5 Black Actors Who Should Have Been Nominated For Oscars

Actors Sanaa Lathan, Will Smith, and Idris Elba

Nationwide — Although Cheryl Boone Issacs, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), is African American, the lack of diversity continues when it comes to Oscar nominations. Not only were no African American actors nominated this year, but there were also no Asian, Latino, or Native American nominees.

Some celebrities, like Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett, have boycotted the awards show saying that the academy is racist despite having a Black president. Others, however, insist that not enough minority actors are being given leading roles in big films.

Here are 5 Black actors and actresses that we think should have been nominated:

#1 – Michael B. Jordan for his performance in Creed: Jordan stars in this film as Adonis Johnson Creed, Apollo’s son, with Sylvester Stallone reprising the role of Rocky Balboa. It is the seventh Rocky film, both a spin-off from the original series and a sequel to 2006’s Rocky Balboa.

#2 – Sanaa Lathan for her performance in The Perfect Guy: Lathan stars as Leah Vaughn, a successful lobbyist who, after a painful breakup, jumps into a passionate relationship with a charming stranger (Michael Ealy). When her ex-boyfriend (Morris Chestnut) resurfaces in her life she has to figure out who she should trust and who she should fear.

#3 – Idris Elba for his performance in Beasts of No Nation: Elba stars as Commandant in this film about a young Ugandan boy named Agu (Abraham Attah) who is torn away from his family as his country goes through a horrific war. Agu is later recruited by Commandant, who takes a liking to Agu and trains him to be a child soldier.

#4 – Will Smith for his performance in Concussion: Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian forensic pathologist who is fighting against efforts by the NFL to suppress his research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain damage suffered by professional football players. The film also stars Alec Baldwin as Dr. Julian Bailes.

#5 – O’Shea Jackson, Jr for his performance in Straight Outta Compton: Jackson portrayed his father, Ice Cube in this biopic which chronicles the rise and fall of the 1990’s rap group NWA. It also stars Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, Keith Stanfield as Snoop Dogg, and R. Marcos Taylor as Suge Knight.