One of the great Oscar nomination morning surprises in memory is the late, great Pete Postlethwaite’s Supporting Actor nomination for 1993’s In the Name of the Father, which also received nominations for Best Picture, director Jim Sheridan, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Emma Thompson (most predicted his slot would be Sean Penn’s first career nod for Carlito’s Way).

Postlethwaite ended up losing to The Fugitive‘s Tommy Lee Jones, but the nomination surely provided a stateside career boost: he is one of the titular men in The Usual Suspects, and he’s actually the best thing in William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. In fact, I would have nominated him for that, too!

This article is part of a special year-long series of anecdotes, reflections and thoughts about the Academy Awards