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10 Actors Who Won Oscars For The Wrong Film

We like to pretend they don't mean anything, but at the end of the day, critics always find reason to pick holes in the annual Oscar results. Forrest Gump taking Best Picture, over Pulp Fiction? No way. Best Director for Robert Redford, not Scorsese? Insanity. Crash winning Best Picture, over Brokeback Mountain? Complete and utter bullshit.

3) Marisa Tomei

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Won For: My Cousin Vinny

Should Have Won For: The Wrestler

Marisa Tomei’s Best Supporting Actress win for My Cousin Vinny in 1993 came as such a shock that a long-circulating urban legend went that the wrong name had accidentally been read out. It’s not that Tomei’s particularly bad in the film – she’s just not particularly Oscar-worthy, either.

In the time since she won her Academy Award, Tomei hasn’t rested on her laurels: she’s actually only gotten better as an actress. Ideally, her Oscar would’ve come in her peak later period, for her turn as an ageing stripper in The Wrestler. Anyone who holds their own against a Mickey Rourke in his prime and still wows at least deserves something for the trouble.