Since the Academy Awards were 1st given out in 1929, only 23 Oscars have been awarded to performances given by Black actresses and actors.
Hattie McDaniel made history for Black performers by winning for “Gone With the Wind” (supporting in 1939), while Sidney Poitier was the 1st such male actor to prevail for “Lilies of the Field” (lead in 1963).
Denzel Washington became the first two-time African-American acting champion when he asserted victory for “Glory” (supporting in 1989) and “Training Day” (lead in 2001), with Mahershala Ali joining him years later for “Moonlight” (supporting in 2016) and “Green Book” (supporting in 2018).
Halle Berry was the 1st, and so long only, Black Best Actress thanks to “Monster’s Ball” (2001). The acting category with the most Black winners is Best Supporting Actress, with 10 additionally recent champ Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers” (2023). Tour our photos below to see every Black actress and actor who won Academy Awards. Gallery originally published 2020.
Hattie McDaniel
“Gone with the Wind” (1939)
McDaniel’s win for portraying to strong-willed house slave in this Oscar-winning epic was the 1st ever for an African-American performer.
1939 Best Supporting Actress Nominees:
Olivia de Havilland, “Gone with the Wind”
Geraldine Fitzgerals, “Wuthering Heights”
Hattie McDaniel, “Gone with the Wind”
Edna May Oliver, “Drums Along the Mohawk”
Maria Ouspenskaya, “Love Affair”
Sidney Poitier
“Lilies of the Field” (1963)
Poitier portray Homer Smith, a gentle handyman who assists a group of German nuns with building a chapel. Poitier was the 1st black actor to win an Oscar in this category, and only the second to win in any competitive Oscar race.
1963 Best Actor Nominees:
Albert Finney, “Tom Jones”
Richard Harris, “This Sporting Life”
Rex Harrison, “Cleopatra”
Paul Newman, “Hud”
Sidney Poitier, “Lilies of the Field”
Louis Gossett Jr.
“An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982)
Gossett was only the third black performer in history to win an Oscar, and the first to win in this category, earning his trophy for his role as a brutal drill sergeant.
1982 Best Supporting Actor Nominees:
Charles Durning, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”
Louis Gossett Jr., “An Officer and a Gentleman”
John Lithgow, “The World According to Garp”
James Mason, “The Verdict”
Robert Preston, “Victor Victoria”