Every Black Actor Nominated for an Oscar

By Samuel Spencer On 3/15/21 at 8:06 AM EDT

At the Oscars, there have been around 1,750 separate nominations for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor, but just over 75 (4.5 percent) of these have been Black actors.

Of the winners from the four acting categories, 5.3 percent have been Black, with only 19 out of 354 awards collected by Black actors.

The first acting Oscar to be won by a Black person went to Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind in 1939. However, the win was hardly a major victory for representation, as the actress was banned from sitting with her co-stars on the night due to segregation. McDaniel's win would also be the last nomination of a Black actor for a decade.

Although Black actors have been more celebrated at the Academy Awards in recent years, the Oscars have still been criticized for their lack of diversity. In 2015, #OscarsSoWhite began trending on Twitter after the Academy failed to nominate a single Black actor. The 92nd Oscars (which took place in February 2020), meanwhile, was the last to award all four acting categories to white actors, with Cynthia Erivo the only Black actor nominated in any of the four categories.

The 2021 Oscar nominations, however, see Black actors better represented than in the past, with a record three Supporting Actor nominations, Best Actress nominations for Andra Day and Viola Davis and posthumous Best Actor nod for Chadwick Boseman.

Every Black actor who has won An Oscar

hattie mcdaniel hollywood — Hattie McDaniel alongside Vivien Leigh in 'Gone With the Wind.' The role made Hattie McDaniel the first Black Oscar nominee and winner. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

1939 - Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind (Best Supporting Actress)
1963 - Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field (Best Actor)
1982 - Louis Gossett Jr. for An Officer and a Gentleman (Best Supporting Actor)
1989 - Denzel Washington for Glory (Best Supporting Actor)
1990 - Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost (Best Supporting Actress)
1996 - Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire (Best Supporting Actor)
2001 - Halle Berry for Monster's Ball (Best Actress)
2001 - Denzel Washington for Training Day (Best Actor)
2004 - Jamie Foxx for Ray (Best Actor)
2004 - Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby (Best Supporting Actor)
2006 - Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (Best Supporting Actress)
2006 - Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (Best Actor)
2009 - Mo'Nique for Precious (Best Supporting Actress)
2011 - Octavia Spencer for The Help (Best Supporting Actress)
2013 - Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave (Best Supporting Actress)
2016 - Mahershala Ali for Moonlight (Best Supporting Actor)
2016 - Viola Davis for Fences (Best Supporting Actress)
2018 - Mahershala Ali for Green Book (Best Supporting Actor)
2018 - Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk (Best Supporting Actress)