Walton Goggins Technically Won An Oscar For A Project You've Probably Never Seen

Since making his acting debut in a 1989 episode of the NBC cop drama "In the Heat of the Night," Walton Goggins has been a most welcome presence on screens big and small. He first popped as police detective Shane Vendrell in the electrifying FX series "The Shield," and won our hearts as the scarily charming criminal Boyd Crowder over six brilliant seasons of FX's "Justified." We also love him as Baby Billy Freeman on "The Righteous Gemstones," and were blown away by his portrayal of The Ghoul on "Fallout." Goggins has been in some bad movies over the years (e.g. "American Ultra" and "Cowboys & Aliens"), but he certainly wasn't bad in them. The man seems wholly incapable of giving a bum performance.

Given that Goggins has become a favorite of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino since appearing in "Django Unchained," is it too much to hope that, whenever the director gets around to making his 10th and purportedly final movie, he'll have a nice, juicy role for this Southern prince of an actor? And if he does have one set aside for Goggins, could this be the role that finally earns the latter recognition from his peers in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences?

Actually, there's no "finally" about it. Goggins already has an Oscar on his shelf. If you're wondering how this is possible, you need to look toward one of the awards that's typically handed out early on Oscar night.

In 2001, while Goggins was making his big-screen bones via bit parts in movies like "Shanghai Noon" and "The Crow: Salvation," he found time to produce and appear in a short film titled "The Accountant." It's a quirkily charming comedy about two brothers who seek the services of an unconventional financial advisor who, between swigs of beer and drags on many a cigarette, works out a plan that might allow them to save their family's farm.

"The Accountant" was written and directed by Ray McKinnon (who stars as the title character), executive produced by his wife Lisa Blount (whom you no doubt remember from "An Officer and a Gentleman," among many other films prior to her death in 2010), and produced by Goggins (who plays one of the brothers) — all three of whom looked stunned when presenters Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts read off their names as the winners of the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar at the 2002 ceremony.

It's a night Goggins remembers well. As he told Business Insider in 2018:

"[I]n the short film category you can only put two names down for the award, so it was Ray and Lisa, but we all did it together so we all decided we'd walk up on stage. And we timed our speech so we all could talk in 30 seconds and not piss anyone off. It came from the heart and it brought the house down. And that's hard to do after Sidney Poitier just got his lifetime achievement award. It was pretty incredible."

When then asked if he has one of those two Oscars, Goggins affirmed, "I have one and Ray has the other and we have Lisa in our hearts."

You can watch the trio receive their Oscars on YouTube, which is also where you can currently watch "The Accountant" for free. It's only 38 minutes long, and it's a hoot. You won't regret it!