Four Black actors/films make the 2022 Oscars Black winners list
The Academy celebrated the year’s biggest night in Hollywood which honored two Black actors and two Black films in the 2022 Oscars Black winners list. The 94th Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 27.
Will Smith tops the 2022 Oscars Black winners list while winning the Best Actor in a Leading Role for his character Richard Williams in the movie King Richard. Smith is the second black actor to be nominated for both acting and producing in the same year. The legendary Denzel Washington was also nominated in this category for his performance as Lord Macbeth in The Tragedy of Macbeth and has the most nominations for a Black actor with nine. Washington is the first Black actor to receive a nomination for his role in a Shakespeare adaptation.
So You Think You Can Dance star Ariana DeBose made the 2022 Oscars Black winners list for starring as Anita in Speilberg’s West Side Story and became the first Black queer actress to be nominated in any acting category, and won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. DeBose became the first Afro-Latina actress to ever be nominated and win any Academy Award. Black American actress and producer Aunjanue Ellis was also nominated in this same category for her role as Oracene “Brandy” Price in King Richard.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) won Best Documentary Feature. This critically acclaimed documentary had been on a roll, and it’s no surprise that it made the 2022 Oscars Black winners list. Susmit Ghosh’s Writing with Fire was also nominated in this same category, making him the first Indian-Black director to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
The Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject was awarded to The Queen of Basketball, a film about the first and only Black woman to be officially drafted to the NBA, Lusia “Lucy” Harris. Harris was inducted to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, becoming the first Black woman to honor this accolade.
Black actors and directors haven’t received enough recognition in the Academy’s 94-year history. In recent years, enormous nominations and even bigger triumphs have changed the game. What a memorable night for Black hollywood. Check out the full 2022 Oscars Black winners list below.
2022 Oscars Black Winners List:
Best Actor
- Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
- Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
- Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick… Boom!
- Will Smith, King Richard
- Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Supporting Actress
- Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
- Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
- Judi Dench, Belfast
- Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
- Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Best Documentary
- Ascension
- Attica
- Flee
- Summer of Soul
- Writing with Fire
Best Documentary Short Subject
- Audible
- Lead Me Home
- The Queen of Basketball
- Three Songs for Benazir
- When We Were Bullies