Oscar winners from London: A look back at home grown talent who won Academy Awards over the years

As the 91st Academy Awards take place this Sunday, plenty of Brits up for prestigious awards are hoping it will be their lucky night.

Rachel Weisz, Olivia Coleman and Richard E. Grant are among the names tipped for success to be added to the huge number of Brits who have triumphed in the past.

Londoners, in particular, have a pretty good track record at the Oscars, with home grown talent being recognised for their exceptional performances over the years.

Future London has wound back the clock to take a look at some of our favourite Oscar winners from London.

Gary Oldman – Best Actor

Born and bred in New Cross, south east London, Gary Oldman wowed the Academy with his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour to pick up the Best Actor gong in 2018.

He had been tipped for the award six years earlier for his performance in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy but was pipped to the post by Jean Dujardin, who starred in The Artist.

While Oldman’s performance in Darkest Hour was second-to-none, the Harry Potter fans among us may best recognise him for his role as Sirius Black in the blockbuster film series.

Dame Emma Thompson – Best Actress

Born in Paddington, Dame Emma Thompson has starred in so many of our favourite films, from a magical babysitter in Nanny McPhee to Alan Rickman’s long-suffering wife in Love Actually.

But it was her performance as Margaret Schlegel in Howards End that won recognition from the Academy, and she walked home with the Best Actress award in 1993.

Thompson also has a second Oscar to her name. In 1996, she won the Best Adapted Screenplay award for Sense and Sensibility.

Eddie Redmayne – Best Actor

Eddie Redmayne’s incredible performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything impressed viewers all around the world, and paid off when he won Best Actor at the Oscars in 2015.

The Westminster-born actor was tipped for the same award the following year for his role in The Danish Girl, but was beaten by Leonardo DiCaprio, who picked up his first Academy Award for The Revenant.

Redmayne’s varied career has also seen him play Angel in the BBC’s adaptation of Tess of the d’Urbervilles, as well as Marius in the blockbuster film adaptation of Les Misérables.

Vanessa Redgrave – Best Supporting Actress

Arguably one of Britain’s most established figures in film and theatre, Blackheath-born Vanessa Redgrave began her career with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Her theatre career is just as impressive as her track record in film, having won an Olivier Award and a Tony award as well as an Oscar – known as the ‘Triple Crown’ of acting.

Redgrave picked up her Academy Award in 1978 for her performance in Julia, which she starred in alongside Jane Fonda.

Dame Helen Mirren – Best Actress

Recognised for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, 2007, this actress from Chiswick has been tipped for an Oscar an impressive four times in total.

Her other nominations were for Gosford Park, The Madness of King George and The Last Station.

Like Vanessa Redgrave, Mirren began her career in acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company – and has also managed to pick up a ‘Triple Crown’ with a Tony Award and an Olivier Award under her belt.

Daniel Day-Lewis – Best Actor

Born in Kensington and raised in Greenwich, Daniel Day-Lewis made history in 2013, when he picked up his third Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln.

Day-Lewis had also won the gong in 2008 for There Will Be Blood, and in 1990 for My Left Foot.

As if the three awards were not impressive enough, the now-retired actor was nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards another three times – for Phantom Thread, Gangs of New York and In the Name of the Father.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor – Best Actress

The late Elizabeth Taylor, who was born in Hampstead, became a Hollywood icon during her career, having started acting as a teenager.

She went on to star in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra and the film for which she won her Academy Award, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 1966.

As well as acting, Taylor was known for her charitable work and established the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS foundation in 1991.

Dame Julie Andrews – Best Actress

Dame Julie Andrews was born in Walton-on-Thames and began her acting career as a child on the West End in 1948.

She took home the Best Actress award in 1964 for playing Mary Poppins - in her feature film debut.

Andrews’ second career-defining role is arguably the stubborn nun, Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music – for which she won a Golden Globe Award.

Sir Michael Caine – Best Supporting Actor

Born in Rotherhithe, Sir Michael Caine’s 70-year career has seen him star in more than 130 films.

Some of his most well-known roles were in The Italian Job, Alfie and Educating Rita.

Like Daniel Day-Lewis, Caine has been nominated for six Academy Awards – winning in both 1987 and 2000 for Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules.

Rachel Weisz – Best Supporting Actress

Rachel Weisz’s acting career took off in the early 1990s when she starred in British TV programmes such as Inspector Morse.

Since then, the Westminster-born actress has starred in The Mummy film franchise and several other blockbusters, including About a Boy.

She won her Academy Award in 2005 for her role in The Constant Gardener – which also earned her a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Weisz is also up for a Best Supporting Actress Award for this year’s Oscars Awards for The Favourite.