For a lot of actors, winning an Academy Award marks the pinnacle of their careers, where hard work and dedication to their craft has seen them recognized by their peers and handed a shiny trophy on a stage in front of hundreds of their contemporaries and an audience of millions watching around the world. What they choose to do with the statue afterwards, though, is entirely up to them.
Tom Hanks keeps his pair of Oscars on the family trophy shelf while Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Susan Sarandon and Sean Connery all claimed they had theirs on display in the bathroom of their homes. Russell Crowe said his was in a chicken coop on his Australian ranch because he believed it caused his hens to lay bigger eggs, and Timothy Hutton famously stored his Best Supporting Actor trophy for Ordinary People in his fridge.
Jared Leto has a 100% success rate at the Academy Awards, having scooped Best Supporting Actor for his one and only nomination so far thanks to his transformative performance in Dallas Buyers Club. However, the 49 year-old admitted in a recent interview that after moving houses, he has no idea where it is.
“I found out that it’s been missing for, like, three years. I didn’t know that. I don’t think anyone wanted to tell me. I moved houses in L.A. and then when we moved, it somehow just magically kind of disappeared. It could be somewhere, but everyone’s searched for it high and low. I hope it’s in good hands wherever it is, but we haven’t seen it for quite some time. It’s not the sort of thing somebody throws in the trash. I hope someone is caring for it.”
It certainly sounds as though somebody may have helped themselves to his Oscar during the move across Los Angeles, but at least Jared Leto doesn’t seem to be losing any sleep over it. Natalie Portman is another one of many previous winners to admit that they don’t have a clue where their crowning achievement can currently be found, and it would appear that some stars place more focus on their accolades than others.