By Ellie Harrison

Published: Wednesday, 23 March 2022 at 12:00 am


It’s been a long time coming, but film fans can finally look forward to enjoying this year’s Academy Awards, which are taking place this Sunday (27th March).

Last year, Chloe Zhao walked away as the first woman of colour to win the Best Director gong for her hugely acclaimed film Nomadland, which also won Best Picture.

This year the nominees include the likes of Belfast, Dune, Licorice Pizza, The Power of the Dog and many more.

The Oscars are almost 100 years old, having first been held in 1929, and since then there have been a whole heap of victories celebrating the entertainment industry’s very best on-screen and behind-the-scenes talent.

But who has the prestigious claim of owning the most Academy Awards? Which actors, directors and screenwriters have collected the largest number of Oscars statuettes – and which film holds the record for the most awards to its name?

Here’s everything you need to know.

Which film has won the most Oscars of all time?

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Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are ‘flying’ ahead with Titanic

Three films hold the record of winning the most Academy Awards, having garnered 11 Oscars each: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Out of these, Titanic received the most nods with a total of 14 nominations.

Who has won the most Oscars of all time?

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Walt Disney

The person who has triumphed more times at the Oscars than anyone else in history is Walt Disney.

America’s most iconic filmmaker racked up a whopping 26 Oscars, four of which were honorary awards, and he also holds the record for the most nominations on record – 59.

Who has won the most Oscars for acting?

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Katharine Hepburn won four acting Oscars

Actress Katharine Hepburn holds the record for the most Oscars for acting, having won four Academy Awards across her career and earned a total of 12 nominations.

Hepburn won Oscars in the best actress category for her performances in the films Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond (1981).

Actors Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis and Walter Brennan, meanwhile, are the three men with the most Oscars for acting, having each won three times.

While some of Brennan and Nicholson’s awards were for best supporting actor, all three of Day-Lewis’s victories were for best leading actor, and he holds the record in that category.

Who is the most nominated actor at the Oscars?

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Meryl Streep (Getty, EH)

The person with the most nominations for acting is Meryl Streep, who has received 21 nods over the course of her career.

She has won three times for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Sophie’s Choice (1982) and The Iron Lady (2011).

Streep has also been nominated for The Deer Hunter, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Silkwood, Out of Africa, Ironweed, A Cry in the Dark, Postcards from the Edge, The Bridges of Madison County, One True Thing, Music of the Heart, Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt, Julie & Julia, August: Osage County, Into the Woods, Florence Foster Jenkins, and The Post.

Who has won the most Oscars for directing? 

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Director John Ford (Getty)

John Ford won none of his four Oscars for his famous Westerns. Instead, he holds the Best Director record for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952).

Although Ford has won the most Oscars of any director, William Wyler holds the record for the most nominations in this discipline earning 12, three of which won him some silverware. Ford was nominated for five overall, boasting an enviable conversion rate.

Which British person has won the most Oscars?

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Musical composer John Barry (Getty)

Film composer John Barry has won more Oscars than any other Brit.

He has garnered five Academy Awards in total, two for Born Free (1966), and one each for Lion in Winter (1968), Out of Africa (1985) and Dances with Wolves (1990).

Who has won the most Oscars for screenwriting?

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Woody Allen (Getty, EH)

Five people have been awarded three screenwriting Oscars: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Paddy Chayefsky.

But it is Allen who has won the most Academy Awards in the Best Original Screenplay category, for his films Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Midnight in Paris (2011).

Which British actor has won the most Oscars? 

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Daniel Day Lewis at the Oscars (Getty, FT)

That would be Daniel Day Lewis with his three wins for My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln.

The actor was also nominated for Oscars for his turns in In the Name of the Father, Gangs of New York and Phantom Thread.

The 94th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday 27th March 2022 and will be broadcast on Sky Cinema in the UK. You can access it with a NOW Sky Cinema Pass.

Looking for something to watch tonight? Take a look at our TV Guide.