First Black man to win a competitive Oscar. First Bahamian to win Best Actor. First Black actor to receive two acting nominations (Best Actor). Youngest Black actor to win Best Actor (age 37).
Second African-American actor to receive the award for Best Actor. First time two African-American performers won Oscars in the same year (Halle Berry, Monster's Ball). First African-American actor to win multiple competitive Academy Awards. First and only African-American actor to win Academy Awards in both acting categories (lead and supporting).
First Black actor to direct himself to an Oscar nomination (for acting only). First Black actor to be nominated for both acting and producing (Best Picture) in the same year.
Denzel Washington has the most nominations for an African-American actor: Best Actor (7 nominations) and Best Supporting Actor (2 nominations). First African-American actor to receive a nomination for their performance in a Shakespeare adaptation.
First African-American actress to receive an Academy Award nomination for a debut film performance. First time multiple African-American actresses received Best Actress nominations.
First film to feature African-American nominees for both Best Actor and Best Actress. First time multiple African-American actresses received Best Actress nominations.
Debut film performance. First time multiple African-American actresses received nominations for the same film for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
First African-American actress to win Best Actress. First person of color to win Best Actress. First time two African-American performers won Oscars in the same year (Denzel Washington, Training Day).
Second African-American actress to receive acting nominations in the lead and supporting categories after Whoopi Goldberg. Third film to feature African-American nominees for both Best Actress and Supporting Actress categories.
First Black British actress to be nominated. Second Black woman to receive multiple Oscar nominations in the same year. Third person nominated for an acting award and a music award (Best Original Song) in the same year. First Nigerian to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Most nominated African-American actress, with four nominations. First Black actress to receive two nominations for Best Actress. Third film to feature African-American nominees for both Best Actor and Best Actress. Second time multiple African-American actresses received Best Actress nominations.
Debut film performance. Youngest Black actor to receive an Academy Award nomination (age 24) First Black British actor to receive an Academy Award nomination. First out Black actor to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Second film to feature Black nominees for both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. First Muslim actor to win an Oscar. First time two African-American performers won in supporting role Oscars in the same year (Viola Davis, Fences).
Second time two African-American performers won supporting role Oscars in the same year (Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk). First African-American actor to win two Oscars in the same category. Second African-American actor to win multiple competitive Academy Awards.
First Black British actor to win an acting Oscar. First Black British actor to receive multiple Academy Award nominations. First film to have multiple black actors to be nominated in the same category for the same film.
First African-American man to receive Academy Award nominations in the same year for acting and songwriting. Fourth person overall, third Black person, and first Black man nominated for an Academy Award for acting and songwriting in the same year.
First time multiple African-American actresses from the same film are nominated in the same category. First film to feature African-American nominees for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Winfrey's debut film performance.
First African-American actress to receive two acting nominations. First African-American actress to receive acting nominations in the lead and supporting categories. Second African-American actress to win Best Supporting Actress.
Debut film performance. Youngest African-American to win an Academy Award (age 25) First film to feature African-American nominees for both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
Debut film performance. First Black African (Kenyan) actress to be nominated. First Black African to win in any category. First Black Mexican to be nominated and win in any category. First Afro-Latina actress to be nominated and win an Academy Award.
Third Black British actress to receive an Academy Award nomination. Second film to feature Black nominees for both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
Third Black actress following Whoopi Goldberg and Viola Davis to earn multiple Oscar nominations. First Black actress to be nominated after previously winning. First time three films have Black performers nominated for Supporting Actress in the same year.
First Black woman to receive multiple Oscar nominations in the same year. First person nominated for an acting award and a music award (Best Original Song) in the same year.
First actor nominated for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. First actress nominated for a comic book film. Third African-American actress to receive acting nominations in the lead and supporting categories after Whoopi Goldberg and Viola Davis. Fourth Black actress to be nominated twice.[1]
First openly transgender man to be nominated for any Academy Award. First openly transgender director to be nominated for any Academy Award. Shared with Joslyn Barnes.
First African American woman to be nominated for Best Editing. Shared with Nat Sanders.
Best International Feature Film
In the International Feature Film category (formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film), although the Oscar is presented to and accepted by the film's director, the submitting country is officially credited as the nominee, not the director.[4] The following is a list of films directed by Black people which have been nominated for Best International Feature Film.
First African American to be nominated in the Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score (which is different from Best Original Score category).
First African American winner of Best Original Song Score (which is different from Best Original Score category); this category was retired afterwards.
First African American to receive multiple solo nominations for Best Original Score. First time multiple African Americans received a nomination for Best Original Score in the same year.
Shared nomination with Rod Temperton Richie is the first (and to date, only) Black person to receive multiple Best Original Song nominations in the same year.
Shared with Sergio Mendes. Garrett is the most nominated African-American female songwriter (two nominations). Brown is the first Black Latin American nominated for Best Original Song.
Blige is also the first Black woman to receive multiple Academy Award nominations in the same year. First person nominated for an Academy Award for acting and writing an original song in the same year.
Second Black woman to receive multiple Academy Award nominations in the same year. Second person nominated for an Academy Award for acting and writing an original song in the same year.
First Black man to receive Academy Award nominations in the acting and music categories. Third person nominated for an Academy Award for acting and writing an original song in the same year. Shared with Sam Ashworth.
First African American director whose film was nominated for Best Picture. First time two films with African American producers were nominated for Best Picture.
The first Best Picture nominee to have more than one African American producer. Peele is the first African American producer to be nominated for Best Picture twice. Shared with Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, and Sean McKittrick
Shared nomination with Glen Keane. First African American to win Short Film (Animated). First former professional athlete to be nominated for and to win an Academy Award in any category. First person to win both an Olympic medal and an Academy Award.
Cherry is the second former professional athlete to be nominated for and to win an Academy Award in any category. Toliver is the first Black woman to win Short Film (Animated).
First film to have two African-American screenwriters nominated and to win. Second film to have African-American writers that won Best Picture. First time two films written by African-Americans were nominated in the same year.
First African-American writer to receive a posthumous nomination in a writing category. First time two films written by African-Americans were nominated in the same year.
Shared with Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz. Lee is the first Black screenwriter to be nominated for both Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplay. Lee is the first Black filmmaker to win a competitive Oscar after receiving an Honorary Academy Award. Along with Barry Jenkins nominated the same year for If Beale Street Could Talk, Lee and Jenkins are the first two black people to be nominated for screenwriting twice.
First Black person to have two nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay. Along with Spike Lee nominated the same year for BlacKkKlansman, Jenkins and Lee are the first two Black people to be nominated for screenwriting twice.
Shared nomination with co-writers Chris Clark and Terence McCloy. First African-American nominee for Best Writing (Original Screenplay). First African-American nominated for screenwriting, along with Lonne Elder III for Sounder nominated the same year for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). First African-American woman nominated for screenwriting. First African-American woman nominated for Best Writing (Original Screenplay).
First African-American to win Best Writing (Original Screenplay). First African-American to be nominated for and to win Best Writing (Original Screenplay) for a debut film.
Academy Honorary Award, "for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence".
Academy Honorary Award, "filmmaker, educator, motivator, iconoclast, artist […] [and] a champion of independent film and an inspiration to young filmmakers"
Academy Honorary Award, “A resolutely independent and influential film pioneer who has chronicled the lives of Black Americans with eloquence and insight.”
Academy Honorary Award, "Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting"