List of African Academy Award winners and nominees

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This is a list of African Academy Award winners and nominees, which includes both ethnic African people born and/or raised in Africa and non-ethnic Africans born and raised in Africa.

## Best Actor

[edit]

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Year  | Name  | Country  | Role  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1959 | Laurence Harvey |
| Room at the Top | Joe Lampton  | Nominated  | First Lithuanian nominated for an Oscar.
Born in Lithuania, but educated and raised in South Africa, where he joined the army.

## Best Actress

[edit]

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Year  | Name  | Country  | Role  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1971 | Janet Suzman |
| Nicholas and Alexandra | Alexandra Feodorovna | Nominated  |
2003 | Charlize Theron |
| Monster | Aileen Wuornos | Won  | First African to win in an acting category.
2005 | North Country | Josey Aimes  | Nominated  |
2016 | Ruth Negga |
| Loving | Mildred Loving | Nominated  |
2019 | Charlize Theron  |
| Bombshell | Megyn Kelly | Nominated  |

## Best Supporting Actor

[edit]

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Year  | Name  | Country  | Role  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1936 | Basil Rathbone |
| Romeo and Juliet | Tybalt | Nominated  | Rathbone was a South African-born British actor.
1938 | If I Were King | King Louis XI | Nominated  |
1948 | Cecil Kellaway | The Luck of the Irish | Horace  | Nominated  |
1962 | Omar Sharif |  | Lawrence of Arabia | Sherif Ali  | Nominated  | First African to be nominated for an Academy Award in any category.
1967 | Cecil Kellaway |
| Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | Monsignor Mike Ryan  | Nominated  |
2003 | Djimon Hounsou |
| In America | Mateo  | Nominated  | First Black African to be nominated for an acting award.
2006 | Blood Diamond | Solomon Vandy  | Nominated  |
2013 | Barkhad Abdi |
| Captain Phillips | Abduwali Muse | Nominated  |
2018 | Richard E. Grant |
| Can You Ever Forgive Me? | Jack Hock  | Nominated  | Grant is from a white British family; he was born and raised in Swaziland.

## Best Supporting Actress

[edit]

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Year  | Name  | Country  | Role  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
2013 | Lupita Nyong'o |
| 12 Years a Slave | Patsey | Won  | First black African woman to be nominated and win in any category.

## Best Cinematography

[edit]

Best Cinematography

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1966 | Ted Moore |
| A Man for All Seasons | Won  | Moore is a South African-born British.
Won for Best Color Cinematography.
1991 | Stephen Goldblatt |
| The Prince of Tides | Nominated  | Goldblatt is a South African-born British.
1995 | Batman Forever | Nominated
2002 | Dion Beebe |
| Chicago | Nominated  | Beebe is a South African-born Australian.
2005 | Memoirs of a Geisha | Won

## Best Director

[edit]

Best Director

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1996 | Scott Hicks |
| Shine | Nominated  | Hicks is a Ugandan-born Australian.
1997 | Atom Egoyan |
| The Sweet Hereafter | Nominated  | Egoyan is an Egyptian-born Canadian filmmaker.

## Best Documentary Feature

[edit]

Best Documentary Feature

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1997 | Michele Ohayon (director) |  | Colors Straight Up | Nominated  |
2012 | Malik Bendjelloul |  | Searching for Sugar Man | Won  |
2013 | Jehane Noujaim (director)
Karim Amer (producer) |
| The Square | Nominated  |
2020 | Pippa Ehrlich (director)
James Reed (director)
Craig Foster (producer) |  | My Octopus Teacher | Won  |
2023 | Moses Bwayo
Christopher Sharp[1] |  | Bobi Wine: The People's President | Nominated  | Shared with John Battsek
Kaouther Ben Hania |  | Four Daughters | Nominated  | Shared with Nadim Cheikhrouha

## Best Film Editing

[edit]

Best Film Editing

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1970 | Thelma Schoonmaker |
| Woodstock | Nominated  | Schoonmaker is from a white American family; she was born in Algeria.
1980 | Raging Bull | Won
1990 | Goodfellas | Nominated
2002 | Gangs of New York | Nominated
2004 | The Aviator | Won
2006 | The Departed | Won
2011 | Hugo | Nominated
2015 | Margaret Sixel |
| Mad Max: Fury Road | Won  | Sixel is a South African-born Australian.
2019 | Thelma Schoonmaker  |
| The Irishman | Nominated  |
2023 | Killers of the Flower Moon | Nominated  |

## Best International Feature Film

[edit]

The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film is awarded to a country, not to an individual, and the submitting country is the officially designated nominee in this category.

Best International Feature Film

Year  | Country  | Film  | Director  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1969 |  | Z | Costa-Gavras | Won  | First African film to win an Academy Award.
1976 |  | Black and White in Color | Jean-Jacques Annaud | Won  |
1983 |  | Le Bal | Ettore Scola | Nominated  |
1995 | Dust of Life | Rachid Bouchareb | Nominated  |
2004 |  | Yesterday | Darrell Roodt | Nominated  |
2005 | Tsotsi | Gavin Hood | Won  | First African film in a language other than French to win in this category.
2006 |  | Days of Glory | Rachid Bouchareb | Nominated  |
2010 | Outside the Law | Nominated  |
2014 |  | Timbuktu | Abderrahmane Sissako | Nominated  |
2020 |  | The Man Who Sold His Skin | Kaouther Ben Hania | Nominated  |

## Best Live Action Short Film

[edit]

Best Live Action Short Film

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
2019 | Meryam Joobeur |
| Brotherhood | Nominated  | Joobeur is Tunisian-born Canadian.
Shared with Maria Gracia Turgeon.
2023 | Misan Harriman |
| The After | Nominated  | Harriman is Nigerian-born British.
Shared with Nicky Bentham.

## Best Makeup and Hairstyling

[edit]

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1999 | Trefor Proud |  | Topsy-Turvy | Won  | Proud is the first Zimbabwean to win an Academy Award in this category.
Shared with Christine Blundell.
2019 | Tristan Versluis  |
| 1917 | Nominated  | Versluis is a Zimbabwean-born English.
Shared with Naomi Donne and Rebecca Cole.

## Best Music, Original Score

[edit]

Best Original Score

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1985 | Caiphus Semenya |  | The Color Purple | Nominated  |
1987 | Jonas Gwangwa | Cry Freedom | Nominated  |

## Best Music, Original Song

[edit]

Best Original Song

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Song  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1987 | Jonas Gwangwa |  | Cry Freedom | "Cry Freedom"  | Nominated  | Shared with George Fenton.
2012 | Herbert Kretzmer |
| Les Misérables | "Suddenly"  | Nominated  | Kretzmer is from a Jewish family.
Shared with Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.
2022 | Tems |  | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | "Lift Me Up"  | Nominated  | Shared with Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, and Ryan Coogler.

## Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

[edit]

Best Adapted Screenplay

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Adapted From  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1983 | Ronald Harwood |
| The Dresser | The Dresser by Ronald Harwood  | Nominated  |
1987 | Mark Peploe |
| The Last Emperor | From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi by Henry Pu Yi  | Won  | Peploe is a Kenyan-born English writer.
Shared with Bernardo Bertolucci.
1997 | Atom Egoyan |
| The Sweet Hereafter | The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks  | Nominated  |
2002 | Ronald Harwood  |
| The Pianist | The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman | Won  |
2007 | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby  | Nominated  |
2009 | Neill Blomkamp |  | District 9 | Alive in Joburg
by Neill Blomkamp  | Nominated  | Shared with Terri Tatchell.

## Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

[edit]

Best Original Screenplay

Year  | Name  | Country  | Film  | Status  | Milestone / Notes
1996 | Scott Hicks |
| Shine | Nominated  | Hicks is a Ugandan-born Australian.
Shared with Jan Sardi.

## See also

[edit]

* List of Asian Academy Award winners and nominees
* List of black Academy Award winners and nominees
* List of Puerto Rican Academy Award winners and nominees

* v
* t
* e

Academy Awards

* Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)

* Records
* most wins per ceremony
* Academy Aperture 2025
* Oscar season
* Oscar speech
* Oscar bait
* Governors Awards
* Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting
* Pre-show

Awards of Merit|

* Picture
* Director
* Actor
* Actress
* Supporting Actor
* Supporting Actress
* Adapted Screenplay
* Original Screenplay
* Animated Feature
* Documentary Feature Film
* International Feature Film
* Animated Short Film
* Documentary Short Film
* Live Action Short Film
* Cinematography
* Costume Design
* Film Editing
* Makeup and Hairstyling
* Original Score
* Original Song
* Production Design
* Sound
* Visual Effects

| Proposed awards|

* Popular Film

|

Special awards|

| Governors Awards|

* Academy Honorary Award
* Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
* Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
* Special Achievement Academy Award

|

Academy Scientific
and Technical Awards|

* Academy Award of Merit (non-competitive)
* Scientific and Engineering Award
* Technical Achievement Award
* John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation
* Gordon E. Sawyer Award

Student Awards|

* Student Academy Award

Former awards|

| Merit Awards|

* Assistant Director
* Dance Direction
* Sound Editing
* Story

|

Special Awards|

* Academy Juvenile Award

Ceremonies
(years of film release)|

* 1927/28
* 1928/29
* 1929/30
* 1930/31
* 1931/32
* 1932/33
* 1934
* 1935
* 1936
* 1937
* 1938
* 1939
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944
* 1945
* 1946
* 1947
* 1948
* 1949
* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957
* 1958
* 1959
* 1960
* 1961
* 1962
* 1963
* 1964
* 1965
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968
* 1969
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1974
* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979
* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020/21
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Academy Awards lists

* Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)

* Records
* Most awards per ceremony

Combined major
Academy Awards|

* Superlatives
* Big Five
* All four acting categories

Acting|

* All nominees
* Best Actor
* Best Actress
* Best Supporting Actor
* Best Supporting Actress
* Non-English acting noms
* Actor multi-nom years
* Multi-win actors
* Multi-nom actors
* "Oscar love curse"

Directing|

* Best Director

Film|

* Winning films
* Multi-noms in same category
* Two acting awards for same film
* Foreign-language wins
* Foreign-language noms in other categories
* International Feature nominees
* International Feature: count by country
* Best Animated Feature submissions
* Best Documentary Feature submissions
* Best Animated Short submissions
* Best Documentary Short submissions
* Animated feature noms in other categories

Countries of
the nominees|

* Africa
* Argentina
* Australia
* Austria
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Bulgaria
* Canada
* Chile
* Colombia
* Cuba
* Czech Republic
* Europe
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* India
* Iran
* Ireland
* Israel
* Italy
* Japan
* (South) Korea
* Latin America
* Mexico
* Netherlands
* New Zealand
* Nordic
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Poland
* Puerto Rico
* Romania
* Russia
* Spain
* Switzerland
* United Kingdom

Nominees demographics|

* Asian
* Black
* Hispanic
* Indigenous
* Jewish
* Muslim

Other|

* Ceremonies
* Families
* False names
* Multi-win years
* Awards for Walt Disney
* Posthumous wins and noms
* Best Picture presenters
* Trophies on public display
* Oldest and youngest
* LGBTQ
* Women in non-gendered categories

Combined major
awards|

* EGOT
* Triple Crown of Acting

* Category

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Sciences, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and. "Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo: 5 Must-See Documentaries". A.frame. Retrieved 2024-03-17.

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