the 96th annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

In 2024, French filmmaking couple Justine Triet and Arthur Harari took home their first Oscar as a team. Though Triet lost in the Best Director race, the pair didn't leave empty-handed — Anatomy of a Fall earned them the win for Best Original Screenplay. —J.M.

2024: Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik

Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik attend the 96th annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024
Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik attend the 96th annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.

Mike Coppola/Getty

A year into their marriage, NYU alumni Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik found themselves in the running for Best Original Screenplay for May December. —J.M.

2024: Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess attend the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California

Mike Coppola/Getty

Jared and Jerusha Hess — the couple behind the scripts for Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006), and Gentlemen Broncos (2009) — made their co-directing debut with Ninety-Five Senses, which also earned them a nomination for Best Animated Short Film. —J.M.

Read more:
Join the conversation
Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to our Community Guidelines.

Related Articles