How on Earth Did Angelina Jolie Manage Not Get an Oscar Nomination for ‘Maria'?

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Of all the surprises that came out of the 2025 Academy Awards nominations, Angelina Jolie’s snub for Maria was certainly one of the most dizzying. While she was previously considered seriously in contention for an Oscar—having already received a Best Actress Golden Globe nod for her performance—Jolie failed to receive recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences alongside Best Actress nominees Cynthia Erivo, Mikey Madison, Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres, and Karla Sofía Gascón. Even Maria, a biopic centered on the final days of legendary opera singer Maria Callas (Jolie), itself did not escape the Academy's indifference unscathed, only scoring a nod for Best Cinematography despite largely positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike.

So, what gives? Despite giving what was referred to as a "career-best performance," Hollywood veteran Jolie remains without a nomination for this year's Academy Awards, and the potential reasons each seem to be more nonsensical than the last. This certainly isn't the first time an award-worthy performance was snubbed, and it won't be the last, but this one feels particularly unfair, given the Eternals star's dedication to the role. This was a snub of legendary proportions, so grab your torches and pitchforks as we try to understand how and why Angelina Jolie wasn't nominated for Best Actress.

Leading Ladies in Larraín’s Biopics Are Usually Recognized by the Academy

When you examine director Pablo Larraín’s history with biopics and awards season, Jolie's lack of an Oscar nomination becomes even more confusing. The lead actresses in Larraín’s first two biopics—Natalie Portman in Jackie and Kristen Stewart in Spencer—both received Oscar nominations for their performances, and the difference here isn’t the quality of the performance given by Jolie versus Larraín's other leading ladies. There is one notable difference between the three performances, and that is that Jolie was the only lead in a Larraín biopic that was required to sing as a major part of her performance. It’s possible that the new standard set for musical biopics—that actors portraying musical artists should do their own singing—might have contributed to the snub, but Larraín has gone on record confirming that Jolie did do her own singing for Maria, with Callas’ own voice blended into the recordings. Still, Jolie not being responsible for one hundred percent of the vocals might have turned the Academy off her performance (and this would not be their first music-related faux pas of the year).

There is also the matter of how Maria was distributed, marketed, and campaigned for during this awards season. While both Jackie and Spencer were given traditional theatrical releases, Maria was not, instead releasing on Netflix—only in the U.S.—after a limited theatrical release. Netflix, as the film's U.S. distributor, also focused much of its energy this awards season on Emilia Perez (to varying results), leaving Maria's campaign to languish on the vine. It could also be that Jolie, a mother of six and dedicated humanitarian, might have simply been uninterested in, or unable to provide, the immense time commitment required when campaigning for an Oscar—something the Academy similarly does not look kindly on.

Is Angelina Jolie Too Controversial for the Oscars?

It's sort of a ridiculous question, but might the Academy truly consider Angelina Jolie too controversial to nominate? Despite having a dedicated Wikipedia page for the sheer amount of awards and nominations she's received, Jolie has actually only been nominated for two Oscars over the course of her decades-long career. Her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1999's Girl, Interrupted was beyond well-deserved, but the win was somewhat overshadowed when Jolie sparked backlash for planting a lingering kiss on her brother James Haven on the red carpet following her win. Jolie was no stranger to controversy and pushing boundaries at this point in her career, and some may have expected the Academy to keep the actress at arm’s length following this controversy, but she was nominated again—this time for Best Actress—in 2009 for her performance in Changeling and was presented with the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award five years later in 2014.

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Another potential factor in Jolie's snub is her now-settled legal battle with ex-husband and Hollywood darling Brad Pitt. After filing for divorce, Jolie withdrew from the spotlight and chose to take a hiatus from Hollywood, starring in only a handful of films between 2016 and 2024. Meanwhile, Pitt was nominated for—and won—Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the 2020 Academy Awards. So, might Jolie's snub have something to do with her divorce from Pitt? It's easy to see the disparity in how the two actors have been treated by Hollywood since 2016, and this would not be the first time the Academy has closed ranks to defend alleged abusers—just look at the nominations and awards given to Casey Affleck, Mel Gibson, and Roman Polanski (who was not expelled from the Academy until 2018). Whether or not the snub has anything to do with Pitt, the fallout from the couple's divorce prompted Jolie's justifiable break in recent years, and her triumphant return to Hollywood with Maria might be considered too little, too late for the Academy, despite toeing the "comeback story" line the Academy is so infatuated with.

Even in the face of all the potential reasons why Jolie was snubbed for her performance in Maria, we're still left scratching our heads. Jolie's Maria Callas was unforgettable; a powerful, heartbreaking portrayal of a tragic and brilliantly talented woman. Go watch Jolie portray Callas' final moments in Maria, as she desperately tries to regain control of her legendary voice for one final performance after years of vocal decline, and try to tell us she didn't deserve a Best Actress nomination. Was it new standards in Hollywood, a too-small campaign, past controversy, or an unpleasant mixture of many reasons? We'll likely never know the real reason, but we can confidently say that Angelina Jolie's Oscar snub is definitely a black mark on the Academy's record.