While the stars may be basking in their Oscar glory, a little over twenty four hours after being honoured by the Academy, but is the Oscar a curse?In recent years those who have been recognised with acting accolades, in particular Best Actress, have all seen their careers, and possibly their pay cheque, take a major nose dive.Halle Berry's acceptance speech in 2001 is memorable for all the wrong reasons and ever since her career has taken a bit of a knocking.While she has had the success of the X-Men franchise a high level of acting skills were not required for the role. Then she took on the disastrous role of Catwoman.With a poor script that made zero sense, poor character, no action sequences the film was universally panned by the unforgiving critics earning Berry the Rassie awards for Worst Actress.In the same years Halle Berry picked up her award Denzel Washinton was crowned Best Actor and since then his movie choices have raised several eyebrows.
Moving instead to the action drama roles Washington made a string of movies in this genre including Out of Time, Man on Fire and Inside Man all of which didn't bring out the best in this fine actor.
In 2007 however he redeemed himself when he teamed up with fellow Oscar recipient Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott for American Gangster.
The film followed Frank Lucas, a Harlem drug dealer, and Washington gave a blistering and award worthy performance.
Like Berry Charlize Theron has also fallen fowl of the Oscar curse producing just one good performance, North Country, since she won Best Actress for Monster 2003.
2004 release Head in the Clouds was released fairly unnoticed but it was her role in Aeon Flux that was panned by the critics.
The film was a loose adaptation of the animated science fiction television series Æon Flux, taking place 408 years into a post-apocalyptic future, after a virus has wiped out ninety-nine percent of the Earth's 2011 population.
Theron took on the role of Aeon Flux an assassin-member of an underground rebel organization.
But like Washington the actress returned with a bang this year with In the Valley of Elah, which was directed by Paul Haggis and starred Tommy Lee Jones.
2004 winner Jamie Foxx also seems to have lost that winning formula that won him the Oscar for his sublime performance in Ray, the biography of singer Ray Charles.
Miami Vice, which was directed by Michael Mann, brought Foxx the most criticism as it failed to live up to expectation on every level with both lead actors turning in performances that were well below their capabilities.
Similarly Dreamgirls, which was expected to be nominated for Best Picture, was a poor outing for almost everyone involved, which may seem surprising as it was the genre of film where he had bee such a force just two years before.
But finally it's Nicole Kidman's career that has taken a major nose dive since she triumphed in 2002 for her role in The Hours.
She has produced a string of movies, including Dogville, The Human Stain, Bewitched and The Invasion that has all been heavily criticised by the critics.
So Oscar winners Marion Cotillard Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem, I think we can safely assume that Daniel Day Lewis will be fine, should take note should the curse may strike and they may not be celebrating for long.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw