5 actors who got Oscar buzz without appearing in their films

Critics have anointed Andy Serkis king of the jungle again, starting to buzz about his Oscar chances for playing Caesar, the superintelligent leader of a group of forest primates in this summer’s hit “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”

It’s the fourth time Serkis has gotten an Oscar push for a film he didn’t physically appear in, but so far no one has ever been nominated for an Oscar for voice-over performance or for doing the kind of motion-capture work that is Serkis’ specialty.

There is no rule against such nominations, though, so there’s hope for Serkis.

Let’s take a look at the other actors who got Oscar buzz for playing nonhuman characters. (So far only one actor in the history of the academy got an acting nod for playing a character who wasn’t human — Jeff Bridges as the alien in 1984’s “Starman.”)

Frank Oz as Miss Piggy in ‘The Muppet Movie’ (1979)

So believed was the Divine Miss P’s screen presence that two Cincinnati marketing execs launched the Committee to Award Miss Piggy the Oscar. More than 25,000 supported the idea of giving her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Strangely, no one seemed to mention Frank Oz, who went on to give an equally beloved voice-and-puppeteering performance as Yoda in “The Empire Strikes Back” the following year. Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog were invited to appear on the Oscar telecast to joke about it.

Robin Williams as Genie in ‘Aladdin’ (1992)

Williams achieved a breakthough when he brought ad-libbing straight from his rapid-fire stand-up routine to an adaptation of a classic fairy tale. The Golden Globes gave him their first-ever special achievement award for the performance.

Eddie Murphy as Donkey in ‘Shrek’ (2001)

The many great Disney and Pixar animated movies finally shamed the Academy into creating a Best Animated Motion Picture Oscar — but the first one ever awarded went to this one from Disney’s rival DreamWorks Animation.

Picking up on Williams’ pioneering work, Murphy brought his own well-established persona to the role and became the first voice-over actor nominated for a BAFTA, in this case for best supporting actor.

Andy Serkis as Gollum in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ (2002) and ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)

Playing Gollum attracted loads of attention, including an Empire Award and an MTV award for best motion capture performance, but Serkis never got the precious Oscar nomination for either role.

Andy Serkis as Caesar in ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ (2011)

Many top critics, including Richard Corliss of Time, urged that the Academy break with tradition and nominate Serkis for his first turn as Caesar. It didn’t happen, though Serkis got a Critics’ Choice nomination for the role.

Scarlett Johansson as Samantha in ‘Her’ (2013)

Variety, The Daily Beast, Salon and other outlets published pieces arguing for Oscar love for Johansson, who played the sexy voice of a virtual-girlfriend operating system.

Johansson, who took over the part after Samantha Morton was fired, received the best actress award at the Rome Film Festival for her performance.