2009’s Black Oscar Nominee…And Other Black Academy Award Trivia

Boston Legal’s Taraji P. Henson has some fantastic reasons to celebrate and we’re so happy for her! She was recently nominated for three Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards and now has an Oscar nomination to boast of as well.

While she missed out on the SAG for Supporting Actress (for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), she (together with the rest of the cast) won the awards for Outstanding Cast for both Boston Legal and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

This is her first Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actress) and this is what the very excited actress had to say “It's an incredible time to be alive," she said. "And it's definitely an incredible time to be Taraji P. Henson.”

While we are discussing the Oscars, I thought I’d list some other black Academy Award trivia that you might find interesting:

• 1939 – Hattie McDaniel (Gone With The Wind) is not only the first woman but the first black person to win an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress)
  
• 1954 – Dorothy Dandridge becomes the first black actress to be nominated for Best Actress (Carmen Jones).
  
• 1958 & 1963 – Sidney Poitier becomes the first black actor to be nominated for Best Actor (The Defiant Ones). He becomes the first black actor to win an Academy Award in 1963 for his role in Lilies of the Field.
  
• 1972 – Sounder is the first film to feature black nominees for Best Actor (Paul Winfield) and Best Actress (Cicely Tyson). This is also the first time two Black actresses were nominated for the award. Diana Ross (Lady Sings The Blues) was the other nominee and it is the first time a black actress was nominated for a debut performance.
  
• 1982 – Louis Gossett Jr. is the first black actor to win Best Supporting Actor (An Officer and a Gentleman).
  
• 1985 – Producer Quincy Jones (The Color Purple) becomes the first and only black person to be nominated for Best Picture.
  The Color Purple is also the first movie for which multiple black actresses were nominated for the same film – Whoopi Goldberg (Best Actress); Oprah Winfrey & Margaret Avery (Best Supporting Actress).
  
• 1991 – Director John Singleton (Boyz n The Hood) becomes the first and only black person to be nominated for Best Director. He is also the youngest person ever nominated in this category.
  
• 1999 – Denzel Washington is the first Black actor to receive five Oscar nominations. He won Best Actor for Training Day, making him the oldest black actor to win an Oscar (47).
  This was also the year two black actors were nominated for Best Actor for the first time. Will Smith is the other nominee (Ali) and is also the first hip-hop artist to be nominated for an Oscar.
  
• 2001 – Halle Berry is the first (and only) black actress to win the Oscar for Best Actress (Monster’s Ball)
  
• 2004 – Jamie Foxx becomes the first black actor to receive two acting nominations in the same year. He won the Best Actor award for Ray and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Collateral).
  

This is a very long list because so many talented folks of the black community have been nominated for and won various different Oscars. Some other categories, we’ve made our mark in:

• Cinematography
• Costume Design
• Sound
• Screenplay
• Music

I sure am proud to be black! Good luck Taraji…we’re with you all the way girl!

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