Who has had the most total Oscar nominations for acting?

Answer 1

Meryl Streep has been nominated for Best Actress 13 times and Best Supporting Actress 3 times for a total of 16 acting nominations, but she has only won twice.

Katharine Hepburn won Best Actress four times.

Both Walter Brennan and Jack Nicholson have won acting Oscars three times.

Answer 2

Meryl Streep holds the overall record for acting with 20 Academy Award nominations. She has won three times. Her nominated roles and movies are as follows (Oscar wins in bold):

• Linda in "The Deer Hunter" (1978). Best Supporting Actress.
• Joanna Kramer in "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979). Best Supporting Actress.
• Sarah/Anna in "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981). Best Actress.
• Sophie Zawistowski in "Sophie's Choice" (1982). Best Actress.
• Karen Silkwood in "Silkwood" (1983). Best Actress.
• Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen in "Out of Africa" (1985). Best Actress.
• Helen Archer in "Ironweed" (1987). Best Actress.
• Lindy Chamberlain in "A Cry in the Dark" (1988). Best Actress.
• Suzanne Vale in "Postcards from the Edge" (1990). Best Actress.
• Francesca Johnson in "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995). Best Actress.
• Kate Gulden in "One True Thing" (1998). Best Actress.
• Roberta Guaspari in "Music of the Heart" (1999). Best Actress.
• Susan Orlean in "Adaptation" (2002). Best Supporting Actress.
• Miranda Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006). Best Actress.
• Sister Aloysius Beauvier in "Doubt" (2008). Best Actress.
• Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" (2009). Best Actress.
• Baroness Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" (2011). Best Actress.
• Violet Weston in "August: Osage County" (2013). Best Actress.
• The Witch in "Into the Woods" (2014). Best Supporting Actress.
• Florence Foster Jenkins in "Florence Foster Jenkins" (2016). Best Actress.

Answer 3

Meryl Streep