THEN AND NOW: 10 best actor Oscar winners

Crowe had been nominated the year prior for "The Insider," and he was nominated the year after for his role in "A Beautiful Mind."

But he took home the little gold man for playing Maximus, a warrior-turned-slave-turned-gladiator in the Ridley Scott epic "Gladiator."

Crowe, 57, hasn't quite achieved the same critical success that he had early on in his career — remember "Les Mis"? — but in recent years he's having a resurgence. He won a Golden Globe for playing the founding CEO of Fox News, Roger Ailes, who left in 2016 after accusations of sexual harassment.

In the upcoming years, Crowe will appear in "Thor: Love and Thunder," "Kraven the Hunter," "The Greatest Beer Run Ever," and "The Georgetown Project."

Washington won his first Oscar in 1990 for "Glory." Between his two wins, he was nominated twice more, for "Malcolm X" and "The Hurricane."

In "Training Day," Washington plays Detective Alonzo Harris, a corrupt cop who will do whatever it takes to advance his own agenda.

After "Training Day," Washington, 67, was nominated for "Flight," "Fences," and "Roman J. Israel, Esq." This year, he also scored a nomination for "The Tragedy of Macbeth," in which he plays the titular doomed king, Macbeth, but Will Smith took home the statue.

He also received a nomination as a producer for "Fences," which was nominated for best picture.

In 2021, Washington also directed "A Journal for Jordan," starring Michael B. Jordan.

To date, he's still the youngest winner in the category — Brody was 29 years old when he won for his performance in "The Pianist." He played Holocaust survivor and pianist/composer Władysław Szpilman.

Brody also won the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for the performance.

Brody, 48, is one of the more famous examples of the "Oscars' curse," but he's been picking high quality projects as of late.

In 2021, he appeared in Wes Anderson's most recent film "The French Dispatch," and he had a small (yet important) role in season three of "Succession."

This year, he'll appear in the highly anticipated Marilyn Monroe biopic "Blonde" as a version of Arthur Miller, Monroe's third husband. Brody is also currently on the HBO Max series "Winning Time" as former Los Angeles Lakers coach Pat Riley.

Brody has four more movies in the works: the untitled Charlie Day movie, "See How They Run," "Asteroid City," and "Ghosted."

Penn had already been nominated three times (For "Dead Man Walking," "Sweet and Lowdown," and "I Am Sam") before taking home his first Oscar for "Mystic River," in which he plays ex-con Jimmy Markum.

He won again on his next nomination for playing Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, in "Milk."

Penn, 61, has slowed down somewhat since his last Oscar win. He had roles in films such as "The Tree of Life," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," and "The Angry Birds Movie."

In 2021, he appeared in "Licorice Pizza," which was nominated for three Oscars, and "Flag Day," which he directed and co-starred in with his daughter, Dylan.

This year, he'll appear as former US Attorney General John Mitchell in "Gaslit" on Starz, which focuses on Mitchell and his wife, Martha, played by Julia Roberts.

Foxx, a rare double nominee, won his Oscar for playing the iconic blind musician Ray Charles in "Ray." That same year, he was nominated for playing Max Durocher, an LA cab driver, in "Collateral."

Foxx, 54, hasn't been nominated for an Oscar since his double nomination year, but he did win a Grammy in 2010 for his song with T-Pain, "Blame It."

In addition to music, Foxx has also appeared in multiple successful films, like "Django Unchained," "Amazing Spider-Man 2," "Just Mercy," "Baby Driver," and "Soul," which won the best animated feature Oscar in 2021.

He's set to team up with John Boyega in "They Cloned Tyrone," and he will also be in "Geechee," "Day Shift," and "God Is a Bullet." He also starred in the since-canceled Netflix sitcom "Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!"

Whitaker earned rave reviews for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, which led to him winning the Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and the SAG Award.

Whitaker, 60, has steadily worked over the intervening 15 years, appearing in huge blockbusters like "Black Panther," "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," and "Taken 3."

He also starred in the 2020 Netflix Christmas film "Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey," and he played Aretha Franklin's father, C. L. Franklin, in "Respect."

Additionally, Whitaker has produced successful films like "Sorry to Bother You," "Passing," and "Fruitvale Station."

He'll reprise his role of Saw Gerrera in the 2022 Disney+ show "Andor," and he will star in the Apple TV+ anthology series "Extrapolations."

Day-Lewis had previously won in 1990 for "My Left Foot." He was nominated twice more in 1994 and 2003 for "In the Name of the Father" and "Gangs of New York," respectively.

He played sociopathic silver miner and oil man Daniel Plainview in the Paul Thomas Anderson 20th-century epic "There Will Be Blood."

Day-Lewis, 64, won his third Academy Award when he fully transformed into President Abraham Lincoln for the Steven Spielberg biopic "Lincoln." It made him the only actor to win three best actor trophies.

Five years later, Day-Lewis reunited with "There Will Be Blood" director Paul Thomas Anderson to play the persnickety fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock in "Phantom Thread." He received his sixth — and probably final — nomination for the role, as he has since announced his retirement from acting.

Bridges' four previous nominations go as follows: "The Last Picture Show" in 1972, "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" in 1975, "Starman" in 1985, and "The Contender" in 2001.

Nearly a decade later, he won for playing alcoholic singer-songwriter Otis "Bad" Blake in "Crazy Heart."

The year after "Crazy Heart," Bridges, 72, was nominated again for his performance in "True Grit." He earned his seventh nomination in 2017 for "Hell or High Water."

Bridges' most recent film roles were in 2018, when he appeared in "Bad Times at the El Royale," and narrated the documentary "Living in the Future's Past."

In 2020, Bridges announced he was diagnosed with lymphoma, but by September 2021, he was in remission.

He'll make his return to acting this year on the FX series "The Old Man."

Firth had been nominated in 2010 for "A Single Man," but he lost to Jeff Bridges. The very next year, he won for portraying King George VI in "The King's Speech," which dealt with the monarch learning to overcome his stutter.

Firth, 61, hasn't received another nod from the Academy since his 2011 win, though he has appeared in a few Oscar-worthy films, like "1917," "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," and "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" (only partially joking).

This year, he'll co-star with Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward in Sam Mendes' latest film, "Empire of Light," so perhaps a third nom is in his future.

Dujardin, originally a stand-up comedian, earned widespread acclaim for his role in the silent film "The Artist" as silent film star George Valentin, who must deal with the rise of "talkies" in the late '20s and '30s.

Dujardin, 49, appeared in two American films after his win: "The Monuments Men" and "The Wolf of Wall Street." Mainly, he's stuck to French films.

He was most recently nominated for a César Award (the French equivalent of the Oscars) in 2019 for his role in the film "An Officer and a Spy."