Denzel Washington Adds Another As Most Oscar-Nominated Black Actor

Denzel Washington Adds Another As Most Oscar-Nominated Black Actor Of All Time

The Oscar nominations are in and we already have a winner!

This week the nominations for the 84th annual Academy Awards were announced and the winner of the Most Nominated Black Actor in the history of the Oscars is STILL Denzel Washington!

With another nomination for an Academy Award this year, Washington adds to his already established record of being the most nominated Black actor of all time. After portraying Macbeth in the motion picture film, The Tragedy of Macbeth, it was announced on Tuesday that the highly sought-after thespian had earned his 10th nomination. This marks Washington’s seventh nomination in the ‘Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role’ category.

Washington gained his first Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Cry Freedom in 1987 and then won his first Oscar after being nominated for his supporting role in Glory in 1989. The multi-faceted entertainer received his first nomination for a starring role when he played the iconic civil rights leader in the Spike Lee–directed Malcolm X in 1992.

After getting an additional nomination for his leading role as the wrongly accused and jailed Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter in The Hurricane in 1999, he finally got his first Academy Award as a leading actor when he won for his role in Training Day in 2001. His leading roles in Flight (2012), Fences (2016) and Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) led to more Oscar nominations.

The actor also received a Best Picture nomination for Fences.

This year, Washington will be competing with Javier Bardem (Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos), Benedict Cumberbatch (Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog), Andrew Garfield (Jon in tick, tick…BOOM!) and Will Smith (Richard Williams in King Richard).

Smith’s Academy Award nomination is the fourth one he has earned and the third one in this category. The former rapper turned actor is also nominated for Best Picture this year. His previous nominations were for his leading roles in Ali (2001) and The Pursuit of Happyness (2006).