13 Oscar Winners Who Started in Sitcoms

Think there's a wide gap between sitcoms and the Academy Awards? Don't tell that to these 13 Oscar winners who started in sitcoms.

Sally Field

Sally Field became a TV star with the sitcom Gidget (above), which ran from 1965-67, and followed it up with The Flying Nun (1967-70). Known for wholesome roles, she sought out more complicated material, and found it most notably with the 1976 television film Sybil, in which she played a young woman with dissociative personality disroder and won an Emmy.

In 1977, she starred with Burt Reynolds in the hit Smokey and the Bandit, and in 1979 starred in Norma Rae, for which she won her first Best Actress Oscar. She won again for 1984's Places in the Heart and delivered one of the most memorable speeches in Oscar history "You like me, right now — you like me!"

She earned another Oscar nomination for 2012's Lincoln, and holds a place on our esteemed list of Stars of the 1970s Who Are Still Going Strong. We like her!

Jennifer Lawrence

Born in Kentucky to a construction company manager and summer camp manager, Jennifer Lawrence was discovered at age 14 by a talent scout on a trip to New York City.

Her first major role was as a regular on TBS's The Bill Engvall Show (above) from 2007 to 2009, and the next year she starred in Winter's Bone, earning the first of her four Oscar nominations.

She won two years later for her lead role in 2012's The Silver Linings Playbook, in which she plays a troubled young woman who enters a dance contest with Bradley Cooper playing her even more troubled partner. She was nominated again for 2013's American Hustle and 2015's Joy.

Just 34, she's also on our list of Young Actors Who Made It Without Family Connections.

Tom Hanks

Though Tom Hanks' first screen role was in the low-budget horror film He Knows You're Alone, his breakout was Bosom Buddies, which ran for two seasons starting in 1980 and starred Hanks and Peter Scolari as two men who impersonate women in order to live in the female-only Susan B. Anthony Hotel.

Hanks quickly moved on to film stardom, landing leading roles in both Splash and Bachelor Party in 1984. He's spent the four subsequent decades as one of the world's most beloved actors.

In the '90s he won two back-to-back Best Actor Oscars, for 1993's Philadelphia and 1994's Forrest Gump. He earned his most recent nomination for his sensitive, nuanced portrayal of Fred Rogers in 2019's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

Among his many collaborations with Steven Spielberg was a role in 2002's Catch Me If You Can opposite the next actor on our list.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Now one of the world's most in-demand and highly paid actors, DiCaprio broke out in 1991 with a big-screen role in Critters 3 and a small-screen recurring role on Growing Pains, in which he played Luke Brower, a homeless boy taken in the Seaver family.

He soon left TV behind, earning acclaim for 1993's This Boy's Life. He received the first of his seven Oscar nominations for 1993's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and earned more accolades throughout the '90s for films including The Basketball Diaries and Romeo + Juliet.

But his popularity exploded with his lead role in 1997's Titanic, which remains one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. He earned his Best Actor Oscar for his starring role in 2015's The Revenant.

His most recent Oscar nomination was for starring in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood with the next Oscar-winning actor on our list.

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt had a very big 1987, when he had uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero, as well as TV roles on the soap Another World and the sitcoms Head of the Class and Growing Pains (before DiCaprio arrived on the show.)

His popularity took off with his small but important role in 1991's Thelma & Louise, and he gained a reputation for combining leading-man looks and character-actor commitment. He also became one of Hollywood's biggest producers, through his company Plan B Entertainment.

Though he's received seven Oscar nominations, his first win was for producing, not acting: He won Best Picture for 2013's Twelve Years a Slave, an honor he shared with director Steve McQueen. He won his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, his 2019 collaboration with fellow Growing Pains veteran Leonardo DiCaprio.

Did we mention that the director of that film is also an Oscar winner who started out in a sitcom? Read on:

Quentin Tarantino

Before he was one of the all-time greatest film filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino was an aspiring actor-screenwriter-director who once appeared as an Elvis impersonator on the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls. As Tarantino once told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, the role was helpful in getting his first film, Reservoir Dogs, to the screen.

"Before I did Reservoir Dogs, I had a very unsuccessful acting career. However, one of the few jobs I did get... and not because I did a wonderful audition, but simply because they sent my picture in, and they said, 'He's got it,' was for an Elvis impersonator on The Golden Girls," Tarantino told Fallon.

Tarantino's interest in Elvis wasn't just for the show, he explained: "I walked around dressed like Elvis in the '80s. I wore a pompadour all the time. I actually went to a rockabilly place to get my hair cut... and dressed like a hillbilly cat."

Tarantino told Fallon that the episode, featuring Sophia's wedding, was a two-parter, with both parts featuring a chorus of Elvis impersonators. "So I got residuals for both parts. And it was so popular they put it on a 'Best of the Golden Girls' and I got residuals every time that showed. So I got paid, maybe, I don't know, $650 for the episode? But by the time the residuals were over, three years later, I made like $3,000. And that kept me going during our preproduction time trying to get Reservoir Dogs going."

Elvis fandom has been a big part of Tarantino's films: Versions of Elvis appear in both True Romance (which Tony Scott directed and Tarantino wrote) and Pulp Fiction. In his recent book Cinema Speculation , Tarantino opined that Elvis Presley could have been the biggest movie star of the 1960s —  “if he had ever taken his movie career seriously.”

Tarantino has been nominated for eight Oscars, and won for co-writing 1994's Pulp Fiction, with Roger Avary, and 2012's Django Unchained. He also continued his acting career by playing the brother of the next fellow on our list in 1996's From Dust Till Dawn.

George Clooney

Long before he starred on NBC's ER, George Clooney starred on the similarly titled sitcom E/R, which ran on CBS from 1984 to 1985. If you think that's weird, consider that Mary McDonnell also appeared on both E/R and ER.

Clooney kept making the sitcom rounds after E/R, appearing on The Facts of Life, The Golden Girls, and in an occasional role on Roseanne. His star truly rose with his starring role, however, on ER. His many notable film roles include From Dusk Till Dawn, with, as we mentioned, fellow Golden Girls alum Quentin Tarantino, as well the Ocean's 11 trilogy, Out of Sight, Up in the Air, and Michael Clayton.

Nominated for eight Oscars, he has won twice: for Best Supporting Actor in Syriana, and for Best Picture as a producer of Argo.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry started her career as a pageant contestant and model, so she brought life experience to the role of Emily Franklin in the sitcom Living Dolls (above), a spinoff of Who's the Boss that aired briefly in 1989.

She broke out in 1991's Boomerang and had very strong '90s, appearing in hit films and winning an Emmy and Golden Globe for the TV film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

But the next decade was even better: She won her Best Actress Oscar for starring in 2001's Monster's Ball as a struggling widow. Her recent films include John Wick 3: Parabellum, and the X-Men alum made her directorial debut with 2020's Bruised, in which she also starred.

Ron Howard

Long before he became one of Hollywood's top directors and producers — and even before he was the star of American Graffiti and Happy Days — Ron Howard was the adorable Opie, the young son of Mayberry Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show.

Howard went on to make an astonishing number of hit films — among them Splash, Apollo 13, and the Robert Langdon films, all starring Tom Hanks, previously mentioned on this list, as well as Backdraft, Frost/Nixon, and many more successes.

He won his two Oscars – for directing and Best Picture — for 2001's A Beautiful Mind.

Robin Williams

Williams was a ferociously imaginative standup comedian when he landed small roles in the 1977 filmCan I Do It... 'Til I Need Glasses? and episodes of The Richard Pryor Show and Laugh-In. But his big break was a 1978 episode of Happy Days in which he played an alien named Mork, which led to, you guessed it, the spinoff Mork & Mindy, in which he starred with Pam Dawber.

The hit show led to his first Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination, but he soon displayed his movie-star acting chops in films including 1982's The World According to Garp and 1984's Moscow on the Hudson. He earned the first of his four Oscar nominations for 1987's Good Morning Vietnam, and finally won for his role in 1997's Good Will Hunting as Sean, a therapist who helps Will (Matt Damon) acknowledge and heal from brutal abuse.

Williams returned to television near the end of his life, starring on the David E. Kelley ad-industry sitcom The Crazy Ones alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, which ran from 2013-14. He died in 2014.

Regina King

Regina King first gained widespread attention for her role on the hit NBC sitcom, which ran from 1985 to 1990, but told MovieMaker in a 2023 cover story that she doesn't see it as the big breakthrough moment:

“I kind of look at my career as a series of breakthrough moments,” she said. “My approach when it comes to life and growth and goals is that once you reach a goal or have a breakthrough moment, then it’s time for the next one.”

She won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 2019's If Beale Street Could Talk — one of many breakthrough moments in a career rich with them. In 2022 she made her directorial debut with One Night in Miami.

Other major roles include Ray, The Leftovers, Watchmen and last year's Shirley, in which she played presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm.

Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank had roles on the sitcoms Evening Shade and Growing Pains (Growing Pains again, wow) before starring on her own sitcom, Camp Wilder. It debuted in 1992, the same year she made her film debut in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Swank's '90s roles included The Next Karate Kid and Beverly Hills, 90210, but she capped the decade by winning her first Best Actress Oscar for 1999's Boys Don't Cry. She followed it up with another Best Actress Oscar for 2004's Million Dollar Baby.

Her recent films include last year's Ordinary Angels.

Will Smith

Will Smith was already a music star — as the rapping half of the duo DJ Jazzy Smith and the Fresh Prince — when he became a sitcom star on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (above), which ran on NBC from 1990-96.

His film career took off with his TV success, as he anchored hits like 1995's Bad Boys and 1996's Independence Day.

He has earned four Oscar nominations — the first for Ali and the second for The Pursuit of Happyness — and won for his portrayal of Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena Williams, in King Richard. He was also nominated for Best Picture for producing the film.

Liked This List of Oscar Winners Who Started In Sitcoms?

You might also like this list of Rad '80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember or list of the 15 Greatest Sitcom Casts of All Time, featuring a certain show (above) that has featured Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney.

Main image: Jennifer Lawrence in The Bill Engvall Show, TBS; Halle Berry in Living Dolls, ABC; and Leonardo DiCaprio in Growing Pains, ABC