Your favorite actor’s actor Denzel Washington is officially the most Oscar-nominated Black actor in history.
The iconic actor broke his record, grabbing his 10th Oscar nomination for his role in Joel Coen‘s “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” He’s also earned nominations for roles in “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” “Cry Freedom,” “The Hurricane,” “Malcolm X” and “Fences,” which earned him an additional nomination as a producer.
The 67-year-old won his first Oscar Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1990 film “Glory.”
“King Richard” star Will Smith also is nominated in the Oscar’s Best Actor’s category alongside Washington, Javier Bardem in “Being the Ricardos,” Andrew Garfield in “Tick Tick…Boom,” and “The Power of Dog” star Benedict Cumberbatch.
Fans on social media are calling it a “rematch” between Smith and Washington, who were both nominated in the same category two decades ago. Smith received his nomination for portraying Muhammad Ali in “Ali.” Meanwhile, Washington won for his role as a dirty detective in 2001’s “Training Day.”
Predicting Smith will win his first Oscar award, one person wrote, “As someone who randomly watches an Oscar acceptance speech. Let me just say that if Will wins, after three decades of acting and two nominations. We might get one of the best motivational speeches ever.”
Another responded with, “Yeah but Denzel Washington winning and gesturing to Will Smith would be INCREDIBLE television.”
But fans are happy with either choice, including one who wrote, “Denzel Washington or Will better win the Oscars this year.”
Denzel Washington is the second Black man after Sydney Poitier, who died last month, to win the Best Actor Award. A week after Poitier’s death on Jan. 6, Washington discussed their friendship on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He said they met backstage when Washington was a “struggling actor” in “The Soldier’s Play,” which became the film “A Solider’s Story.”
“He came to see the play, and he came backstage and took pictures with all of us,” said Washington. “Everybody was sort of thinning out, and he came over to me and was like, ‘You’re good, you’re good.’ “
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