The entertainment industry, most notably the film industry, has been getting increasingly diverse over the years, embracing all kinds of talents. Actors, directors, writers, and producers have forged their careers, coming from a wide variety of backgrounds, with many of them emerging as household names that anyone would love to work with. When it comes to actors in particular, you can find some who have been in the industry from a very young age, with careers packed with hits, and others who needed many years of hard work to achieve their first major role. Many of them, in fact, were working in other fields in order to support their families or finance their education. The door is also open for other kinds of entertainers, such as singers, to give it a try as actors, with many of them being nominated for their performances.

One of the best aspects of the industry is that it allows artists to test themselves in different roles. Thus, there have been artists who started out as actors, but ended up turning into great directors, such as Jon Favreau and Clint Eastwood. Others served as producers, such as Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. And last but not least, we have actors who took a chance as writers, working on screenplays that resulted in outstanding reviews, nominations, and even award wins. Take a look at some actors who were nominated in writing categories at the Oscars.

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8 Sylvester Stallone

     Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Rocky Balboa, the underdog boxer who manages to win the world heavyweight championship, is still to this day Sylvester Stallone’s most memorable role. A lesser known fact about this franchise is that the actor, besides starring as the lead, wrote the screenplays and even directed some of the movies. For his efforts as actor and writer, Stallone became the third actor in cinema to be nominated for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor at the Oscars in the same year. However, this was not the only film that had Sylvester as a writer: he wrote screenplays for over 20 movies, including the Rambo saga, The Expendables, F.I.S.T., and Cliffhanger.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

7 Emma Thompson

     Columbia Pictures

Emma Thompson is considered one of the best actresses of her generation, and has been the recipient of a number of awards and distinctions, not just for her performances, but also for her screenplays. In 1995, Thompson wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility, the period drama film based on Jane Austen’s novel of the same name, which also featured Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, and Hugh Grant. For this movie, Thompson earned a nomination for Best Actress and won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars. Given that three years earlier she had won a statuette for her performance in Howards End, she became the only person in the history of cinema to win Oscars for both her acting and her writing.

6 Bradley Cooper

     Warner Bros.

Bradley Cooper has been working as an actor since 1999, and from 2011 onwards, he has also been serving as executive producer. Then, in 2018, he decided to have a go at directing and writing, heading the film A Star is Born. This production recounts the gripping story of Jack and Ally (Lady Gaga), two artists who merge their destinies both on stage and in their lives. For the screenplay of this film, which was the fourth time this story was brought to the screen, Cooper collaborated with Eric Roth and Will Fetters. In 2019, he received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

5 Kristen Wiig

     Universal Pictures

Bridesmaids was actress and comedian Kristen Wiig’s screenwriting debut, in which she starred as Annie Walker, a young woman going through a rough patch who is asked by her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) to be her maid of honor. For the screenplay of this comedy, on which Wiig teamed up with Annie Mumolo, the two were nominated at the Oscars. This duo of writers re-teamed a second time in the 2021 film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, a film in which they also co-starred.

4 Greta Gerwig

     A24

Actress Greta Gerwig has grown into one of the best directors of her generation. The star of films such as Frances Ha and Mistress America never stopped acting, but she has also been working as a writer, producer, and director for several years. Two of her most acclaimed films are Lady Bird and Little Women, both written and directed by her, and nominated for Oscars. Gerwig is currently directing the first live-action version of Barbie, and she is also collaborating with Erin Cressida Wilson on the screenplay for Snow White, a movie due in 2024.

3 Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

     Castle Rock Entertainment

In 1995, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy starred in Before Sunrise, a romantic drama film that kicked off Richard Linklater’s trilogy. In this production, Hawke and Delpy are Jesse and Céline, two young people who met on a train from Budapest and eventually fell in love. Besides starring in the film, they both collaborated as writers, but were not credited for their work at the time. But in the sequels, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, released in 2004 and 2013 respectively, they both worked on the screenplays alongside Linklater once again. This time, their screenwriting duties earned them Oscar nominations.

2 Ben Affleck and Matt Damon

     Miramax

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have been friends since their childhood, and they have worked together on many films throughout their careers. But the 1997 film Good Will Hunting marked a milestone for both of them, as it was their screenwriting debut and earned them their first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. This film, directed by Gus Van Sant, also starred Damon and Affleck, alongside Robin Williams, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård. Since Good Will Hunting, Damon has pursued a storied career as an actor, screenwriter, and producer, while Affleck, on top of those roles, has also served as a director.

1 George Clooney

     Warner Independent Pictures

George Clooney is yet another great actor who turned into a very good director, but that didn’t stop him from writing and producing films. The first movie that got him nominated for an Oscar was Good Night, and Good Luck, which he directed and co-wrote with Grant Heslov. He was also part of the cast along with David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, and Robert Downey Jr. A few years later, Clooney was nominated once again for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2011 film The Ides of March, which was directed by him and co-written with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon. He also served as one of the film’s producers and co-starred in it alongside Ryan Gosling.