Actors of color came out on top during the Academy Awards nominations ceremony with five films starring actors of color nominated for Best Picture–American Fiction, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon and Past Lives.
According to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, there is a lot to celebrate with Killers of the Flower Moon‘s Lily Gladstone becoming the first Native American woman nominated for Best Actress. Colman Domingo also made history as the first Afro-Latino nominated in the Best Actor category for his role in Rustin. Both Domingo and American Fiction‘s Jeffrey Wright are nominated in the same category, making this, according to Variety, “the second time in Oscar history where more than one Black actor, who wasn’t either Will Smith or Denzel Washington, was nominated for the leading prize.” Domingo also made history as one of two actors nominated this season for playing LGBTQ characters.
American Fiction also saw Sterling K. Brown earn a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, making this the first time a Black leading actor and Black supporting actor were nominated from the same film. Composer Laura Karpman also made history with American Fiction, becoming just one of five female composers nominated for an Oscar in 25 years. The film’s director, Cord Jefferson, also earned a nomination in the Adapted Screenplay category.
Past Lives screenwriter/director Celine Song also broke another glass ceiling for Asian creators, becoming the first Asian woman to earn a Best Original Screenplay nomination. Unfortunately, fans already feel that the leads of the film, Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, were snubbed. However, Past Lives was nominated for Best Picture, making it one of three Best Picture films in which English wasn’t the main language. This is particularly interesting, seeing how 2020’s Minari was labeled as a foreign language film at the 2020 Golden Globes, despite it being a story set in America about South Korean immigrants.
Barbie’s America Ferrera became the ninth Latina Best Supporting Actress nominee, and joins The Color Purple‘s Danielle Brooks and The Holdovers‘ Da’Vine Joy Randolph (an early frontrunner thanks to her previous awards for her role during this awards season).
With the nominations stacked across multiple categories, this Oscars is going to be one that will hopefully have viewers cheering on the progress the Academy has made.
Check out the full list of nominees below:
Best Picture
- “American Fiction”
- “Anatomy of a Fall”
- “Barbie”
- “The Holdovers”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Maestro”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Past Lives”
- “Poor Things”
- “The Zone of Interest”
Best Actor
- Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
- Colman Domingo, “Rustin”
- Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
- Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
- Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Best Actress
- Annette Bening, “Nyad”
- Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”
- Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”
- Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Best Supporting Actor
- Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”
- Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”
- Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
- Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”
Best Supporting Actress
- Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
- Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”
- America Ferrera, “Barbie”
- Jodie Foster, “Nyad”
- Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Best Director
- Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
- Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”
- Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
- Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”
International Feature Film
- “Io Capitano,” Italy
- “Perfect Days,” Japan
- “Society of the Snow,” Spain
- “The Teachers’ Lounge,” Germany
- “The Zone of Interest,” United Kingdom
Animated Feature Film
- “The Boy and the Heron”
- “Elemental”
- “Nimona”
- “Robot Dreams”
- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Adapted Screenplay
- “American Fiction”
- “Barbie”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
- “The Zone of Interest”
Original Screenplay
- “Anatomy of a Fall”
- “The Holdovers”
- “Maestro”
- “May December”
- “Past Lives”
Visual Effects
- “The Creator”
- “Godzilla Minus One”
- “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
- “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
- “Napoleon”
Original Score
- “American Fiction”
- “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Original Song
- “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
- “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
- “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
- “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
- “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Documentary Feature Film
- “20 Days in Mariupol”
- “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
- “The Eternal Memory”
- “Four Daughters”
- “To Kill a Tiger”
Cinematography
- “El Conde”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Maestro”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Costume Design
- “Barbie”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Napoleon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Animated Short Film
- “Letter to a Pig”
- “Ninety-Five Senses”
- “Our Uniform”
- “Pachyderme”
- “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
Live-Action Short Film
- “The After”
- “Invincible”
- “Knight of Fortune”
- “Red, White and Blue”
- “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
Documentary Short Film
- “The ABCs of Book Banning”
- “The Barber of Little Rock”
- “Island in Between”
- “The Last Repair Shop”
- “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”
Film Editing
- “Anatomy of a Fall”
- “The Holdovers”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Sound
- “The Creator”
- “Maestro”
- “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “The Zone of Interest”
Production Design
- “Barbie”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Napoleon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Makeup and Hairstyling
- “Golda”
- “Maestro”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
- “Society of the Snow”
