# List of African Academy Award winners and nominees

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

Best Actor in a Leading Role :
| Year | Name | Country | Film | Role | 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

Best Actress in a Leading Role :
| Year | Name | Film | Role | 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 | Charlize Theron | North Country | Josey Aimes | Nominated | |
| 2016 | Ruth Negga | Loving | Mildred Loving | Nominated | |
| 2019 | Charlize Theron | Bombshell | Megyn Kelly | Nominated | |

## Best Supporting Actor

Best Actor in a Supporting Role :
| Year | Name | Film | Role | Status | Milestone / Notes |
| 1936 | Basil Rathbone | Romeo and Juliet | Tybalt | Nominated | Rathbone was a South African-born British actor. |
| 1938 | Basil Rathbone | 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 | Djimon Hounsou | 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

Best Actress in a Supporting Role :
| Year | Name | Country | Film | Role | 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

Best Cinematography :
| Year | Name | 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 | Stephen Goldblatt | Batman Forever | Nominated | Goldblatt is a South African-born British. |
| 2002 | Dion Beebe | Chicago | Nominated | Beebe is a South African-born Australian. |
| 2005 | Dion Beebe | Memoirs of a Geisha | Won | Beebe is a South African-born Australian. |

## Best Director

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

Best Documentary Feature :
| Year | Name | 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 | Bobi Wine: The People's President | Nominated | Shared with John Battsek |
| 2023 | Kaouther Ben Hania | Four Daughters | Nominated | Shared with Nadim Cheikhrouha |

## Best Film Editing

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

## Best International Feature Film

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 | 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 | Rachid Bouchareb | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Timbuktu | Abderrahmane Sissako | Nominated | |
| 2020 | The Man Who Sold His Skin | Kaouther Ben Hania | Nominated | |

## Best Live Action Short Film

Best Live Action Short Film :
| Year | Name | 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. |
| 2024 | Cindy Lee (director) | The Last Ranger | Nominated | Shared with Darwin Shaw |

## Best Makeup and Hairstyling

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

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

Best Original Song :
| Year | Name | 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)

Best Adapted Screenplay :
| Year | Name | 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 | Ronald Harwood | 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)

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. |