# List of actors nominated for Academy Awards for non-English performances

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given Academy Awards to actors and actresses for non-English performances in films, with the first award given in 1961. For an actor or actress to be eligible for any of the Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, or Best Supporting Actress for a foreign language performance in a film produced outside the United States, the film must have been commercially released in Los Angeles County and have English subtitles with the theatrical release.
This list is current as of the 97th Academy Awards ceremony held on March 2, 2025.
In 1962, Sophia Loren became the first actor to win an Oscar for a non-English language performance.
As of 2025, 62 actors and actresses have been nominated for Academy Awards for non-English language performances. 22 of these actors and actresses have received Academy Awards for their performances:
* Seven actors have won for performances that were mostly or solely spoken in a language other than English: Sophia Loren for Two Women (Italian), Robert De Niro for The Godfather Part II (Sicilian), Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (Italian), Benicio del Toro for Traffic (Spanish), Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose (French), Youn Yuh-jung for Minari (Korean), and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Perez (Spanish)
* Nine actors have won for multilingual performances mostly spoken in English: Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo (English and Italian); Ben Kingsley for Gandhi (English and Hindi); Meryl Streep for Sophie's Choice (English, German, and Polish); Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (English and Spanish); Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (English, German, and French); both Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once (English and Mandarin—in addition to Cantonese from Yeoh); Adrien Brody for The Brutalist (English and Hungarian); and Mikey Madison for Anora (English and Russian).
* Six actors have won for performances that were mostly or solely in sign language: Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda (American Sign Language [ASL]), Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker (ASL), John Mills for Ryan's Daughter (British Sign Language [BSL]), Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God (ASL), Holly Hunter for The Piano (BSL), and Troy Kotsur for CODA (ASL).
Seven actors have had multiple Academy Award nominations for non-English language performances: Marcello Mastroianni (three Best Actor nominations for Italian-language performances); Sophia Loren (one Academy Award win for Best Actress for Two Women and another Best Actress nomination for Marriage Italian Style, both for Italian-language performances); Liv Ullmann (two Best Actress nominations for Swedish-language performances); Isabelle Adjani (two Best Actress nominations for French-language performances); Javier Bardem (two Best Actor nominations for Spanish-language performances); Marion Cotillard (one Academy Award win for Best Actress for La Vie en Rose and another Best Actress nomination for Two Days, One Night, both for French-language performances); and Penélope Cruz (two Best Actress nominations for Spanish-language performances, in addition to her aforementioned multilingual Supporting Actress win).
Sophia Loren and Marion Cotillard are the only actresses to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for non-English language performances—Italian and French, respectively. Cotillard is the only actor to receive two Oscar nominations for foreign films without having either of her films nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She is also the only actor to be nominated for a Belgian film (Two Days, One Night).
Roberto Benigni is the only actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for a non-English language performance. In supporting categories, Robert De Niro and Benicio Del Toro are the only two Supporting Actors to win for non-English performances, while Youn Yuh-jung and Zoe Saldaña are the only two Supporting Actress winners. Each of these actors’ performances were from Best Picture nominees—except for De Niro, whose film The Godfather Part II (1974) won Best Picture.
Twelve actors have been nominated for Sign Language performances: Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda; Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker; Alan Arkin for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter; John Mills for Ryan's Daughter; Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God; Holly Hunter for The Piano; Samantha Morton for Sweet and Lowdown; Rinko Kikuchi for Babel, Sally Hawkins for The Shape of Water; both Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci for Sound of Metal; Troy Kotsur for CODA. All used American Sign Language—except for Mills and Hunter, who used British Sign Language; and Kikuchi, who used Japanese Sign Language.

## Nominees

| Year (Ceremony) | Actor/Actress | Category | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Language | Result |
| 1948 (21st) | Jane Wyman | Best Actress | Johnny Belinda | Johnny Belinda | American Sign Language | Won Academy Award |
| 1955 (28th) | Anna Magnani | Best Actress | The Rose Tattoo | La rosa tatuata | English, Italian | Won Academy Award |
| 1960 (33rd) | Melina Mercouri | Best Actress | Never on Sunday | Pote tin Kyriaki | Greek, English | Nominee |
| 1961 (34th) | Sophia Loren | Best Actress | Two Women | La ciociara | Italian | Won Academy Award |
| 1962 (35th) | Marcello Mastroianni | Best Actor | Divorce Italian Style | Divorzio all'italiana | Italian | Nominee |
| 1962 (35th) | Patty Duke | Best Supporting Actress | The Miracle Worker | The Miracle Worker | American Sign Language | Won Academy Award |
| 1964 (37th) | Sophia Loren | Best Actress | Marriage Italian Style | Matrimonio all'Italiana | Italian | Nominee |
| 1966 (39th) | Anouk Aimée | Best Actress | A Man and a Woman | Un homme et une femme | French | Nominee |
| 1966 (39th) | Ida Kamińska | Best Actress | The Shop on Main Street | Obchod na korze | Slovak, Yiddish | Nominee |
| 1968 (41st) | Alan Arkin | Best Actor | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter | The Heart is a Lonely Hunter | American Sign Language | Nominee |
| 1970 (43rd) | John Mills | Best Supporting Actor | Ryan's Daughter | Ryan's Daughter | British Sign Language | Won Academy Award |
| 1972 (45th) | Liv Ullmann | Best Actress | The Emigrants | Utvandrarna | Swedish | Nominee |
| 1974 (47th) | Robert De Niro | Best Supporting Actor | The Godfather Part II | The Godfather Part II | Sicilian | Won Academy Award |
| 1974 (47th) | Valentina Cortese | Best Supporting Actress | Day for Night | La Nuit américaine | French | Nominee |
| 1975 (48th) | Isabelle Adjani | Best Actress | The Story of Adele H. | L'Histoire d'Adèle H. | French | Nominee |
| 1975 (48th) | Carol Kane | Best Actress | Hester Street | Hester Street | Yiddish | Nominee |
| 1976 (49th) | Giancarlo Giannini | Best Actor | Seven Beauties | Pasqualino Settebellezze | Italian | Nominee |
| 1976 (49th) | Marie-Christine Barrault | Best Actress | Cousin, cousine | Cousin, cousine | French | Nominee |
| 1976 (49th) | Liv Ullmann | Best Actress | Face to Face | Ansikte mot ansikte | Swedish | Nominee |
| 1977 (50th) | Marcello Mastroianni | Best Actor | A Special Day | Una giornata particolare | Italian | Nominee |
| 1978 (51st) | Ingrid Bergman | Best Actress | Autumn Sonata | Höstsonaten | Swedish | Nominee |
| 1982 (55th) | Ben Kingsley | Best Actor | Gandhi | Gandhi | English, Hindi | Won Academy Award |
| 1982 (55th) | Meryl Streep | Best Actress | Sophie's Choice | Sophie's Choice | English, German, Polish | Won Academy Award |
| 1986 (59th) | Marlee Matlin | Best Actress | Children of a Lesser God | Children of a Lesser God | American Sign Language | Won Academy Award |
| 1987 (60th) | Marcello Mastroianni | Best Actor | Dark Eyes | Oci ciornie | Italian | Nominee |
| 1988 (61st) | Max von Sydow | Best Actor | Pelle the Conqueror | Pelle Erobreren | Swedish | Nominee |
| 1989 (62nd) | Isabelle Adjani | Best Actress | Camille Claudel | Camille Claudel | French | Nominee |
| 1990 (63rd) | Gérard Depardieu | Best Actor | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | French | Nominee |
| 1990 (63rd) | Graham Greene | Best Supporting Actor | Dances with Wolves | Dances with Wolves | Lakota | Nominee |
| 1992 (65th) | Catherine Deneuve | Best Actress | Indochine | Indochine | French | Nominee |
| 1993 (66th) | Holly Hunter | Best Actress | The Piano | The Piano | British Sign Language | Won Academy Award |
| 1995 (68th) | Massimo Troisi | Best Actor | The Postman (Il Postino) | Il Postino | Italian | Nominee |
| 1998 (71st) | Roberto Benigni | Best Actor | Life Is Beautiful | La vita è bella | Italian | Won Academy Award |
| 1998 (71st) | Fernanda Montenegro | Best Actress | Central Station | Central do Brasil | Portuguese | Nominee |
| 1999 (72nd) | Samantha Morton | Best Supporting Actress | Sweet and Lowdown | Sweet and Lowdown | American Sign Language | Nominee |
| 2000 (73rd) | Javier Bardem | Best Actor | Before Night Falls | Before Night Falls | Spanish | Nominee |
| 2000 (73rd) | Benicio del Toro | Best Supporting Actor | Traffic | Traffic | Spanish | Won Academy Award |
| 2003 (76th) | Shohreh Aghdashloo | Best Supporting Actress | House of Sand and Fog | House of Sand and Fog | English, Persian | Nominee |
| 2004 (77th) | Catalina Sandino Moreno | Best Actress | Maria Full of Grace | María llena eres de gracia | Spanish | Nominee |
| 2006 (79th) | Penélope Cruz | Best Actress | Volver | Volver | Spanish | Nominee |
| 2006 (79th) | Adriana Barraza | Best Supporting Actress | Babel | Babel | English, Spanish | Nominee |
| 2006 (79th) | Rinko Kikuchi | Best Supporting Actress | Babel | Babel | Japanese Sign Language | Nominee |
| 2007 (80th) | Marion Cotillard | Best Actress | La Vie en Rose | La Môme | French | Won Academy Award |
| 2008 (81st) | Penélope Cruz | Best Supporting Actress | Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Vicky Cristina Barcelona | English, Spanish | Won Academy Award |
| 2009 (82nd) | Christoph Waltz | Best Supporting Actor | Inglourious Basterds | Inglourious Basterds | English, German, French | Won Academy Award |
| 2010 (83rd) | Javier Bardem | Best Actor | Biutiful | Biutiful | Spanish | Nominee |
| 2011 (84th) | Demián Bichir | Best Actor | A Better Life | A Better Life | English, Spanish | Nominee |
| 2012 (85th) | Emmanuelle Riva | Best Actress | Amour | Amour | French | Nominee |
| 2013 (86th) | Barkhad Abdi | Best Supporting Actor | Captain Phillips | Captain Phillips | English, Somali | Nominee |
| 2014 (87th) | Marion Cotillard | Best Actress | Two Days, One Night | Deux jours, une nuit | French | Nominee |
| 2016 (89th) | Isabelle Huppert | Best Actress | Elle | Elle | French | Nominee |
| 2017 (90th) | Timothée Chalamet | Best Actor | Call Me by Your Name | Call Me by Your Name | English, French, Italian | Nominee |
| 2017 (90th) | Sally Hawkins | Best Actress | The Shape of Water | The Shape of Water | American Sign Language | Nominee |
| 2018 (91st) | Yalitza Aparicio | Best Actress | Roma | Roma | Spanish, Mixtec | Nominee |
| 2018 (91st) | Marina de Tavira | Best Supporting Actress | Roma | Roma | Spanish | Nominee |
| 2019 (92nd) | Antonio Banderas | Best Actor | Pain and Glory | Dolor y Gloria | Spanish | Nominee |
| 2020 (93rd) | Riz Ahmed | Best Actor | Sound of Metal | Sound of Metal | English, American Sign Language | Nominee |
| 2020 (93rd) | Paul Raci | Best Supporting Actor | Sound of Metal | Sound of Metal | English, American Sign Language | Nominee |
| 2020 (93rd) | Steven Yeun | Best Actor | Minari | 미나리 | Korean, English | Nominee |
| 2020 (93rd) | Youn Yuh-jung | Best Supporting Actress | Minari | 미나리 | Korean, English | Won Academy Award |
| 2021 (94th) | Penélope Cruz | Best Actress | Parallel Mothers | Madres paralelas | Spanish | Nominee |
| 2021 (94th) | Troy Kotsur | Best Supporting Actor | CODA | CODA | American Sign Language | Won Academy Award |
| 2022 (95th) | Michelle Yeoh | Best Actress | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Everything Everywhere All at Once | English, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese | Won Academy Award |
| 2022 (95th) | Ke Huy Quan | Best Supporting Actor | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Everything Everywhere All at Once | English, Mandarin Chinese | Won Academy Award |
| 2023 (96th) | Lily Gladstone | Best Actress | Killers of the Flower Moon | Killers of the Flower Moon | English, Osage | Nominee |
| 2023 (96th) | Sandra Hüller | Best Actress | Anatomy of a Fall | Anatomie d'une chute | English, French | Nominee |
| 2024 (97th) | Adrien Brody | Best Actor | The Brutalist | The Brutalist | English, Hungarian | Won Academy Award |
| 2024 (97th) | Felicity Jones | Best Supporting Actress | The Brutalist | The Brutalist | English, Hungarian | Nominee |
| 2024 (97th) | Karla Sofía Gascón | Best Actress | Emilia Pérez | Emilia Pérez | Spanish, English | Nominee |
| 2024 (97th) | Zoe Saldaña | Best Supporting Actress | Emilia Pérez | Emilia Pérez | Spanish, English | Won Academy Award |
| 2024 (97th) | Mikey Madison | Best Actress | Anora | Anora | English, Russian | Won Academy Award |
| 2024 (97th) | Yura Borisov | Best Supporting Actor | Anora | Anora | English, Russian | Nominee |
| 2024 (97th) | Fernanda Torres | Best Actress | I'm Still Here | Ainda Estou Aqui | Portuguese | Nominee |