Oscars Quiz 2023: Who’s the first Asian nominated in an acting role?

The Academy awarded 11 2023 Oscar nominations, including best picture, to Chen-Wen Lo’s science-fiction movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The film tells the story of a Chinese immigrant struggling to finish her taxes and her multiverse adventures. It also earned four acting nominations.

Disney received the most nominations overall for the 2023 Academy Awards, with 22, for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and “Turning Red.” “The Banshees of Inisherin” got four acting nods.

Jimmy Kimmel will host the 2023 Oscars on March 12 on ABC. The host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is a third-time Oscars emcee.

Michelle Yeoh, a former stuntwoman, landed her first role in a Hollywood film after 59 years. On the other hand, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took 95 years to recognize an Asian actress in its leading actress category. However, some recordkeepers consider Merle Oberon and Vivien Leigh, born in British-colonized India but white-passed, to be the first Asian best actress nominees.

Michelle Yeoh was born in Malaysia and became a movie star in Asia before crossing over to the US with “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018). Due to the pandemic, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was a surprise box-office success last March. She said it resonated partly because it came “at a time when we all needed to be healed.” on March 24, 2023, morning, Yeoh received her expected Academy Award nomination for her role on a Zoom call with her “Everything Everywhere All at Once” family and “burst with joy.”

Ana de Armas has been nominated for an Oscar for her role as Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde,” about Marilyn Monroe’s inner life and struggles. De Armas is the first Cuban actress in history to be nominated for a leading role Oscar.

Blonde movie facts

Adapted from the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, “Blonde” stars de Armas (No Time to Die, The Gray Man) as Marilyn Monroe. Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, and Julianne Nicholson star in the film directed by Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”), which premiered on Netflix on Sept. 28, 2022. Watch the trailer.

Judd Hirsch was nominated for the best-supporting actor Oscar in 2023 for playing Uncle Boris in “The Fabelmans.” Hirsch broke Henry Fonda’s record for the longest gap between nominations. It took Fonda 41 years between his 1941 nomination for The Grapes of Wrath and 1982 for On Golden Pond. Hirsch waited 42 years since he won in 1980 for Ordinary People.

Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog” led nominations to the 94th Academy Awards with 12, including best picture, best director, and recognition for its top actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film’s director, Jane Campion, became the first woman to be nominated twice for best director. She earned her first nomination for ’93’s “The Piano” but didn’t win at the time. “Dune” followed “The Power of the Dog” with ten Oscar nominations – most of which were in the technical categories.

Which film won the most Oscars in 2022?

The Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, 2022, saw Dune winning a leading six awards, while The Power of the Dog took a single award – for Best Directing. The Oscar for Best Picture went to CODA, which won three Oscars (out of four nominations).

“CODA” from Apple TV+ won the Oscar for best picture in 2022, becoming the first film from a streaming service to win Hollywood’s top honor. On the other hand, Netflix won 16 awards in eleven categories over the years but no Best Picture Oscar.

Troy Kotsur joined “CODA” costar Marlee Matlin on March 27, 2022, as the only deaf Oscar winners. He won the best supporting actor award at the Academy Awards for portraying the father of a deaf family with a hearing child. Matlin was the first deaf person to win the prize when she became the youngest best actress winner at age 21 for the 1986 drama “Children of a Lesser God.”

Rita Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1962 for her role as Anita in “West Side Story,” making her the first Latina ever to win an Oscar. 60 years later, in 2022, Ariana DeBose became the second Latina and first Afro-Latina actor to win the award – for the same role in the Steven Spielberg version of the film.

Ariana DeBose is the first openly LGBTQ actor to win an Oscar.

What about the rest?

While Tilda Swinton openly identified in 2021 as queer, that was not the case when she won the Oscar for Michael Clayton in 2007. Kevin Spacy came out publicly in 2017 amid sexual assault accusations against him, 18 years after winning the Best Actor award for American Beauty. The late John Gielgud publicly acknowledged his relationship with his long-time lover, Martin Hensler, in 1988 – seven years after winning his Oscar for Arthur.

On March 27, 2022, Jane Campion became the first woman to win both directing and writing Academy Awards. She won the Oscar for best original screenplay for 1993’s “The Piano” and best director for the Netflix 2021 Western “The Power of the Dog.”

In an Oscar historic first, two real-life couples – Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons – received nominations covering all four acting categories. On Feb. 9, 2022, Bardem was nominated as the leading actor for his role as Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardos.” Cruz earned her nomination for the leading actress role in “Parallel Mothers.” In the supporting categories, both Plemons and Dunst received nominations for their roles in “The Power of the Dog.”

Steven Spielberg, whose “West Side Story” landed seven nominations for the 2022 Academy Awards, is the first filmmaker nominated for best director in six different decades. He also holds the record for most Best Picture nominations – with 11 Oscar-nominated films over the years.

In “King Richard,” Will Smith plays Richard Williams, father and tennis coach to Venus and Serena Williams. The movie is an authorized dramatization of the two tennis stars’ upbringing. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, Warner Bros. released “King Richard” in theaters and on HBO Max on Nov. 19, 2021. On Feb. 9, 2022, Will Smith won his third Oscar nomination and first win for his role in the film.

Alopecia, AKA spot baldness, is an autoimmune disease in which hair is lost from some or all body areas, often resulting in bald spots about the size of a coin. People with the condition are generally otherwise healthy, with no obvious trigger for the disease.

Does Jada Pinkett Smith suffer from alopecia?

Screenshot: 94th Academy Awards / ABC

Jada Pinkett Smith revealed in 2018 that she was diagnosed with alopecia. She has often discussed hair loss challenges on Instagram and other social media platforms. Pinkett came to the 2022 Oscars alongside her husband, Will Smith, the Best Leading Actor award winner for “King Richard.” When Chris Rock took verbal aim at Pinkett Smith’s shaved head from the stage, referencing the 1997 film G.I. Jane in which Demi Moore shaved her head, Will Smith took a swing at him. Smith later apologized.

Billie Eilish, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Song on March 27, 2022, with her brother Finneas, is the youngest recording artist to work on a James Bond theme song. She was 18 when recording “No Time to Die.” In 2013 Adele’s “Skyfall” became the first Bond theme song to win an Oscar. Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” was the first Bond theme song nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973. Produced and arranged by George Martin, It was also the first rock song to open a Bond film.

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion made a surprise addition to the Encanto cast’s performance of the breakout hit from the movie, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” in the 2022 Oscars, with an original rap verse.

Sidney Poitier was the first African American and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field. He died on Jan. 6, 2022, in Los Angeles. He was 94.

How long did it take for the second African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor?

It took seven years for James Earl Jones to become the second Black person to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in 1970. It took some extra three decades for Denzel Washington to win the category in 2001 (for “Training Day”), becoming the second African-American actor to receive the award for Best Actor. The same year saw the first time two African-American performers won Oscars in the same year, the other being Halle Berry, for “Monster’s Ball.” Berry is the first African-American actress to win Best Actress.

Chloé Zhao became the first woman of color to win the best director at the 2021 Academy Awards. She is also the youngest woman to win the award and the second woman to receive it in Oscars history.

Who was the youngest person to win the best director at the Oscars?

The youngest director to receive the Oscar for best director was Damien Chazelle in 2017 for La La Land.

Who was the first Asian to win the best director?

The first Asian to win the best director at the Oscars was Ang Lee for 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, making him the first person of color to win the award.

Who was the first woman to win the Oscar for best director?

Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to have won the Academy Award for best director for 2009’s The Hurt Locker.

Adrien Brody was 29-years-343-days-old when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his appearance in 2002’s The Pianist, making him the youngest recipient ever to win the award.

Is Adrien Brody in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch?

Adrien Brody stars alongside Bill Murrey in Wes Anderson’s 2021 movie, The French Dispatch. The film is an ode to print journalism, and a tribute to the New Yorker magazine, with the editor portrayed by Bill Murray. Tilda Swinton portrays an art critic, Frances McDormand plays a writer who does a deep-dive into a student revolutionary scene, and Brody plays an art dealer who tries to make an international art star out of a twice-convicted murderer (Benicio Del Toro). Watch the trailer.

Anthony Hopkins won the best actor Oscar at the 93rd Academy Awards Sunday, April 25, 2021. Hopkins, 83, became the oldest ever acting Oscar winner. The honor was previously held by the late Christopher Plummer, 82 when he won for Beginners in 2011.

What role did Hopkins win the Oscar for in 2021?

Anthony Hopkins won for his performance as an elderly man with dementia in “The Father,” directed by French novelist and playwright Florian Zeller.

What was Hopkins’s previous Oscar win?

Anthony Hopkins won the best actor Oscar in 1994 for his role as Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Glenn Close was nominated for 8 Oscars over the years, including 2021’s “Hillbilly Elegy,” but won none. She shares the record with Peter O’Toole (Lawrence of Arabia).

The last time the winners of best actress and best actor were from the same film was 1998 when Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson scored the double for As Good As It Gets.

Burt Bacharach and Hal David won the 1969 Academy award for writing Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” B.J. Thomas famously performed the Oscar-winning song. The Grammy-winning singer died from lung cancer complications onMay 29, 2021, at his home in Arlington, Texas. He was 78.

William Hurt won the best-actor Oscar for the 1985 film “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” “Children of a Lesser God” and “Broadcast News” earned him best-actor Oscar nominations in 1983 and 1984, meaning he was nominated for the award in three consecutive years. Hurt died at his home in Portland, Oregon, on March 13, 2022. He was 71.

1990’s Home Alone earned two Oscar nominations for John Williams’ score and original song. Chris Columbus directed the classic comedy, written by John Hugues and starring Macaulay Culkin.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent band member until the English musician Atticus Ross officially joined the band in 2016.

Which Oscars have they won?

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won their second Oscar for “Soul” in 2021, a little over a decade after their first win for “The Social Network.” They took the prize with Jon Batiste for Best Original Score for their collective work on the Pixar film.