After The Artist received critical acclaim sufficient to suggest that the film might have a real chance of winning "Best Picture" awards, S.T. VanAirsdale, an Editor at Movieline, began a campaign called "Consider Uggie" on Facebook to seek recognition for Uggie's performance; he felt that the dog outperformed Leonardo DiCaprio's performance in J. Edgar, but probably wasn't as good as George Clooney in The Descendants. However, a precedent was set for the Oscars in 1929 at the 1st Academy Awards when German Shepherd dog actor Rin Tin Tin, according to legend, gained the most votes for the Award for Best Actor. Actor Emil Jannings was actually presented with the award on the night.

Uggie's earliest roles were in commercials and minor roles in the films What's Up Scarlett, Wassup Rockers (2005) and Mr. Fix It (2006) alongside David Boreanaz. His first named role, and big break, was as "Queenie" in the romantic drama Water for Elephants, alongside actors Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. He appeared in "The Incredible Dog Show" from August 2010 onwards, a tour of dogs with different tricks, which toured the United States and South America; his trick was riding a skateboard.

Uggie won the Palm Dog Award for best performance by a canine at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, for his role as "Jack" in The Artist. It was the 11th year in which the award was handed out and goes to the best canine performance. Following the "Consider Uggie" campaign, Jone Bauman of the American Humane Association said Uggie was in line for a Pawscar, the association's awards for animals in films.

On June 25, 2012, he had his paw prints placed in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Uggie was euthanized at the age of 13 on August 7, 2015 after developing a prostate tumor.