List of African Academy Award winners and nominees

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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[edit]

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Year Name Country Role Film Status Milestone / Notes
1959 Laurence Harvey Lithuania
South Africa
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[edit]

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Year Name Country Role Film Status Milestone / Notes
1971 Janet Suzman South Africa
United Kingdom
Nicholas and Alexandra Alexandra Feodorovna Nominated
2003 Charlize Theron South Africa
United States
Monster Aileen Wuornos Won First African to win in an acting category.
2005 North Country Josey Aimes Nominated
2016 Ruth Negga Ethiopia
Republic of Ireland
Loving Mildred Loving Nominated
2019 Charlize Theron South Africa
United States
Bombshell Megyn Kelly Nominated

Best Supporting Actor[edit]

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Year Name Country Role Film Status Milestone / Notes
1936 Basil Rathbone South Africa
United Kingdom
Romeo and Juliet Tybalt Nominated Rathbone was a South African-born British actor.
1938 If I Were King King Louis XI Nominated
1948 Cecil Kellaway The Luck of the Irish Horace Nominated
1962 Omar Sharif Egypt Lawrence of Arabia Sherif Ali Nominated First African to be nominated for an Academy Award in any category.
1967 Cecil Kellaway South Africa
United Kingdom
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Monsignor Mike Ryan Nominated
2003 Djimon Hounsou Benin
United States
In America Mateo Nominated First Black African to be nominated for an acting award.
2006 Blood Diamond Solomon Vandy Nominated
2013 Barkhad Abdi Somalia
United States
Captain Phillips Abduwali Muse Nominated
2018 Richard E. Grant Eswatini
United Kingdom
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[edit]

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Year Name Country Role Film Status Milestone / Notes
2013 Lupita Nyong'o Kenya
Mexico
12 Years a Slave Patsey Won First black African woman to be nominated and win in any category.

Best Cinematography[edit]

Best Cinematography
Year Name Country Film Status Milestone / Notes
1966 Ted Moore South Africa
United Kingdom
A Man for All Seasons Won Moore is a South African-born British.
Won for Best Color Cinematography.
1991 Stephen Goldblatt South Africa
United Kingdom
The Prince of Tides Nominated Goldblatt is a South African-born British.
1995 Batman Forever Nominated
2002 Dion Beebe South Africa
Australia
Chicago Nominated Beebe is a South African-born Australian.
2005 Memoirs of a Geisha Won

Best Director[edit]

Best Director
Year Name Country Film Status Milestone / Notes
1996 Scott Hicks Uganda
Australia
Shine Nominated Hicks is a Ugandan-born Australian.
1997 Atom Egoyan Egypt
Canada
The Sweet Hereafter Nominated Egoyan is an Egyptian-born Canadian filmmaker.

Best Documentary Feature[edit]

Best Documentary Feature
Year Name Country Film Status Milestone / Notes
1997 Michele Ohayon (director) Morocco Colors Straight Up Nominated
2012 Malik Bendjelloul Algeria Searching for Sugar Man Won
2013 Jehane Noujaim (director)
Karim Amer (producer)
Egypt
United States
The Square Nominated
2020 Pippa Ehrlich (director)
James Reed (director)
Craig Foster (producer)
South Africa My Octopus Teacher Won
2023 Moses Bwayo
Christopher Sharp[1]
Uganda Bobi Wine: The People's President Nominated Shared with John Battsek
Kaouther Ben Hania Tunisia Four Daughters Nominated Shared with Nadim Cheikhrouha

Best Film Editing[edit]

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

Best International Feature Film[edit]

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 Country Film Director Status Milestone / Notes
1969 Algeria Z Costa-Gavras Won First African film to win an Academy Award.
1976 Ivory Coast Black and White in Color Jean-Jacques Annaud Won
1983 Algeria Le Bal Ettore Scola Nominated
1995 Dust of Life Rachid Bouchareb Nominated
2004 South Africa Yesterday Darrell Roodt Nominated
2005 Tsotsi Gavin Hood Won First African film in a language other than French to win in this category.
2006 Algeria Days of Glory Rachid Bouchareb Nominated
2010 Outside the Law Nominated
2014 Mauritania Timbuktu Abderrahmane Sissako Nominated
2020 Tunisia The Man Who Sold His Skin Kaouther Ben Hania Nominated

Best Live Action Short Film[edit]

Best Live Action Short Film
Year Name Country Film Status Milestone / Notes
2019 Meryam Joobeur Tunisia
Canada
Brotherhood Nominated Joobeur is Tunisian-born Canadian.
Shared with Maria Gracia Turgeon.
2023 Misan Harriman Nigeria
United Kingdom
The After Nominated Harriman is Nigerian-born British.
Shared with Nicky Bentham.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling[edit]

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Year Name Country Film Status Milestone / Notes
1999 Trefor Proud Zimbabwe Topsy-Turvy Won Proud is the first Zimbabwean to win an Academy Award in this category.
Shared with Christine Blundell.
2019 Tristan Versluis Zimbabwe
United Kingdom
1917 Nominated Versluis is a Zimbabwean-born English.
Shared with Naomi Donne and Rebecca Cole.

Best Music, Original Score[edit]

Best Original Score
Year Name Country Film Status Milestone / Notes
1985 Caiphus Semenya South Africa The Color Purple Nominated
1987 Jonas Gwangwa Cry Freedom Nominated

Best Music, Original Song[edit]

Best Original Song
Year Name Country Film Song Status Milestone / Notes
1987 Jonas Gwangwa South Africa Cry Freedom "Cry Freedom" Nominated Shared with George Fenton.
2012 Herbert Kretzmer South Africa
United Kingdom
Les Misérables "Suddenly" Nominated Kretzmer is from a Jewish family.
Shared with Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.
2022 Tems Nigeria Black Panther: Wakanda Forever "Lift Me Up" Nominated Shared with Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, and Ryan Coogler.

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)[edit]

Best Adapted Screenplay
Year Name Country Film Adapted From Status Milestone / Notes
1983 Ronald Harwood South Africa
United Kingdom
The Dresser The Dresser by Ronald Harwood Nominated
1987 Mark Peploe Kenya
United Kingdom
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 Egypt
Canada
The Sweet Hereafter The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks Nominated
2002 Ronald Harwood South Africa
United Kingdom
The Pianist The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman Won
2007 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby Nominated
2009 Neill Blomkamp South Africa District 9 Alive in Joburg
by Neill Blomkamp
Nominated Shared with Terri Tatchell.

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)[edit]

Best Original Screenplay
Year Name Country Film Status Milestone / Notes
1996 Scott Hicks Uganda
Australia
Shine Nominated Hicks is a Ugandan-born Australian.
Shared with Jan Sardi.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Sciences, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and. "Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo: 5 Must-See Documentaries". A.frame. Retrieved 2024-03-17.