Robert Downey Jr. Becomes First ‘SNL’ Cast Member To Win An Oscar

Among the many Saturday Night Live cast members that have been nominated for Oscars, Robert Downey Jr. emerged as the first award winner on March 10, 2024. He beat Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Gosling, Robert De Niro, and Sterling K. Brown for the Best Supporting Actor category thanks to his performance as Lewis Strauss in director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

The Iron Man star has also been recognized for his roles in 1992’s Chaplin and 2008’s Tropic Thunder. “Here’s my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me. Chris knew it…surrounded me with one of the greatest cast and crews of all time,” Robert said during his acceptance speech. “You know, what we do is meaningful, and the stuff that we decide to make is important.”

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Robert joined SNL in the mid-80s as a main castmate for season 11, with Joan Cusack, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Danitra Vance, and Damon Wayans joining him. By the end of the 18-episode run, which Robert admitted was “arguably the worst season in its history” during a chat with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, most of the performers left the program.

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“The only thing I wrote that made it almost close to air was this ridiculous sketch called ‘Suitcase Boy.’ I came out with a suitcase zipped up around my neck and said a bunch of non sequiturs,” he added. “It was so not funny, except to me and my weirdo friends,” he confessed. Now, Robert has topped the list of nine Oscar-recognized SNL co-stars as a winner, and he could not be more grateful. “The reward was the experience…This is the best film I’ve ever been in,” he told the event’s audience.

Other Oscar-nominated ‘SNL’ cast members

Randy Quid, who was with Robert for season 11, was the first SNL to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Jack Nicholson’s 1973 movie The Last Detail. Another was the late George Coe, who got a nod for Best Live-Action Short Film nod in The Dove, which was a parody of Ingmar Bergman’s works.

Others include Cusack, Michael McKean, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, and Dan Aykroyd, who was recognized as Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 1989 Best Picture winner Driving Miss Daisy. Kristen Wiig, who has been on the comedy program for seven years since 2005, earned a nomination for her role in Bridesmaids’ Original Screenplay in 2011.