The Oscars

The Academy Awards, or Oscars, is an awards ceremony dedicated to celebrating the best of film each year whether it be from an artistic or technical point of view. It is generally considered to be the most prestigious movie award ceremony in the world and has been running since the first ceremony took place at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929.

The most coveted awards are for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director though each of the 23 awards given on the night comes with its own degree of prestige.

Each category winner is awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the 'Academy Award of Merit' though it is colloquially known now as simply an 'Oscar'.

In 2002, the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood (previously known as the Kodak Theatre) became the presentation's current venue.

Academy Award for Best Picture

The Academy Award for Best Picture is the most prestigious award at the Oscars ceremony as it encompasses how well-made a movie is as a whole, with many factors taken into consideration as opposed to individual factors for the 22 other remaining awards.

The first film to win the award was Wings back in 1927/28, and the latest is Coda, which won in 2021.

Year	Winner
2022	Everything Everywhere All at Once
2021	CODA
2020	Nomadland
2019	Parasite
2018	Green Book
2017	The Shape of Water
2016	Moonlight
2015	Spotlight
2014	Birdman
2013	12 Years a Slave
2012	Argo
2011	The Artist
2010	The King's Speech
2009	The Hurt Locker
2008	Slumdog Millionaire
2007	No Country for Old Men
2006	The Departed
2005	Crash
2004	Million Dollar Baby
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2002	Chicago
2001	A Beautiful Mind
2000	Gladiator
1999	American Beauty
1998	Shakespeare in Love
1997	Titanic
1996	The English Patient
1995	Braveheart
1994	Forrest Gump
1993	Schindler's List
1992	Unforgiven
1991	The Silence of the Lambs
1990	Dances with Wolves
1989	Driving Miss Daisy
1988	Rain Man
1987	The Last Emperor
1986	Platoon
1985	Out of Africa
1984	Amadeus
1983	Terms of Endearment
1982	Gandhi
1981	Chariots of Fire
1980	Ordinary People
1979	Kramer vs. Kramer
1978	The Deer Hunter
1977	Annie Hall
1976	Rocky
1975	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1974	The Godfather Part II
1973	The Sting
1972	The Godfather
1971	The French Connection
1970	Patton
1969	Midnight Cowboy
1968	Oliver!
1967	In the Heat of the Night
1966	A Man for All Seasons
1965	The Sound of Music
1964	My Fair Lady
1963	Tom Jones
1962	Lawrence of Arabia
1961	West Side Story
1960	The Apartment
1959	Ben-Hur
1958	Gigi
1957	The Bridge on the River Kwai
1956	Around the World in 80 Days
1955	Marty
1954	On the Waterfront
1953	From Here to Eternity
1952	The Greatest Show on Earth
1951	An American in Paris
1950	All About Eve
1949	All the King's Men
1948	Hamlet
1947	Gentleman's Agreement
1946	The Best Years of Our Lives
1945	The Lost Weekend
1944	Going My Way
1943	Casablanca
1942	Mrs Miniver
1941	How Green Was My Valley
1940	Rebecca
1939	Gone with the Wind
1938	You Can't Take It with You
1937	The Life of Emile Zola
1936	The Great Ziegfeld
1935	Mutiny on the Bounty
1934	It Happened One Night
1933	Cavalcade
1932	Grand Hotel
1931	Cimarron
1930	All Quiet on the Western Front
1929	The Broadway Melody
1928	Wings

Academy Award for Best Actor

The Academy Award for Best Actor is one of the top two awards for on-screen performance at the Oscars ceremony.

The first actor to win the award was Emil Jannings back in 1927/28 for his performances in The Last Command as Grand Duke Sergius Alexander and August Schilling in The Way of All Flesh

The most recent recipient of the award was Will Smith, who won for his role as Richard Williams in King Richard.

Year	Winner	Role
2022	Brendan Fraser	Charlie in *The Whale*
2021	Will Smith	Richard Williams in King Richard
2020	Anthony Hopkins	Anthony in The Father
2019	Joaquin Phoenix	Arthur Fleck in *Joker*
2018	Rami Malek	Freddie Mercury in *Bohemian Rhapsody*
2017	Gary Oldman	Winston Churchill in *Darkest Hour*
2016	Casey Affleck	Lee Chandler in *Manchester by the Sea*
2015	Leonardo DiCaprio	Hugh Glass in *The Revenant*
2014	Eddie Redmayne	Stephen Hawking in *The Theory of Everything*
2013	Matthew McConaughey	Ron Woodroof in *Dallas Buyers Club*
2012	Daniel Day-Lewis	Abraham Lincoln in *Lincoln*
2011	Jean Dujardin	George Valentin in *The Artist*
2010	Colin Firth	King George VI in *The King's Speech*
2009	Jeff Bridges	Otis 'Bad' Blake in *Crazy Heart*
2008	Sean Penn	Harvey Milk in *Milk*
2007	Daniel Day-Lewis	Daniel Plainview in *There Will Be Blood*
2006	Forest Whitaker	Idi Amin in *The Last King of Scotland*
2005	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Truman Capote in *Capote*
2004	Jamie Foxx	Ray Charles in *Ray*
2003	Sean Penn	Jimmy Markum in *Mystic River*
2002	Adrien Brody	Władysław Szpilman in *The Pianist*
2001	Denzel Washington	Alonzo Harris in *Training Day*
2000	Russell Crowe	Maximum Decimus Meridius in *Gladiator*
1999	Kevin Spacey	Lester Burnham in *American Beauty*
1998	Roberto Benigni	Guido Orefice in *Life is Beautiful*
1997	Jack Nicholson	Melvin Udall in *As Good as It Gets*
1996	Geoffrey Rush	David Helfgott in *Shine*
1995	Nicolas Cage	Ben Sanderson in *Leaving Las Vegas*
1994	Tom Hanks	Forrest Gump in *Forrest Gump*
1993	Tom Hanks	Andrew Beckett in *Philadelphia*
1992	Al Pacino	Frank Slade in *Scent of a Woman*
1991	Anthony Hopkins	Hannibal Lecter in *The Silence of the Lambs*
1990	Jeremy Irons	Claus von Bulow in *Reversal of Fortune*
1989	Daniel Day-Lewis	Christy Brown in *My Left Foot*
1988	Dustin Hoffman	Raymond Babbitt in *Rain Man*
1987	Michael Douglas	Gordon Gekko in *Wall Street*
1986	Paul Newman	Fast Eddie Felson in *The Colour of Money*
1985	William Hurt	Luis Molina in Kiss of the *Spider Woman*
1984	F. Murray Abraham	Antonio Salieri in *Amadeus*
1983	Robert Duvall	Mac Sledge in *Tender Mercies*
1982	Ben Kingsley	Mahatma Gandhi in *Gandhi*
1981	Henry Fonda	Norman Thayer Jr in *On Golden Pond*
1980	Robert De Niro	Jake LaMotta in *Raging Bull*
1979	Dustin Hoffman	Ted Kramer in *Kramer vs Kramer*
1978	Jon Voight	Luke Martin in *Coming Home*
1977	Richard Dreyfuss	Elliot Garfield in *The Goodbye Girl*
1976	Peter Finch	Howard Beale in *Network*
1975	Jack Nicholson	Randle Patrick McMurphy in *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*
1974	Art Carney	Harry Coombes in *Harry and Tonto*
1973	Jack Lemmon	Harry Stoner in *Save the Tiger*
1972	Marlon Brando	Vito Corleone in *The Godfather*
1971	Gene Hackman	Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in *The French Connection*
1970	George C. Scott	General George S. Patton in *Patton*
1969	John Wayne	Reuben 'Rooster' Cogburn in *True Grit*
1968	Cliff Robertson	Charly Gordon in *Charly*
1967	Rod Steiger	Chief Bill Gillespie in *In the Heat of the Night*
1966	Paul Scofield	Sir Thomas More in *A Man for All Seasons*
1965	Lee Marvin	Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn in *Cat Ballou*
1964	Rex Harrison	Professor Henry Higgins in *My Fair Lady*
1963	Sidney Poitier	Homer Smith in *Lilies of the Field*
1962	Gregory Peck	Atticus Finch in *To Kill a Mockingbird*
1961	Maximilian Schell	Hans Rolfe in *Judgment at Nuremberg*
1960	Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry in *Elmer Gantry*
1959	Charlton Heston	Judah Ben-Hur in *Ben-Hur*
1958	David Niven	Major Angus Pollock in *Separate Tables*
1957	Alec Guinness	Lt. Colonel Nicholson in *The Bridge on the River Kwai*
1956	Yul Brynner	King Mongkut of Siam in *The King and I*
1955	Ernest Borgnine	Marty Piletti in *Marty*
1954	Marlon Brando	Terry Malloy in *On the Waterfront*
1953	William Holden	Sgt J.J. Sefton in *Stalag 17*
1952	Gary Cooper	Marshal Will Kane in *High Noon*
1951	Humphrey Bogart	Charlie Allnut in *The African Queen*
1950	Jose Ferrer	Cyrano de Bergerac in *Cyrano de Bergerac*
1949	Broderick Crawford	Willie Stark in *All the King's Men*
1948	Laurence Olivier	Hamlet in *Hamlet*
1947	Ronald Colman	Anthony John in *A Double Life*
1946	Fredric March	Sgt. Al Stephenson in *The Best Years of Our Lives*
1945	Ray Milland	Don Birnam in *The Lost Weekend*
1944	Bing Crosby	Father Chuck O'Malley in *Going My Way*
1943	Paul Lukas	Kurt Muller in *Watch on the Rhine*
1942	James Cagney	George M. Cohan in *Yankee Doodle Dandy*
1941	Gary Cooper	Sgt. Alvin York in *Sergeant York*
1940	James Stewart	Macaulay Connor in *The Philadelphia Story*
1939	Robert Donat	Charles Edward Chipping in *Goodbye Mr Chips*
1938	Spencer Tracy	Father Flanagan in *Boys Town*
1937	Spencer Tracy	Manuel Fidello in *Captains Courageous*
1936	Paul Muni	Louis Pasteur in *The Story of Louis Pasteur*
1935	Victor McLaglen	Gypo Nolan in *The Informer*
1934	Clark Gable	Peter Warne in *It Happened One Night*
1933	Charles Laughton	King Henry VIII in *The Private Life of Henry VIII*
1932	Wallace Beery Frederic March	Andy Purcell in The Champ and Henry Jekyll / Mr Edward Hyde in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
1931	Lionel Barrymore	Stephen Ashe in A Free Soul
1930	George Arliss	Benjamin Disraeli in *Disraeli*
1929	Warner Baxter	The Cisco Kid in *In Old Arizona*
1928	Emil Jennings	Grand Duke Sergius Alexander in *The Last Command* and August Schiller in *The Way of All Flesh*

Academy Award for Best Actress

The Academy Award for Best Actress is one of the top two awards for on-screen performance at the Oscars ceremony.

The first actress to win the award was Janet Gaynor back in 1927/28 for her performances in 7th Heaven as Diane, Street Angel as Angela and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans as The Wife.

The most recent recipient of the award was Jessica Chastain, who won for her role as Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Year	Winner	Role
2022	Michelle Yeoh	Evelyn Quan Wang in *Everything Everywhere All at Once*
2021	Jessica Chastain	Tammy Faye Bakker in *The Eyes of Tammy Faye*
2020	Frances McDormand	Fern in *Nomadland*
2019	Renee Zellweger	Judy Garland in *Judy*
2018	Olivia Colman	Queen Anne in *The Favourite*
2017	Frances McDormand	Mildred Hayes in *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*
2016	Emma Stone	Mia Dolan in *La La Land*
2015	Brie Larson	Joy 'Ma' Newsom in Room
2014	Julianne Moore	Alice Howland in *Still Alice*
2013	Cate Blanchett	Jeanette 'Jasmine' Francis in *Blue Jasmine*
2012	Jennifer Lawrence	Tiffany Maxwell in *Silver Linings Playbook*
2011	Meryl Streep	Margaret Thatcher in *The Iron Lady*
2010	Natalie Portman	Nina Sayers in *Black Swan*
2009	Sandra Bullock	Leigh Anne Tuohy in *The Blind Side*
2008	Kate Winslet	Hanna Schmitz in *The Reader*
2007	Marion Cotillard	Edith Piaf in *La Vie en Rose*
2006	Helen Mirren	Queen Elizabeth II in *The Queen*
2005	Reese Witherspoon	June Carter Cash in *Walk the Line*
2004	Hilary Swank	Maggie Fitzgerald in *Million Dollar Baby*
2003	Charlize Theron	Aileen Wuornos in *Monster*
2002	Nicole Kidman	Virginia Woolf in *The Hours*
2001	Halle Berry	Leticia Musgrove in *Monster's Ball*
2000	Julia Roberts	Erin Brockovich in *Erin Brockovich*
1999	Hilary Swank	Brandon Teena in *Boy's Don't Cry*
1998	Gwyneth Paltrow	Viola de Lesseps / Thomas Kent in *Shakespeare in Love*
1997	Helen Hunt	Carol Connelly in *As Good as It Gets*
1996	Frances McDormand	Marge Gunderson in *Fargo*
1995	Susan Sarandon	Helen Prejean in *Dead Man Walking*
1994	Jessica Lange	Carly Marshall in *Blue Sky*
1993	Holly Hunter	Ada McGrath in *The Piano*
1992	Emma Thompson	Margaret Schlegel in *Howards End*
1991	Jodie Foster	Clarice Starling in *The Silence of the Lambs*
1990	Kathy Bates	Annie Wilkes in *Misery*
1989	Jessica Tandy	Daisy Werthan in *Driving Miss Daisy*
1988	Jodie Foster	Sarah Tobias in *The Accused*
1987	Cher	Loretta Castorini in *Moonstruck*
1986	Marlee Matlin	Sarah Norman in *Children of a Lesser God*
1985	Geraldine Page	Carrie Watts in *The Trip to Bountiful*
1984	Sally Field	Edna Spalding in *Places in the Heart*
1983	Shirley MacLaine	Aurora Greenway in *Terms of Endearment*
1982	Meryl Streep	Sophie Zawistowski in *Sophie's Choice*
1981	Katharine Hepburn	Ethel Thayer in *On Golden Pond*
1980	Sissy Spacey	Loretta Lynn in *Coal Miner's Daughter*
1979	Sally Field	Norma Rae Webster in *Norma Rae*
1978	Jane Fonda	Sally Hyde in *Coming Home*
1977	Diane Keaton	Annie Hall in *Annie Hall*
1976	Faye Dunaway	Diana Christensen in Network
1975	Louise Fletcher	Nurse Mildred Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
1974	Ellen Burstyn	Alice Hyatt in *Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore*
1973	Glenda Jackson	Vickie Allessio in *A Touch of Class*
1972	Liza Minnelli	Sally Bowles in *Cabaret*
1971	Jane Fonda	Bree Daniels in *Klute*
1970	Glenda Jackson	Gudrun Brangwen in *Women in Love*
1969	Maggie Smith	Jean Brodie in *The Prime of Miss Jean Brody*
1968	Katharine Hepburn Barbra Streisand	Eleanor of Aquitaine in *The Lion in Winter Fanny Brice in Funny Girl*
1967	Katharine Hepburn	Christina Drayton in *Guess Who's Coming to Dinner*
1966	Elizabeth Taylor	Martha in *Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*
1965	Julie Christie	Diana Scott in *Darling*
1964	Julie Andrews	Mary Poppins in *Mary Poppins*
1963	Patricia Neal	Alma Brown in *Hud*
1962	Anne Bancroft	Annie Sullivan in *The Miracle Worker*
1961	Sophia Loren	Cesira in *Two Women*
1960	Elizabeth Taylor	Gloria Wandrous in *BUtterfield 8*
1959	Simone Signoret	Alice Aisgill in *Room at the Top*
1958	Susan Hayward	Barbara Graham in *I Want to Live!*
1957	Joanne Woodward	Eve White / Eve Black / Jane in *The Three Faces of Eve*
1956	Ingrid Bergman	Anna Koreff / Anastasia in *Anastasia*
1955	Anna Magnani	Serafina Delle Rose in *The Rose Tattoo*
1954	Grace Kelly	Georgie Elgin in *The Country Girl*
1953	Audrey Hepburn	Princess Ann in *Roman Holiday*
1952	Shirley Booth	Lola Delaney in *Come Back, Little Sheba*
1951	Vivian Leigh	Blanche DuBois in *A Streetcar Named Desire*
1950	Judy Holliday	Emma 'Billie' Dawn in *Born Yesterday*
1949	Olivia de Havilland	Catherine Sloper in *The Heiress*
1948	Jane Wyman	Belinda McDonald in *Johnny Belinda*
1947	Loretta Young	Katie Holstrom in *The Farmer's Daughter*
1946	Olivia de Havilland	Josephine Norris in *To Each His Own*
1945	Joan Crawford	Mildred Pierce Beragon in *Mildred Pierce*
1944	Ingrid Bergman	Paula Alquist Anton in *Gaslight*
1943	Jennifer Jones	Bernadette Soubirous in *The Song of Bernadette*
1942	Greer Garson	Kay Miniver in *Mrs. Miniver*
1941	Joan Fontaine	Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth in *Suspicion*
1940	Ginger Rogers	Kitty Foyle in *Kitty Foyle*
1939	Vivian Leigh	Scarlett O'Hara in *Gone with the Wind*
1938	Bette Davis	Julie Marsden in *Jezebel*
1937	Luise Rainer	O-Lan in *The Good Earth*
1936	Luise Rainer	Anna Held in *The Great Ziegfeld*
1935	Bette Davis	Joyce Heath in *Dangerous*
1934	Claudette Colbert	Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night
1933	Katharine Hepburn	Eva Lovelace in *Morning Glory*
1932	Helen Hayes	Madelon Claudet in *The Sin of Madelon Claudet*
1931	Marie Dressler	Min Divot in *Min and Bill*
1930	Norma Shearer	Jerry Bernard Martin in *The Divorcee*
1929	Mary Pickford	Norma Besant in *Coquette*
1928	Janet Gaynor	Diane in *7th Heaven, Angela in Street Angel* and The Wife in *Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans*