2025 Oscar Nominees Then & Now: See Stars in Their First TV Roles
The Oscars is the biggest night of the year for movie lovers. With Conan O’Brien picking up the hosting mantle from Jimmy Kimmel, the 97th iteration promises an exciting gathering of Hollywood’s most impactful creatives, most of whom got their start on the small screen.
The acting categories, in particular, include some well-known faces for frequent TV viewers, but most are Academy newcomers. Thirteen out of the 20 nominated actors have never been nominated before and only one returning actor in this year’s cohort, Adrien Brody, has felt the wave of euphoria that comes with walking across the Dolby Theatre stage en route to a golden statuette.
For three-time nominees like Ralph Fiennes and Cynthia Erivo, the distinction of being an Academy Award winner is long overdue. For international performers like Yura Borisov, Karla Sofia Gascón, and Fernanda Torres, the time in the spotlight could help them cross over into mainstream American audiences (though Gascón’s recent controversies may have dashed her hopes for a win).
Regardless of their personal stakes or the end results, the entertainers can all take comfort in knowing that they’ve paid their dues and are receiving the payoff. Ahead of the ceremony on March 2, here’s a rundown of the 2025 acting nominees’ first major TV roles vs. the film roles that made them Oscar hopefuls this year.
2025 Oscars, Sunday, March 2, 7/6c, ABC and Hulu
Monica Barbaro
First Major TV Role: Chicago Justice
2025 Oscar Nominee For: A Complete Unknown
One of the biggest surprises on Oscar nomination morning was hearing Monica Barbaro‘s name, as her performance as folk music and civil rights icon Joan Baez came completely out of nowhere. Who would’ve guessed the Top Gun: Maverick star would have such an amazing voice?
Before her breakout year, the actress was more prominently known for her playing Anna Valdez in the network procedurals Chicago Justice and Chicago P.D.
Adrien Brody
First Major TV Role: Annie McGuire
2025 Oscar Nominee For: The Brutalist
In 2002, Adrien Brody made Oscars history for being awarded with the “Best Actor” award for his performance in The Pianist. And why was this win so historic? At the time of the ceremony, he was only 29, making him the youngest champion to this day in the category. At this point, another win for his performance as a Hungarian-Jewish architect in The Brtualist would be a victory lap.
His illustrious career began with his turn as Mary Tyler Moore‘s on-screen son in Annie McGuire.
Yura Borisov
First Major TV Role: U kazhogo svoya voyna
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Anora
Yura Borisov burst onto the scene with his performance in Anora — where he plays a Russian henchman with a soft spot for the titular Brooklyn stripper.
Director Sean Baker discovered him in the Russian drama Compartment No. 6, but European audiences might recognize him from his debut in U kazhogo svoya voyna, which, unfortunately, is incredibly difficult for American audiences to get their hands on. Pictured on the left is a still from the film Kalashnikov, to give you a glimpse of what Borisov looked like when still had hair.
Timothée Chalamet
First Major TV Role: Law & Order
2025 Oscar Nominee For: A Complete Unknown
Between the success of Dune: Part Two and A Complete Unknown, two of the 10 films nominated in the “Best Picture” category, Timothée Chalamet is one of the few actors who could make the legitimate claim that 2025 was their year. All he would need to make it indisputable is a “Best Actor” award.
But, before he was getting songs stuck in our heads as folk legend Bob Dylan, audiences primarily got acquainted with Chalamet through his portrayals of angsty, baby-faced teens. There’s Call Me By Your Name, Beautiful Boy, or even his first acting role on Law & Order.
Kieran Culkin
First Major TV Role: Saturday Night Live
2025 Oscar Nominee For: A Real Pain
Since the days of Igby Goes Down, Kieran Culkin has perfected the art of being sarcastic and smug without ever becoming unlikeable. Now, he’s finally being recognized for it with perhaps the most realized version of that archetype in A Real Pain, where he plays a man who joins his brother on a Holocaust tour in the comedy-drama.
Family clearly means a lot to Culkin — his first on-screen roles were alongside his brother Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone and a Saturday Night Live sketch. He later returned to host the NBC variety show himself in 2021.
Colman Domingo
First Major TV Role: Nash Bridges
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Sing Sing
Just like his character in Sing Sing, Colman Domingo is a thespian, through and through. He first made a name for himself on the theatre stage early in his career, alongside recurring roles in Nash Bridges and Law & Order.
Cynthia Erivo
First Major TV Role: Chewing Gum
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Wicked
If you dare to find Cynthia Erivo, look to the stage of the Dolby Theatre on Oscar Night, where she could be celebrated for her performance as Elphaba in Wicked. Should she win, she would become the youngest EGOT winner in history.
In the meantime, viewers can revisit some of her earlier work, including her first TV role in Chewing Gum.
Ralph Fiennes
First Major TV Role: Prime Suspect
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Conclave
Ralph Fiennes is often recognized for his villainous roles, whether in the Harry Potter franchise or Schindler’s List. That’s why it’s especially striking when he takes on a “good” character, like his portrayal of a morally conflicted cardinal in Conclave.
The actor made the transition from the stage to the screen with his part in Prime Suspect.
Karla Sofía Gascón
First Major TV Role: MasterChef México
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Emilia Pérez
Karla Sofía Gascón made history this year as the first openly transgender acting nominee in the Oscars’ near 100-year history, though it seems likely she won’t win the award in light of some resurfaced offensive social media posts that caused controversy.
One of her first roles after transitioning came as a contestant on MasterChef México.
Felicity Jones
First Major TV Role: The Worst Witch
2025 Oscar Nominee For: The Brutalist
Felicity Jones doesn’t enter The Brutalist until after its intermission, which occurs over an hour into the film. Still, she makes an impact, a testament to her rousing performance as a Holocaust survivor and journalist who follows her husband to America.
Just like her costars, Jones adopted an accent for the role. To anyone looking to see her natural English inflection in full effect, her career began on British TV with The Worst Witch.
Ariana Grande
First Major TV Role: Victorious
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Wicked
The wickedly talented Ariana Grande has been in the public eye for what seems like her entire life. For many Gen Z’ers, she’s best remembered as Cat Valentine from the Nickelodeon series Victorious.
Today, the Grammy winner is celebrated for her extraordinary vocal range, which takes center stage in her return to acting as Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked.
Mikey Madison
First Major TV Role: Better Things
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Anora
After building up an impressive resumé with scene-stealing performances in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream (2022), Mikey Madison finally had her breakthrough as the titular sex worker in Anora.
At just 25 years old, she’s in the running to become one of the youngest “Best Actress” winners. But, if you caught her in her first TV role as the troubled daughter of Pamela Adlon on the FX series Better Things, you probably knew her time was coming.
Demi Moore
First Major TV Role: General Hospital
2025 Oscar Nominee For: The Substance
As Demi Moore powerfully expressed in her heartfelt Golden Globes speech, much of her career has been unfairly overlooked.
Now, decades after the Brat Pack hysteria, she’s finally been given the role she’s been waiting for: Elizabeth Sparkles, an aging actress who turns to a black-market drug to restore her youth and revive her career in the body-horror film The Substance.
Her journey began on TV, with small roles in the short-lived Kaz and the long-running General Hospital.
Edward Norton
First Major TV Role: Stella
2025 Oscar Nominee For: A Complete Unknown
This Yale graduate famously came into the entertainment industry guns blazing — for Edward Norton‘s first-ever acting role in Primal Fear, he was awarded with an Academy Award nomination. Almost 30 years later, he’s still gracing our screens, most recently as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan’s gentle, soft-spoken hero — a far cry from Norton’s earlier turns as violent anti-heroes in films like American History X and Fight Club.
Aside from some voiceover work on The Simpsons and Sausage Party: Foodtopia, Norton hasn’t had many major appearances on TV, most of them being bite-sized cameos on comedies like Stella and Modern Family.
Guy Pearce
First Major TV Role: Neighbours
2025 Oscar Nominee For: The Brutalist
It’s hard to believe, given his convincing portrayal of the All-American tycoon Harrison Lee Van Buren in The Brutalist, but Guy Pearce isn’t from the U.S. — he’s actually Australian.
The Aussie began his career on the long-running soap opera Neighbours. After leaving the show in 1989, he returned over 30 years later to reprise the character.
Isabella Rossellini
First Major TV Role: The Tracey Ullman Show
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Conclave
Somehow Isabella Rossellini is only now getting her first Oscar nomination for her turn as a nun who listens and certainly judges in Conclave. Better late than ever.
The Italian actress began her TV career on The Tracey Ullman Show.
Fernanda Torres
First Major TV Role: Selva de Pedra
2025 Oscar Nominee For: I’m Still Here
The Torres family is Hollywood royalty. Matriarch Fernanda Montenegro made history as the first Brazilian actress nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Central Station. The only other Brazilian actor to receive an Oscar nomination? Montenegro’s daughter, Fernanda Torres, who’s looking to become the first Brazilian actor to win for her performance in I’m Still Here.
Torres began her career in telenovelas, including Selva de Pedra.
Zoe Saldaña
First Major TV Role: Law & Order
2025 Oscar Nominee For: Emilia Pérez
Even if you don’t know Zoe Saldaña by name, you’ve seen her face before — or at least a version of it.
From Star Trek to Avatar to Guardians of the Galaxy, Saldaña has built a career playing fearless leading women, typically with a ton of facial prosthetics. However, her latest role as a morally ambiguous lawyer in the Netflix French crime musical Emilia Pérez is perhaps her rawest performance to date.
Audiences first said “Hello, very nice to meet you” to Saldaña in a Law & Order episode. She later returned for the spinoff, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Sebastian Stan
First Major TV Role: Law & Order
2025 Oscar Nominee For: The Apprentice
Few actors would be willing to take on the role of President Donald Trump in a biopic, but Sebastian Stan displayed remarkable fearlessness in his performance in The Apprentice. His portrayal earned him recognition as one of the five best performances by an actor in a leading role, as selected by the Academy.
Like many on this list, Stan began his career with a role on Law & Order.
Jeremy Strong
First Major TV Role: The Good Wife
2025 Oscar Nominee For: The Apprentice
The 2025 Oscars will be a Succession reunion of sorts, with Culkin’s costar and onscreen brother, Jeremy Strong, also earning a “Best Supporting Actor” nod for his portrayal of Trump’s crooked lawyer and mentor, Roy Cohn, in The Apprentice.
Strong’s television career began with recurring roles on The Good Wife and the rest is history.
From TV Guide Magazine
How Hulu's 'Mid-Century Modern' Is a 'Golden Girls' for Our Times
Settle in for some older and bolder laughs with the BFFs of a certain age in the new comedy starring Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham. Read the story now on TV Insider.
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services