A Record Number of First Time Nominees at the Oscars!

By: Christopher James

Four cast members of Everything Everywhere All At Once received their first career Oscar nominations this year.

Every Oscar year brings both big snubs and wonderful new stats. In particular, this year stands out due to the overwhelming crop of first time Oscar nominees in acting. Out of the twenty acting nominees, sixteen of them are celebrating their first time nominees. This doesn’t point to a green crop of actors since many of them are veterans who have been long overlooked, such as Bill Nighy and Jamie Lee Curtis. In fact, the average age of the Best Actress lineup is 46, which would put it in the top ten oldest Best Actress lineups, based on The Film Experience’s work years ago. Having a healthy crop of new nominees is a sign of health for both the Academy and the film world - they aren’t defaulting to people they’ve rewarded before, but are searching elsewhere for new faces or people they’ve overlooked in the past.  So how rare is it to have this amount of first time nominees?

Paul Mescal (Aftersun) was among sixteen actors who earned their first nominations.In short, incredibly rare. 

The only other year with sixteen first time acting nominees is 1936. However, that comes with a big asterisk. That was the first year where the Supporting Acting categories were introduced, so automatically the Oscars were nearly guaranteed to have ten new nominees. Take a look at the first-time nominees from this year and from 1936:

• 2022

  • Best Actor (5) - Austin Butler, Brendan Fraser, Colin Farrell, Paul Mescal, Bill Nighy

  • Best Actress (3) - Ana De Armas, Andrea Riseborough, Michelle Yeoh

  • Best Supporting Actor (4) - Brendan Gleeson, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan, Ke Huy Quan

  • Best Supporting Actress (4) - Hong Chau, Kerry Condon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu

• 1936

  • Best Actor (3) - Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, Spencer Tracy

  • Best Actress (3) - Gladys George, Carole Lombard, Luise Rainer

  • Best Supporting Actor (5) - Mischa Auer, Walter Brennan, Stuart Erwin, Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff

  • Best Supporting Actress (5) - Beulah Bondi, Alice Brady, Bonita Granville, Maria Ouspenskaya, Gale Songergaard

Of the sixteen first-time nominees, eleven went on to earn at least one additional nomination in their careers. Five of them even racked up a win following this first nomination. If that’s any indication, many of this year’s newcomers may soon become perennials at the Oscar ceremony. 

First Time Nominees Trend Over Time

Year by year, the amount of new acting nominees fluctuate. After all, the Oscar perennials of one era grow old and give way to a new age of stars. However, the overall polynomial trendline has been roughly trending downwards in the millennium. That is until the last few years, particularly this year.

This trend is even more stark when one looks at a decade average. In just three years, the 2020s have shown the highest average number of first time nominees in a given year at the Oscars. This is a giant rebound from the 2010s, where it was significantly lower.

It’s more likely to see more first time nominees in the Supporting Acting categories than in the Lead Acting categories. On average, the Oscars induct ten new performers into their prestigious club, two in each of the lead categories and three in the supporting categories. What’s interesting is this trend has stayed pretty consistent from the 1940s all the way through the 1990s, with very little fluctuation. There was a slight dip in new supporting nominees in the 2000s, which brought the average number of new nominees from 10.6 in the previous decade to 9.6. 

This gave way to a more drastic drop in the 2010s, where there was an average of 7.5 first time nominees each year. That deficit was seen a bit in Lead Actress (2.2 in the 2000s to 1.6 in the 2010s), most likely due to favorites like Meryl Streep earning default nominations. However, the trend was most noticeable in the supporting categories. The practice of famous actors earning repeat supporting nominations through category fraud (Rooney Mara in Carol, Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained) is definitely affecting the numbers. While category fraud is far from gone this decade (see Judas and the Black Messiah getting both titular characters in supporting), this increase in first time nominees is heartening.

Another Record: Best Actor Made Up Of Only First-Timers

Having an entire Best Actor race made up of first-time nominees is virtually unheard of in modern Oscar history. One has to go back all the way to 1934 for this phenomenon to occur. At that point, only three men were nominated for Best Actor. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night defeated Oz himself, Frank Morgan, in The Affairs of Cellini, and William Powell for The Thin Man.

Just because that doesn’t happen often in Best Actor, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen in other categories, particularly the supporting categories. Best Actress was made up of all newcomers in 1970, when Glenda Jackson (Women in Love) won against Jane Alexander (The Great White Hope), Ali MacGraw (Love Story), Sarah Miles (Ryan’s Daughter) and Carrie Snodgrass (Diary of a Mad Housewife). From 1940 on, ten Supporting Actor races and fourteen Supporting Actress races featured nominees all contending for their first nomination. The most recent example of an acting lineup of all first-timers was more than 20 years ago with 1999's Supporting Actress race, when Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted) beat Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich), Samantha Morton (Sweet and Lowdown) and Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry) to the gold. 

Return Nominees: Half Perennials, Half Overlooked Stars

The only four acting nominees this year to have earned Oscar nominations in the past are Cate Blanchett (TÁR), Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans), Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans) and Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). Blanchett and Williams are typical "Oscar favorites" in that they're nominated frequently. TÁR has earned Cate her eighth nomination (she's won twice) while Michelle Williams is on her fifth nomination. She has yet to win bus she's had an incredibly strong track record at the Oscars.  Whenever she’s in the precursor conversation Williams has made it all the way to the Oscar lineup (save for the stray All the Money in the World nomination at the Golden Globes).

Judd Hirsch and Angela Bassett are different stories. Both have been waiting a long time for only their second career nominations. Judd Hirsch now holds the record for longest gap between Oscar nominations. It has been 42 years since his previous nomination for Ordinary People. Angela Bassett has  tied Joe Pesci for the 9th longest wait between nominations. Her first nomination came for What’s Love Got to Do With It in 1993. See how Hirsch compares to similar gaps in nominations, based on a previous analysis done by Nathaniel in 2020.

1. NEW - Judd Hirsch - 42 years between Ordinary People (1980) and The Fabelmans (2022)

2. Henry Fonda - 41 years between The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and On Golden Pond (1981)

3. [TIE]  Helen Hayes - 39 years between The Sins of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970) & Sylvester Stallone  - 39 years between Rocky (1976) and Creed (2015)

5. [TIE] Jack Palance - 38 years between Shane (1953) and City Slickers (1991) & Alan Arkin - 38 years between The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

7. Bruce Dern - 35 years between Coming Home (1978) and Nebraska (2013)

8. Lynn Redgrave - 32 years between Georgy Girl (1966) and Gods and Monsters (1998)

9. [TIE] Joe Pesci - 29 years between Goodfellas (1990) and The Irishman (2019) & NEW - Angela Bassett - 29 years between What’s Love Got To Do With It (1993) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

The gap in nominations makes sense for Hirsch. He didn’t get awards traction for any performance between Ordinary People and The Fabelmans, though I would champion his work in Sidney Lumet’s Running on Empty. Similarly, Angela Bassett hasn’t really had a role that picked up televised precursor steam since What’s Love Got to Do With It. However, the past 29 years have been peppered with many iconic performances that should’ve factored into the conversation more. She’s incredible in her breakout role in Boyz n the Hood in 1991. Her performances in Waiting to Exhale (1995) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) are just as memorable, if not more memorable, than the leading actress performances nominated in their years. While far from the Academy’s speed, her performance in Strange Days (1995) wisely got the attention of the Saturn Awards. In short, this second nomination for Bassett is not only richly deserved, but has been a long time coming.

While the omissions this year in the acting categories stung quite a bit. There’s still a lot of originality and exciting new voices being honored this year by the actors branch. Who is your favorite first-time nominee this year?

Comments

[ajnrules]

As a Chinese American I’m loving all of the people of Chinese descent getting their first nominations. I’ve long been a fan of Michelle Yeoh since I saw her in Supercop and Tai Chi Master before she “broke out” for Tomorrow Never Dies. Yet the Ke Huy Quan nomination may make me even happier since not only did I grow up with Temple of Doom and The Goonies, but the added layer of his journey to Taiwan to continue his acting career and later transition to off-camera work before his fantastic return just makes it a great story. I really hope he gets the Oscar.

[Paranoid Android]

Honest question about first-time nominees a la Colin Farrell and Brendan Fraser ("movie stars" who took decades to be recognized as "actors" by the Academy): If "Eternal Sunshine" had come out this year instead of 2004, would it have had a bigger splash at the Oscars? Best Pic in a 10-wide field, Best Director, Best Actor Jim Carrey?

Having recently seen "Everything Everywere," the two movies share a lot of similarities -- multiple timelines, DIY special effects, super-complicated plots, a forlorn/regretful vibe. I mean, EEAAO is soooo out of the Academy's historical wheelhouse. I would be happy if it wins, but it makes "Eternal Sunshine" (which seemed so esoteric at the time, in a good way) look like "Top Gun" in terms of accessibility.

[Peggy Sue]

Jamie Lee Curtis, obviously.

[Peter]

Jamie Lee Curtis was so overdue I had just assumed it would never happen.

Michelle Yeoh has also had a terrific and deserving career so it's wonderful to see her recognized. Since so much of her career has been overseas it's less surprising she had been overlooked than with Curtis.

Bill Nighy also fits in the great tradition I like to call "I've always liked this veteran character actor, nice to see him score one" alongside Jonathan Pryce, Ciaran Hinds, Sam Elliott, and Richard E. Grant. Brendan Gleeson too.

[John From]

Brendan Gleeson (I hope he wins) and Brian Tyree Henry, who is really deserving.

About the other first time nominees... Although I like some them, I don't think that they are doing anything special in their movies (Paul Mescal sleepwalking halfnaked... Ke Huy Quan being goofy...)

[Adrian S-G]

If Beale Street Could Talk and Joker were both movies that I struggled a bit with. But in both cases, when Brian Tyree Henry came on screen, I thought, well, if the movie were more like THIS, I would love it.

It was especially incredible to me in Joker, since it was an absolutely utilitarian role, but he imbued it with such incredible presence, humanity, and stakes.

I admit I haven't caught Causeway yet, but I'm so thrilled there's another great BTH performance waiting for me.

[NATHANIEL R]

Adrian S-G - he's amazing in Causeway, my favourite of his film performances to date.

Paranoid -- i think for sure. But the Academy (and, honestly, a lot of the public too) weren't ready for Eternal Sunshine back then. The Academy has thankfully gotten a lot more adventurous since the early Aughts (in some ways they were at their most conservative then)

ajn -- i think for sure he will. He's been sweeping.

[Richter Scale]

I'm happiest for Colin Farrell, who I consider one of those cases of "how is this only your first nomination?". I think he should have been nominated for In Bruges, and should have been strongly in consideration for either of his 2017 performances (The Beguiled and The Killing of a Sacred Deer), but he's here now, and I couldn't be happier. Same for Brendan Gleeson (whom I also would have nominated for In Bruges).

I must confess, I did not see Austin Butler coming. I mean, I knew he was getting nominated this year (and I do adore his performance as Elvis), but given that I first saw him in the final season of Zoey 101, I could not foresee that he would eventually be the kind of actor who would be nominated for Oscars.

As for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (still one my all-time favorites), given that the film did win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, it probably would have made a bigger splash if it were released nowadays, though I do wonder how much of that film would be the same if it were made nowadays.

[Philip H.]

Now that we're talking Eternal Sunshine on this first-time nominees post, I really do wonder if Jim Carrey will ever get his overdue nomination... He's been worthy several times.

[Jésus Alonso]

I am going to say it, here, now... Quan stole the whole show in Temple of Doom, and looking back, he would have been a totally deserving nominee back then for his feature debut. But impossible because being a child, in a sequel of a popcorn flick... wouldn't ever happen. Children get the nom for dramatic roles, mostly, or that have at least strong dramatic elements.

[NATHANIEL R]

richter - agreed on colin farrell. he and jamie lee curtis have every reason to be saying "it's about damn time!" privately

Philippe -- he isn't really making movies anymore though

Jesus -- the 1984 supporting actor Oscar lineup is pretty strong as is though

adolph caesar - a soldiers story (LAFCA)
john malkovich - places in the heart (NBR/NSFC)
haing s ngor - the killing fields
Pat Morita - The Karate Kid
ralph richardson - Greystoke (NYFCC)

and that was already leaving out these performances

richard crenna - the Flamingo Kid (Globe nominee)
jeffrey jones - Amadeus (Globe nominee)
Ian Holm - Greystoke (BAFTA nominees)
john malkovich - The Killing Fields (NSFC)
robert preston - the last starfighter (saturn nominee)
john litghow - buckaroo banzai (saturn nominee)
john candy - splasy (saturn nominee)
nick apollo forte - broadway danny rose
and presumably some others that people liked at the time!