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Oscar Shines on Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker
Eric L. Hinton
January 23, 2007
It was a history-making morning in
Hollywood as five black actors, two Latino actors and an Asian actor were among
the Academy Award nominees announced for the upcoming
Oscars.
The nominees include a list of
well-knowns, such as Eddie Murphy, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith and Penelope
Cruz, as well as relative newcomers Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Hudson, Adriana
Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi. It was the most ethnically diverse list of nominees
in the awards show's 79-year history.
Smith in "The Pursuit of
Happyness" and Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland" will compete in the Best
Actor category along with Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Peter O'Toole.
Penelope Cruz's Best Actress nomination for her role in "Volver" has her in the
lofty company of fellow nominees Meryl Streep, Judy Dench, Helen Mirren and Kate
Winslet.
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In the supporting category,
Hounsou ("Blood Diamond") and Murphy ("Dreamgirls") are nominated with Alan
Arkin, Jackie Earle Haley and Mark Wahlberg. Earlier this month, Murphy took home a Golden Globe as best supporting actor
for his role as an aging singer on the decline. The Oscar nomination is Murphy's
first.
American Idol
castoff Hudson turned her
star-making performance in "Dreamgirls" into an Oscar nomination. She'll be in
competition with Barraza and Kikuchi, both of
"Babel." Also nominated in this category
were Cate Blanchett and Abigail Breslin.
The diverse
nominations also spread to the directing category. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro
Gonzalez Inarritu earned a best-director nomination for
"Babel."
Actors and actresses
of color have found growing success on Oscar night. Since Denzel Washington and
Halle Berry's history-making turn in 2002, when the pair took home Best Actor
and Best Actress honors for their roles in "Training Day" and "Monster's Ball,"
respectively, Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman took home Best Actor and Best
Supporting Actor statuettes in 2004 for their roles in "Ray" and "Million Dollar
Baby," respectively.
While Murphy and Hudson received
acting nominations for their roles in "Dreamgirls," the film itself was not
nominated in the best-film category, although it did nab eight total
nominations.
The awards will be
telecast live on Feb. 25.
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