10 Oscar wins you may have forgotten about

Jim Rash

Award won: Best adapted screenplay

For: "The Descendants"

Year: 2012

Jim Rash may be best known for playing Dean in "Community," but he's a writer, too.

Rash put his skills to good use for "The Descendants," a dramedy starring George Clooney and Shailene Woodley. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, best actor, and best adapted screenplay, which Rash took home alongside cowriters Nat Faxon and Alexander Payne.

Peter Capaldi

Award won: Best live action short film

For: "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life"

Year: 1995

Capaldi is internationally known for playing the Doctor in "Doctor Who," but fans might not realize he became an Oscar winner nearly two decades prior to taking on the role.

Capaldi won the award for best live action short film alongside Ruth Kenley-Letts for "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life." Their film actually tied for the award with Peggy Rajski and Randy Stone's "Trevor."

Stevie Wonder

Award won: Best original song

For: "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from "The Woman in Red"

Year: 1985

In comparison to his 25 Grammy wins, it's easy to see how Stevie Wonder's Oscar win in 1985 could fly under the radar. The song itself was a massive hit upon its release in 1984, selling millions of copies.

Three 6 Mafia

Award won: Best original song

For: "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" from "Hustle & Flow"

Year: 2006

Three years after Eminem's win, Three 6 Mafia became the first hip-hop group to take home the Oscar for best original song for "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" from "Hustle & Flow."

Eminem

Award won: Best original song

For: "Lose Yourself" from "8 Mile"

Year: 2003

In 2003, Eminem became the first rapper to win the Oscar for best original song with "Lose Yourself" from Curtis Hanson's drama "8 Mile," which he also starred in. Though he wasn't present to accept the award back then, he gave a surprise performance of the song 17 years later, at the Oscars ceremony in 2020.

Anna Paquin

Award won: Best supporting actress

For: "The Piano" 

Year: 1994

Paquin's acting career started off with a bang, winning best supporting actress for her debut film, "The Piano," at just 11 years old.

Since then, she's appeared in the "X-Men" trilogy, "True Blood," and Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman," but hasn't received another Oscar nomination.

Mo'Nique

Award won: Best supporting actress

For: "Precious"

Year: 2010

Though Mo'Nique may be best known for her comedy, she had a standout role as abusive mother Mary Jones in Lee Daniels' "Precious" and took home the award for best supporting actress.

However, five years after her win, Mo'Nique told The Hollywood Reporter that Daniels told her she was "blackballed" because she "didn't play the game."

Mo'Nique famously did not campaign for her award, and in the opening line of her acceptance speech said, "First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics."

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Daniels said, "Her demands through 'Precious' were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community."

Mo'Nique and Daniels reconciled in 2022, and she starred in his 2024 horror film, "The Deliverance."

Lionel Richie

Award won: Best original song

For: "Say You, Say Me" from "White Nights"

Year: 1986

Richie has won one Oscar from three nominations for best original song. His win came in 1986 for "Say You, Say Me" from "White Nights," starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines.

Mira Sorvino

Award won: Best supporting actress

For: "Mighty Aphrodite"

Year: 1996

Before she starred as the iconic Romy White in "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion," Sorvino was recognized by the Academy for her role as Linda Ash in Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite."

Since then, she's appeared in other films and television projects like "Norma Jean & Marilyn," "Human Trafficking," and more recently, "Sound of Freedom."

In 2017, Sorvino was one of more than a dozen women to speak out against producer Harvey Weinstein in an article published by The New Yorker. She told the publication that she felt her career was hurt after rejecting Weinstein's advances and reporting the harassment she faced.

"There may have been other factors, but I definitely felt iced out and that my rejection of Harvey had something to do with it," Sorvino said.

In a statement in 2017, Weinstein denied he'd been involved in blacklisting Sorvino.

Weinstein was convicted of third-degree rape of one woman and of first-degree criminal sex act against another in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison. His conviction was overturned in April 2024 and he was indicted on new charges in September; his retrial is set to begin in April.

Al Gore

Award won: Best documentary feature

For: "An Inconvenient Truth"

Year: 2007

OK, technically the award for best documentary feature was given to director Davis Guggenheim, but former vice president and 2000 presidential nominee Al Gore was its subject, highlighting his educational presentation about the dangers of global warming.

He even took to the stage with Guggenheim after its win, telling the crowd, "My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it."