For better or worse, the Academy Awards are the highest honour that an actor can aspire to, and there's no denying that it's quite the achievement to be able to put one on your mantelpiece next to your school photo and novelty clock.

The following actors all very much earned their shiny statuettes, but in recent years they might want to ask themselves whether they've been coasting along on work that isn't up to their standards.

1. Nicolas Cage

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Won for: Leaving Las Vegas (Best Actor)

Nic Cage has done more than anyone to earn himself a spot on this list. He's the definitive Hollywood underachiever. The thing about Cage is that his filmography is spotted with moments of quality (Joe, Kick-Ass in recent years) among a sea of what we can only describe as DVD landfill.

These days, even Wikipedia has given up on Cage's bombs (Arsenal, Army of One, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage), leaving him with some of the skimpiest entries on the online encyclopaedia we've ever seen.

2. Halle Berry

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Won for: Monster's Ball (Best Actress)

If Cage is up for "best" actor of our list, then Halle Berry definitely scoops the "best" actress award for completely nose-diving after becoming the first woman of colour to win the Best Actress award.

Monster's Ball was quickly followed by Die Another Day, Gothika and Catwoman. Things haven't got much better from there (we're looking at you, Movie 43), but maybe Kingsman: The Golden Circle will be good...

3. Robert De Niro

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Won for: Raging Bull (Best Actor), The Godfather Part II (Best Supporting Actor)

Under the dictionary entry for "tainting the memory", you will find a picture of Robert De Niro.

We can only assume that somewhere along the line, a post-hypnotic suggestion switch was flicked that compelled De Niro towards countless unfunny, gross-out comedies – Last Vegas, Grudge Match, The Big Wedding and Hollywood's nadir, Dirty Grandpa. Ironically, he was also in a film called What Just Happened, which is actually quite good.

4. Diane Keaton

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Won for: Annie Hall (Best Actress)

Once a Woody Allen-collaborating darling of the movie scene, somewhere along the line Keaton was crowned queen of bad comedy ensembles (and The Family Stone, a harrowing haunted house ride of a film masquerading as a comedy ensemble), apparently stuck permanently on the "harassed matriarch" setting. (And let us not forget Darling Companion – a film about a woman who loves her dog more than her husband... and then he loses the dog.)

Things might be looking up for Keaton a bit, as she's been getting a good write up for playing a nun in The Young Pope on TV – by definition unattached to a miserable (ex-)husband and brood of bratty children.

5. Al Pacino

Won for: Scent of a Woman (Best Actor)

It's painful to see a classically trained actor who starred in two of the greatest films of all time (and The Godfather Part III) reduced to shouting at the camera to pay his bills.

Pacino was even in Jack & Jill, which is widely regarded as the worst film in Adam Sandler's career – although this scene does put the Descent of Pacino into some sort of context.

6. Ben Kingsley

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Won for: Gandhi (Best Actor)

We love Sir Ben, but it's hard to look at his film credits and not feel that, given the right circumstances, he'll sign up for anything.

Take, for example, the straight-to-DVD sequel Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse, the completely ignored Ryan Reynolds vehicle Self/less and the third Night at the Museum movie. You're worth more than this, Sir Ben.

7. Anthony Hopkins

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Won for: Silence of the Lambs (Best Actor)

Please allow us to present our case before you shout us down for badmouthing a national treasure. Westworld was good, but look us in the eye and tell us that he wasn't phoning in his best 'Anthony Hopkins speechifying' impression for Misconduct (co-starring fellow offender Al Pacino), or in Thor: The Dark World, where he looked utterly bored to be playing Odin again (we still can't believe he's coming back for a third time). Then there was Instinct. Mission: Impossible II. The Rite. Red 2. Solace.

And he's in Transformers 17: The Last Knight too, so we guess all bets are off for the time being.

8. Morgan Freeman

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Won for: Million Dollar Baby (Best Supporting Actor)

Freeman has starred in some storming movies, from The Shawshank Redemption and Seven to the Dark Knight trilogy and... er... Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

But we don't honestly think he could look us in the eye and proclaim his passion for the doomed-from-the-outset Ben-Hur remake, Johnny Depp's flaccid science fiction film Transcendence or the seemingly endless Now You See Me series.

9. Susan Sarandon

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Won for: Dead Man Walking (Best Actress)

At her best, Susan Sarandon has taken on roles from the empowering to the goddamn weird – we give you Thelma & Louise, The Hunger, White Palace, The Witches of Eastwick and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

But lately she's been wandering in the shades of beige wilderness that are Tammy, Zoolander 2 and The Big Wedding, which are (possibly) only slightly better than driving your car into the Grand Canyon.

From: Digital Spy