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18 Academy Award Winners Whose Careers Were Never The Same After They Won

Some may argue that winning an Oscar is more of a curse than a blessing.

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With the Oscars right around the corner, I started thinking about some of the past winners. So, my attention was grabbed when I came across a couple of older Reddit threads (like this one from a few months ago, and this one from a year ago) talking about the "Oscars curse." I continued with my deep-dive and found more sources backing up the discussions on Reddit.

Stage with Oscar statue and "OSCARS" on screen, audience in foreground, event setting
Rodin Eckenroth / WireImage / Getty Images

Essentially, the "Oscars curse" is the idea that an actor or director experiences a decline in their personal or professional life after receiving the award. While of course many actors and directors continue to flourish in their careers post-Oscar win, it's still an interesting phenomenon with some truth to it.

Multiple Oscar statuettes lined up on a table ahead of an awards ceremony
Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Here are some past Oscar winners, both actors and directors, who people feel succumbed to the "Oscars curse" and haven't had as much commercial success in Hollywood since their win:

1. "Hilary Swank’s career path has always surprised me. She won Best Actress TWICE, and then it feels like she disappeared from the face of the earth. Then, she popped up last year leading Alaska Daily, which couldn’t make it past one season. You'd think s