Hilarious Performances Honored with an Academy Award

The Academy Awards show began in 1929, but it wasn't until 12 years later, in 1941, that the Academy finally recognized a comedic performance. Even today, almost 100 years later, there is still not the same level of recognition or appreciation for this genre, and there is still not a separate category for comedy at the Academy Awards.

24/7 Tempo reviewed data on Oscars history from the Academy Awards Database of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, considering movies billed as comedy on IMDb, an online movie and TV database owned by Amazon, to determine hilarious performances honored with an Academy Award.

This newfound recognition by the Academy has allowed these actors to be honored for their craft and acknowledged for performances not only incredibly well done but has made these films all the more memorable.

This post was updated June 23rd, 2025, to reflect additional information.

• Film: Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin earned his first Academy Award nomination in 1967 as a Russian navy officer trying to free his submarine, which had run aground in New England, in the Cold War farce "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming." He would earn four Oscar nominations in all, and won for his supporting role as the eccentric grandfather in the beauty pageant send-up "Little Miss Sunshine."

• Film: Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Sorvino, daughter of actor Paul Sorvino, had earned her acting chops in previous roles in the indie film "Barcelona" and the Robert Redford-directed "Quiz Show."

• Film: Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Dianne Wiest's second Oscar triumph came as the character Helen Sinclair in the Woody Allen-helmed "Bullets Over Broadway" (the first was for another Allen film, "Hannah and Her Sisters").

• Film: Ed Wood (1994)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Landau won his lone Academy Award for playing the aging and ailing horror actor Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood," the biopic about one of Hollywood's worst directors, portrayed by Johnny Depp. Landau had been nominated for an Oscar twice before.

• Film: My Cousin Vinny (1992)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Marisa Tomei has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won her only Oscar to date with her first nomination, for her role as Mona Lisa Vito in "My Cousin Vinny."

• Film: City Slickers (1991)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Palance earned two Best Supporting Actor nominations in the early 1950s for playing sadistic villains, but it was his role as a feisty, weathered cowboy who helps turn three urban denizens into cattlemen that earned him an Oscar.

• Film: A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Versatile actor Kevin Kline ("Sophie's Choice," "The Big Chill," "Silverado") won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the zany comedy about diamond thieves looking to out-scheme each other.

• Film: Moonstruck (1987)
• Award: Best Actress In A Leading Role

In "Moonstruck," Cher won the Best Actress Oscar playing a bookkeeper from Brooklyn who is conflicted when she falls in love with the brother (Nicolas Cage) of the man she's supposed to marry (Danny Aiello). She previously was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for "Silkwood" in 1984.

• Film: Moonstruck (1987)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

"Moonstruck" holds the distinction of winning Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Academy Awards for its stars Cher and Olympia Dukakis, respectively. Dukakis played Cher's sardonic mother in the rom-com about an Italian family in New York.

• Film: Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Dianne Wiest has won two Best Supporting Actress Oscars for comedic roles in two Woody Allen movies. Wiest has been nominated for three Academy Awards.

• Film: Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Award: Best Actor In A Supporting Role

Known for making British crime and adventure movies in the 1960s and 1970s, Michael Caine tried his hand at comedy, and won the first of his two Best Supporting Actor Oscars in Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters". Caine has been nominated for six Academy Awards, the first in 1967 for "Alfie."

• Film: Arthur (1981)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Along with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud was considered one of the three greatest British actors of the 20th century. After receiving his first Oscar nomination in 1964 for "Becket," Gielgud lampooned British propriety as the sarcastic butler in the comedy "Arthur," starring Dudley Moore in the title role.

• Film: Melvin & Howard (1980)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

After earning positive reviews for her role in the time-travel adventure "Time After Time," Mary Steenburgen gained fame for winning Best Supporting Actress in the movie "Melvin & Howard."

• Film: California Suite (1978)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Smith won a Best Actress Oscar in 1979 for the Neil Simon-penned comedy "California Suite," about the zany adventures of four couples in a hotel. Simon also won the Oscar for Best Writing.

• Film: The Goodbye Girl (1977)
• Award: Best Actor In A Leading Role

The 1970s were a golden decade for Richard Dreyfuss, during which he appeared in such hits as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), "Jaws" (1975), and "American Graffiti" (1973). He mined Oscar gold with "The Goodbye Girl" (1977). Dreyfuss has been nominated for one other Best Actor Oscar, for the 1995 drama "Mr. Holland's Opus."

• Film: Annie Hall (1977)
• Award: Best Actress In A Leading Role

Diane Keaton won an Academy Award in her first nomination (she's been nominated four times thus far), for her starring turn as the girlfriend of Woody Allen's character Alvy Singer.

• Film: The Sunshine Boys (1975)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

The venerable comedian and singer won an Academy Award as one half of a vaudeville act trying to reunite for a television special even though they dislike each other.

• Film: Paper Moon (1973)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

The youngest person to win a competitive Academy Award was Tatum O'Neal for her role as Addie Loggins, a young swindler trying to survive during the Great Depression in the film "Paper Moon." She appeared in the movie with her father, Ryan O'Neal.

• Film: Cactus Flower (1969)
• Award: Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Hawn burst onto the entertainment scene as a member of the television ensemble comedy "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" in the late 1960s. She turned to the big screen and won her lone Oscar thus far for Best Actress in the comedy "Cactus Flower". She would go on to be nominated for a second Academy Award in 1981 for her role in "Private Benjamin".

• Film: The Fortune Cookie (1966)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Matthau was nominated for three Academy Awards and won his lone Oscar for "The Fortune Cookie" in which he played an unscrupulous lawyer urging his brother-in-law (Jack Lemmon) to fake an injury.

• Film: Mister Roberts (1955)
• Award: Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Eight-time Oscar nominee Jack Lemmon won the first of his two Academy Awards as Ensign Pulver in the star-studded naval farce "Mister Roberts."

• Film: Born Yesterday (1950)
• Award: Best Actress

The first woman to win an Academy Award in a comedic role, Holliday played Billie Dawn, the unsophisticated girlfriend of an ambitious Washington-bound tycoon (Broderick Crawford) who hires a tutor (William Holden) to teach her proper manners.

• Film: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• Award: Best Actor

Some movie fans think Stewart's Best Actor Oscar for "The Philadelphia Story" was payback for him not winning the prior year for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Stewart would be nominated for five competitive Academy Awards (he won an honorary Oscar in 1985), but his triumph for "The Philadelphia Story" would be his only golden statue.