It is the pinnacle of the movie industry. Winning an Academy Award – better known as an Oscar – is every actor and filmmaker’s dream. It is the ultimate sign of recognition from your peers that you have talent. Not only that – that you are the best at what you do in that year.
Unsurprisingly, many of the winners over the years have been American. Although this is an event open to all, the movie business is based in Hollywood and English-speaking, US-made films make up most of the nominations in just about every category. But there has been African success and involvement at the Oscars throughout the ceremony’s history.
We still have a while before this year’s awards in March but everyone is already getting very excited. But while we enjoy the PR campaigns for this year’s nominees, we thought we would take a look back at some of Africa’s most memorable moments at the Academy Awards.
Omar Sharif
Born in Egypt in 1932, Omar Sharif became the first African actor to be nominated in any Oscar category for his portrayal in the classic, Lawrence of Arabia. Although Sharif had been starring in Egyptian movies in the 1950s, this was his first English-language role.
Sharif had not been the first choice to play Sherif Ali in the story of a British diplomat and army officer who became involved in the Arab Revolt during WW1. But director David Lean had insisted on the film being as authentic as possible and Sharif became an instant star. Although he failed to win an Oscar, he did win a Golden Globe award for the role.
Z
Released in 1969 and based on the 1967 novel of the same name, this movie’s premise was the assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in the early 1960s. It was an Algerian-French production and became the first African film to win an Academy Award.
Z won the award in the Best Foreign Language Film – now known as the Best International Feature. Starring French star Yves Montand, Z was also the first film to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film as well as Best Picture. In fact, very few movies have ever been able to claim that honor.
Black and White in Color
The Best Foreign Language award was regularly handed to French and Italian movies in the 1960s as those countries’ film industries were incredibly popular and prolific. But seven years after the success of Z, another African production took the award – Black and White in Color.
This dark, war comedy was an Ivory Coast-French production and was set in Africa during WW1, following the German invasion of a region that today is known as Cameroon. It took a very sarcastic tone and was notable for the fact that the French came off worse than the German characters.
Trefor Proud
Fast forward almost a quarter of a century and we have our next African Academy Award winner. Trefor Proud was born in Zimbabwe and became the first African to win an Oscar in the Best Makeup category for his work on the 1999 British musical period drama, Topsy-Turvy.
Concentrating on the build-up to the famous Gilbert and Sullivan musical The Mikado in 1885, Proud was able to add a dash of color to the production alongside Christine Blundell, with whom he shared the award. Proud has since gone on to work on Gladiator and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Charlize Theron
The first time an African woman won an Oscar was in 2004 when Charlize Theron won the award for Best Actress for her transformative portrayal of real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. Wournos was a sex worker who killed a number of her clients in the early 1990s after suffering sexual assault and rape.
Although Theron is now a naturalized American, she was born in South Africa and still retains citizenship. She rose to prominence around the time of her Academy Award triumph and went on to win another in 2005 for her role in North Country. After a brief lull in her career during the mid-2010s, Theron is now acting and involved in film production again.
Tsotsi
South Africa has continued to carry the torch for African film as far as the Academy Awards go, with Tsotsi picking up the Best International Feature Oscar in 2005. It was the first African movie not made in French to claim that honor. The film drew widespread critical acclaim and was also nominated for a Golden Globe.
The film follows a young boy, nicknamed Tsotsi, forced to turn to a life of crime after he leaves an abusive home life. After stealing a car after a botched robbery, Tsotsi discovers that there is a baby in the back and has to evade the authorities while also caring for the child.
Lupita Nyong’o
She is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood of the last few years and in 2014 Lupita Nyong’o became the first ever Black African woman to win an Oscar when she claimed the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in 12 Years a Slave. It was one of three won by the film on the night, including Best Picture.
It was actually only Nyong’o’s second film role but it shot her to world fame and she has now appeared in both the Star Wars and Black Panther franchises. She has won a host of other awards in her career to date and is recognized as one of the most in-demand African women in Hollywood today.
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