It’s unlikely that Oscar-nominated characters ever appear in movies more than once, as films that are nominated for and win Academy Awards are, for the most part, standalone dramas. Movies that tend to be part of a series or an extended universe aren’t usually nominated for Oscars, regardless of whether or not they should be.
However, every now and then, a character comes along so original and fresh that it’d be blasphemy to not at least nominate that actor portraying him/her. And other times, an existing character is portrayed by a different actor in a remake or prequel that does an arguably better job.
Jack Sparrow
Though the casting could have been a lot different, as Jack Sparrow is one of the roles Michael Keaton almost took, Johnny Depp carried the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise on his shoulders, as it quickly became the Jack Sparrow show.
For his role as the anti-hero in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which is apparently based on Keith Richards, Johnny Depp was nominated for an Academy Award. He'd reprise the role in the rest of the films in the series so far.
Samuel Gerard
The Fugitive is one of the best '90s thrillers thanks to the cat and mouse chase between Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, the latter of whom won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Though it might be a surprise to many to find out that The Fugitive isn’t a standalone movie, as a sequel exists called U.S. Marshall. However, Harrison Ford is absent from the movie and it instead focuses solely on Gerard and a new mystery he’s trying to get to the bottom of.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter
The Silence of the Lambs is one of the best movies of 1991, and it was recognized by the Academy more than any other movie of that year. It is one of only three movies to have ever won the top five awards at the ceremony, which are Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s also the only horror movie to have ever won Best Picture.
The movie’s cannibalistic antagonist Hannibal Lecter has not only been portrayed in several movies and TV shows, but Anthony Hopkins continued to play the character for the franchise’s first two sequels.
Gordon Gekko
Playing one of the money-hungry slime balls that could have been seen crawling all over Wall Street in the '80s, Michael Douglas’ performance as Gordon Gekko deservedly earned him a Best Actor statue.
Douglas wouldn’t actually reprise his role until the sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which came 23 years later. Instead of starring alongside Michael Sheen, Shia LaBeouf took up the mantle, and it’s one of the movies that proves LaBeouf is one the era’s best actors.
Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle
The French Connection is one of the most intense thrillers in cinema history, which is helped by Gene Hackman’s incredible portrayal as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, the real life detective on which the movie is based.
Not only does it feature one of the best car chase sequences of the '70s, but Hackman won the Oscar for Best Actor. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the sequel, which wasn’t terrible but it also wasn’t anywhere near the quality of the original.
Fast Eddie Felson
Many people don’t know that Color of Money, the Martin Scorsese directed pool movie with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, is actually a sequel. It’s predecessor, The Hustler, came a whole 25 years before it.
Newman starred in both movies and he was nominated for Best Actor both times. Though he didn’t win the first time, the Academy righted a wrong by awarding the statue to Newman in 1987. His win was helped by Cruise, as together they are one of the best on-screen duos in a Scorsese movie.
Michael Corleone
It comes as a huge surprise that Al Pacino never actually won a statue for his role as Michael Corleone, one of the greatest characters in cinema history, but he was nominated for both The Godfather and its first sequel.
Interestingly enough, Pacino was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the first movie, as the Academy nominated Marlon Brando for Best Actor, even though Pacino has considerably more screen time than him.
Rocky Balboa
The first Rocky movie was nominated for not one, not two, but ten Academy Awards, and though Sylvester Stallone didn’t win for acting, the movie was the Best Picture of 1976.
Rocky is a character who has appeared in two different series, first in his own, and then in Creed. Stallone also set a precedent as he is the only actor to have been nominated for an Oscar for the same character in two different series.
The Joker
The character of the Joker has had many different incarnations with many performances on the comic book character being worlds apart. But the late, great Heath Ledger posthumously set a precedent by being the first actor to win an Academy Award for a comic book character for his role in The Dark Knight.
And over 10 years later, Joaquin Phoenix amazingly did it again with the exact same character in Joker. The character has also appeared in many animated films, along with The Lego Batman Movie.
Vito Corleone
The character of Vito Corleone is wholly unique. The Godfather character was first portrayed by Marlon Brando in the first movie, and then in The Godfather Part II, Robert De Niro played a younger version of him.
Both actors won awards for the role and rightly so, as the two movies are so immersive and it’s thanks in part to the depth of the character that both actors brought to the role. No other series had managed to do that until 40+ years later when Phoenix was the second actor to win a statue for playing the Joker.