Does an Oscar Change an Actor's Career? A Look at 2013's Acting Winners

The Academy Awards are looking to be a glamorous celebration this upcoming year with all of last year's acting award winners returning to present. The awards are touted as career-making and the winners are said to get more exposure after their wins.

However, that is not always the case. Last year's four winners represent an interesting case as all four winners were either previously nominated or winners. Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Academy Award for Best Actor for "Lincoln" and since then has not signed on to work on any film. The reason for his absence from the silver screen is in part due the fact that the actor takes his time to choose his projects and sometimes takes up to five years to return to films.

Last year's Best Actress winner Jennifer Lawrence returns to the Oscars as a presenter but also as a nominee. The actress was nominated a third time for "American Hustle" but it was not her win last year that put her on the map. Instead it was her first nomination for "Winter's Bone" that opened the doors, and later "The Hunger Games" solidified her status as an A-List actor. Since her win, Lawrence has signed on to star in "East of Eden," "The Glass Castle," "Burial Rites," and is currently filming the last two installments to "The Hunger Games."

Christoph Waltz also had a different impact from his second Oscar win for "Django UnChained." The actor had already garnered a big following in Hollywood and had already done a number of films in Los Angeles after he won his first Oscar for "Inglorious Basterds." The second Oscar only reminded audiences of the talent the actor had. Waltz will next be seen in "Big Eyes," "Candy Store," "Horrible Bosses 2" and "The Zero Theorem."

Last year's Best Supporting Actress winner Anne Hathaway didn't get a career boost. Instead it took her out of the spotlight. The actress had a small cameo role in "Don Jon" and was otherwise absent from the silver screen in 2013. This year she has films that are completed and that will be seen at the end of the year. However, she has yet to sign on to a new film project. Hathaway's win was also not star-making as she became an A-list name when she debuted in "The Princess Diaries" and her first Oscar nomination for "Rachel Getting Married" only asserted her talents.

The results for Oscar winners have been mixed all along. Many stars have turned their careers around for the better (Melissa Leo, Sandra Bullock, Marion Cotillard) as industry insiders see them in a different light, while some have ended up getting lost in the crowd (Halle Berry, Forest Whitaker, Reese Witherspoon and Rachel Weisz).

This year the Best Actor nominees are a mixed bag of A-listers, unknowns, and actors undergoing career resurgences. Some of the actors will benefit from an Oscar win but for some a win will not make or break their careers.