It won’t surprise me if Leonardo di Caprio wins the best actor Oscar this year for his fantastic performance as the OCD-ridden Howard Hughes in The Aviator.

Quite simply, Oscar loves mental illness.

Last night, after we had watched the movie, Gav and I tried to come up with all the actors and actresses who were nominated or won Oscars based on these type of parts.

Once we got started, we couldn’t stop. Sure, there are the obvious ones – Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Geoffrey Rush in Shine, Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot, and Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind.

But, the list does not end there….there are tons…
There are the insane ones:
Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys
Charlize Theron in Monster
Nigel Hawthorne in The Madness of King George
Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted
Ed Harris in Pollack

There are the ones with the physical disabilities:
Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (cripple)
Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump (cripple)
Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (blind)
Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God (deaf)
Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July (cripple)
John Hurt in The Elephant Man (Proteous Syndrome)
Holly Hunter in the Piano (mute)

and there are the ones with the mental disabilities:
Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile
Leonardo di Caprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
Sean Penn in I Am Sam
Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade
Cliff Robertson in Charly