How Well Do You Know Your Oscar Winning Performers? Let’s Find Out.

I’ve finished my Mainers Making Movies category and leading up to Oscar night I am going to review as many of the 2013 Oscar nominated films as I can see and would recommend.  First up will be the nine Best Picture nominees, then a post ranking them, then reviews of other nominees, then my Oscar picks, and finally the Oscar results and observations.  That should cover the next month here at this site.  Before starting on that, though, let’s have some fun.

Sometimes Oscar winners seem to come out of nowhere, but most of the time they have paid their dues in low budget, I-need-the-paycheck kind of movies.  Not everyone can be Meryl Streep who started her film career with Best Picture nominee Julia (1977), Best Picture winner The Deer Hunter (1978), Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979), and Best Picture winner Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).  More often than not they were like Oscar nominee Johnny Depp who was in the teen sex comedy Private Resort (1985) early in his career.

Let’s see how well you know the early careers of some of the more recent Oscar winners.  Below you will find two columns.  On the left are the names of Oscar winners.  On the right are the names of the not-quite-Oscar-worthy movies that they were in before they won their Oscars.  Match each person in the first column with their movie in the second column.

Note: you will see a set of three movies grouped together as a single choice.  That is because one performer was in all three.

Hint: alphabetical order has already lined up three of the answers for you.

1.	Alan Arkin	A.	Age of Consent
2.	Sandra Bullock	B.	Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman
3.	George Clooney	C.	BMX Bandits
4.	Marion Cotillard	D.	Calypso Heat Wave
5.	Clint Eastwood	E.	Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest
6.	Morgan Freeman	F.	Chopper Chicks in Zombietown
7.	Angelina Jolie	G.	Cyborg 2
8.	Nicole Kidman	H.	Grizzly 2: The Concert Return of the Killer Tomatoes! Return to Horror High
9.	Heath Ledger	I.	The Next Karate Kid
10.	Helen Mirren	J.	Paws
11.	Hilary Swank	K.	Revenge of the Creature
12.	Charlize Theron	L.	My Sex Life…or How I Got into an Argument
13.	Billy Bob Thornton	M.	Tag: The Assassination Game
14.	Marisa Tomei	N.	The Toxic Avenger
15.	Forrest Whitaker	O.	Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow!

Answer Summary: 1-D, 2-B, 3-H, 4-L, 5-K, 6-O, 7-G, 8-C, 9-J, 10-A, 11-I, 12-E, 13-F, 14-N, 15-M

Answers:

1.  Alan Arkin (winner for Little Miss Sunshine) was in Calypso Heat Wave (1957)

2.  Sandra Bullock (winner for The Blind Side) was in Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989)

3.  George Clooney (winner for Syriana) was in Grizzly 2: The Concert (1987), Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988), and Return to Horror High (1987)

4.  Marion Cottilard (winner for La vie en rose) was in My Sex Life…or How I Got into an Argument (1996)

5.  Clint Eastwood (winner for directing Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby) was in Revenge of the Creature (1955)

6.  Morgan Freemen (winner for Million Dollar Baby) was in Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow! (1971)

7.  Angelina Jolie (winner for Girl, Interrupted) was in Cyborg 2 (1993)

8.  Nicole Kidman (winner for The Hours) was in BMX Bandits (1983)

9.  Heath Ledger (winner for The Dark Knight) was in Paws (1997)

10. Helen Mirren (winner for The Queen) was in Age of Consent (1969)

11. Hilary Swank (winner for Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby) was in The Next Karate Kid (1994)

12. Charlize Theron (winner for Monster) was in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995)

13. Billy Bob Thornton (winner for writing Sling Blade) was in Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (1989)

14. Marisa Tomei (winner for My Cousin Vinny) was in The Toxic Avenger (1984)

15. Forrest Whitaker (winner for The Last King of Scotland) was in Tag: The Assassination Game (1982)

How well did you do?

Zero Correct – You apparently only watch good movies.  Congratulations.

1-5 Correct – You’ve seen a few cult movies, or tracked down all the movies your favorite performer was ever in.

6-10 Correct – You’ve seen a ton of movies and have a great memory.

11-14 Correct – You scare me a little bit.

All 15 Correct – So there is an app for that.

Finally, it’s not just bad movies that performers start out their careers with.  Sometimes they are also in music videos.  You should recognize this teenager in Meat Loaf’s 1989 music video Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through.