All the Reasons the Oscars This Year Was One for the Books

Another year, another Oscars. The 95th edition of the Academy Awards was filled with all the glitz and glamour you’d expect from the entertainment world’s biggest night. But there were some aspects of this year’s awards that were groundbreaking and historic that need to be recognized. 

Here’s a list of all the record-setting nominations and wins at the 2023 Oscars:

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1| Sixteen of the 20 nominations in the four acting categories were all first-time nominees. It’s the most first-time nominees ever in Oscars history.

2| This is also the first time that a majority (11 of 20) of the acting nominations went to non-Americans. Five of them come from one country: Ireland (The Banshees Of Inisherin’s Colin Farrell, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, and Brendan Gleeson, and Aftersun’s Paul Mescal).

3| Two films earned four acting nominations this year: Everything Everywhere all at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin. This is the first time this has happened since 1977 (Rocky and Network).

4| Michelle Yeoh is the first Southeast Asian actor to win Best Actress. Merle Oberon was nominated in the same category for the film The Dark Angel in 1935, although she reportedly hid her Eurasian heritage because of fears of discrimination and the impact it would have had on her career.

5| For the first time, two sequels were nominated for Best Picture this year: Avatar: Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick.

6| Daniel Kwan, who directed eventual Best Picture winner Everything, Everywhere All at Once along with Daniel Scheinert, is the first writer of Chinese descent to win Best Original Screenplay.

7| Brendan Fraser is the first Canadian to win Best Actor. The star of The Whale holds dual Canadian-American citizenship.

8| Ke Huy Quan, who won Best Supporting Actor, is the first actor born in Vietnam to ever win an Oscar.

9| Although she didn’t win, Angela Bassett is the first actor from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have ever been nominated for an Oscar.

10| Also related to the MCU, the costume designer from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ruth E. Carter became the first African-American woman to win multiple Academy Awards. She had previously won the same category for the first installment of the MCU film. (Other African-Americans have won two Oscars, all of whom are men: actors Denzel Washington and Mahershala Ali; and sound experts Willie D. Burton and Russell Williams II).

11| Judd Hirsch, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in The Fabelmans, was previously nominated in the same category for Ordinary People in 1980. That makes him the record-holder for the longest gap between nominations at 42 years.

12| Speaking of The Fabelmans, composer John Williams became the oldest ever competitive Oscar nominee at 90 years old. He also broke his own record for the most nominated living person in history. He is second in all-time most number of nominations, with 53, just behind Walt Disney.

13| Meanwhile, The Fabelmans’ Steven Spielberg is the first and so far only director ever to be nominated in the category in six different decades. He has 13 nominations in all, tying with William Wyler.

14| Every person nominated in the Best Director category is also nominated for Best Screenplay (either Original or Adapted): Martin McDonagh, Todd Field, Steven Spielberg, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and Ruben Ostlund. This is the first time this has happened at the Oscars. The Daniels (of Everything Everywhere All at Once) won for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories.

15| Cate Blanchett’s starring role in Tar now has her tied with Leonardo Dicaprio with most appearances in films that have been nominated for Best Picture, with 10. Both are second only to Jack Nicholson, who has appeared in 11 Best Picture nominees throughout his career.