'SNL' Cast Members And Alumni Who Have Been Nominated For Oscars

Role on SNL: Cast Member (1975-79)

Nominated Category: Best Supporting Actor

Dan Aykroyd, one of SNL's original cast members, is responsible for many iconic characters including a Festrunk Brother, a Blues Brother, and Beldar Conehead. 

Nearly 15 years later, Aykroyd appeared in Driving Miss Daisy as the son of Jessica Tandy's character, and the one who hires Morgan Freeman to be her chauffeur. He lost to Denzel Washington for Glory. 

Role on SNL: Cast Member (1977-80)

Nominated Category: Best Actor

Bill Murray, who was on Saturday Night Live for three seasons, is considered one of the best early cast members. His “Nick the Lounge Singer” parodied popular films of the time, including Star Wars. He also played Todd, one-half of “The Nerds” opposite Gilda Radner, whom he dated for a time. He and Chevy Chase infamously got into a physical fight minutes before a show.

In 2003, he starred in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, where he played a washed-up actor who befriends a young wife while on business in Japan. Although his performance was nominated for an Oscar, he lost to Sean Penn for Mystic River. 

Role on SNL: Cast Member (1985-86)

Nominated Categories: Best Actor (1993), Best Supporting Actor (2009)

Like the rest of the 1985-86 SNL cast members, Robert Downey Jr. lasted only one season. In one sketch of note, he and Anthony Michael Hall appeared on “Weekend Update” to deliver a book review using fart noises. They wrote the bit themselves. 

Downey received a best actor nomination for portraying film icon Charlie Chaplin in the eponymous 1992 biopic. It is still considered some of his best work, though he lost to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman. In 2008's Tropic Thunder, he played Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus, who dons blackface in a misguided method acting attempt. He lost to the late Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight. 

Role on SNL: Cast Member (1980-84)

Nominated Category: Best Supporting Actor

Eddie Murphy is widely considered to be in the Top 10 best SNL cast members of all time. From Buckwheat to Gumby to Mr. Robinson to “James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub,” he brought greatness to an otherwise lackluster five seasons after the departure of the show's original cast. 

Ironically, his Oscar-nominated role of Jimmy "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls is loosely based on James Brown. Alan Arkin won the Oscar for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. 

Role on SNL: Music Director (1975-80, 1985)

Nominated Category: Best Original Score (2002)/(2004)/(2012), Best Original Song (2004)

Being a childhood friend of Lorne Michael as well as a talented musician paid off for Howard Shore. As the original musical director for Saturday Night Live, he appeared in many musical sketches including “Howard Shore and His All-Nurse Band.” When Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were looking for a name for their musical act to air on the show, Shore came up with the name The Blues Brothers. 

Shore eventually went from Studio 8H to Hobbiton when he composed the score for The Lord of the Rings film series and The Hobbit. In 2002 and 2004, he won the Oscar for best original score for The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. He also won the Oscar for best song in 2004 for “Into the West,” sharing the honor with collaborators Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh. In 2012, he lost the best score category for Hugo, with the award going to Ludovic Bource's score for The Artist. 

Role on SNL: Cast Member (2005-12)

Nominated Category: Best Original Screenplay

From the Target Lady to Gilly to the very excitable Aunt Linda, Kristen Wiig was one of the standouts during her seven-season tenure on the show, willing to go the extra mile and make her fellow actors break.

She was the first cast member to be nominated for an Oscar while still at SNL. Bridesmaids came out in the summer of 2011, but she completed one more year on SNL while campaigning with her writing partner Annie Mumolo in the best original screenplay category. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris won instead.