Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the context of "Christopher Walken"

Leopold John Genn (/ɡɛn/ GHEN; 9 August 1905 – 26 January 1978) was an English actor and barrister. Distinguished by his relaxed charm and smooth, "black velvet" voice, he had a lengthy career in theatre, film, television and radio, often playing aristocratic or gentlemanly, sophisticated roles.

Born to a Jewish family in London, Genn was educated as a lawyer and was a practising barrister until after World War II, in which he had served in the Royal Artillery as a lieutenant-colonel. He began his acting career at The Old Vic and made his film debut in 1935, starring in a total of 85 screen roles until his death in 1978. For his portrayal of Petronius in the 1951 Hollywood epic Quo Vadis, he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor. He has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, two British Independent Film Awards and three IFTA Awards, along with nominations for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number 18 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors. He is the father of actors Domhnall Gleeson and Brian Gleeson.

He is known for his supporting roles in films such as Braveheart (1995), Michael Collins (1996), 28 Days Later (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Troy (2004), the Harry Potter film series (2005–2010), Suffragette (2015), Paddington 2 (2017), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). He is also known for his leading roles in films such as The General (1998), In Bruges (2008), The Guard (2011), Calvary (2014), Frankie (2019), and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Hollywood icon, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or, an Academy Honorary Award, and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for four competitive Academy Awards. As of 2025, his films have grossed over $13.3 billion worldwide, placing him among the highest-grossing actors of all time. One of Hollywood's most bankable stars, he is consistently one of the world's highest-paid actors.

Cruise began acting in the early 1980s and made his breakthrough with leading roles in Risky Business (1983) and Top Gun (1986), the latter earning him a reputation as a sex symbol. Critical acclaim came with his roles in the dramas The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). For his portrayal of Ron Kovic in the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. As a leading Hollywood star in the 1990s, he starred in commercially successful films, including the drama A Few Good Men (1992), the thriller The Firm (1993), the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), and the sports comedy-drama Jerry Maguire (1996); for the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Cruise's performance in the drama Magnolia (1999) earned him another Golden Globe Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (/ustinɒv/ OO-sti-nov; 16 April 1921 – 28 March 2004) was a British actor and humanitarian. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Silver Bear, and a Grammy Award as well as was nominated for three BAFTA Awards, two Tony Awards, and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 1992, Ustinov was awarded with the British Academy Britannia Award.

Ustinov received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in Spartacus (1960), and Topkapi (1964). He also starred in notable films such as Quo Vadis (1951), The Sundowners (1960), Billy Budd (1962), and Hot Millions (1968). He voiced Prince John and King Richard in the Walt Disney Animated film Robin Hood (1973), and portrayed Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot six times for both film and television.

Topkapi is a 1964 American Technicolor heist comedy film produced and directed by Jules Dassin from a screenplay by Monja Danischewsky, based on the 1962 novel The Light of Day by Eric Ambler. Produced by Filmways and distributed by United Artists, the film stars Melina Mercouri, Peter Ustinov, Maximilian Schell, Robert Morley, and Akim Tamiroff. The plot follows a small-time con artist who gets roped into helping a gang of international art thieves steal an emerald-encrusted dagger from Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, while he is simultaneously forced to spy on them for the Turkish police.

The music score was by Manos Hadjidakis, the cinematography by Henri Alekan, and the costume design by Denny Vachlioti. For his performance, Ustinov won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Brad Pitt is an American actor and film producer. He has received various accolades including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In 1994, Pitt starred as the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the horror film Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, which earned him the MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male, and the MTV Movie Award for Best Actor in a Movie. The next year, Pitt appeared in Terry Gilliam's science fiction film 12 Monkeys, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and earned his first Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2008, Pitt starred in the fantasy romantic drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For his performance, he was nominated for his first Academy Award for Best Actor, his first BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role nomination, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. In 2011, Pitt produced and acted in biographical sports drama Moneyball. He was nominated for numerous accolades as an actor and producer including, Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Paul Haggis. It is based on stories from the 2000 collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and cutman Jerry Boyd, and also stars Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The film follows Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Swank), an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer (Eastwood) to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.

Million Dollar Baby premiered in New York City on December 5, 2004, and was theatrically released on December 15, 2004, by Warner Bros. Pictures domestically, with Lakeshore Entertainment's international unit handling international sales. It received critical acclaim and was also a commercial success, grossing $216.8 million worldwide against a $30 million budget. The film garnered seven nominations at the 77th Academy Awards and won four: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (for Freeman). The National Board of Review and the American Film Institute named Million Dollar Baby one of the top-ten films of 2004. It has since been cited as one of the best films of the 2000s, the 21st century and of all-time.

Sideways is a 2004 American comedy-drama directed by Alexander Payne and written by Jim Taylor and Payne. A film adaptation of Rex Pickett's 2004 novel, Sideways follows two men in their forties, Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti), a depressed teacher and unsuccessful writer, and Jack Cole (Thomas Haden Church), a past-his-prime actor, who take a week-long road trip to Santa Barbara County wine country to celebrate Jack's upcoming wedding. Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen also star as women they encounter during their trip.

Sideways premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2004, and was released in the United States on October 22, 2004. It received widespread acclaim from critics and is regarded as one of the greatest films of the 2000s. At the 77th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Haden Church), Best Supporting Actress (Madsen), and Best Adapted Screenplay, the last of which it won.