The 2023 Academy Award Oscar nominations are out, so we take a look at who has theatre credentials amongst this year’s nominees – including West End man of the moment Paul Mescal (main picture), British theatre (and screen) legend Bill Nighy, stage and screen actress Andrea Riseborough, and multi-award winner Cate Blanchett.
Also let’s not forget creatives. Even though our list below is focused on performers, we also need to celebrate and congratulate theatre writers like Martin McDonagh (The Pillowman, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Hangmen) – for his original screenplay for The Banshees of Inisherin, and Tony Kushner (Angels in America) for his original screenplay for The Fabelmans.
Winners of this year’s Oscars will be announced on 12 March 2023.
Who did we miss?
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett is nominated in Actress in a Leading Role category for her performance in Tar. Cate’s long career on stage includes multiple Sydney Theatre Company productions, when she was joint artistic director with her husband Andrew Upton, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Uncle Vanya (which also travelled to New York) and Hedda Gabler (which she took to BAM in New York); her Broadway debut in The Present, for which she received a Tony nod; and in the West End in shows including Groß und klein (Big and Small), David Hare’s Plenty at the Noel Coward Theatre in 1999, and When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other: Twelve Variations On Samuel Richardson’s Pamela at the National Theatre in 2019.
Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams has also got a Best Actress nod, for her role in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. Michelle’s Broadway credentials include Cabaret and Blackbird.
Andrea Riseborough
British actress Andrea Riseborough has also bagged a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in indie movie To Leslie. Andrea started in theatre, graduating from RADA and is a member of the National Youth Theatre. Her early theatre credits include The Pain and the Itch at the Royal Court, Ivanov at Wyndham’s Theatre, and The Pride at the MCC Theater off-Broadway. She is also a past Ian Charleson Awards winner, winning in 2006 for her role in Measure For Measure and Miss Julie as part of the Peter Hall Company.
Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett has scored a Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She has played Broadway three times – including in The Mountaintop. Other stage work includes Macbeth, Black Girl, Henry IV Part I, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Come and Gone, and Fences.
Stephanie Hsu
Stephanie Hsu is also nominated for Best Supporting, for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. She has appeared on Broadway in shows including SpongeBob SquarePants, and Be More Chill.
Bill Nighy
British stage and screen actor Bill Nighy has been nominated in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category, for his performance in Living. Nighy is well know on the London stage, most recently returning to David Hare’s Skylight in 2014 at the Wyndham’s Theatre and on Broadway, which he originated at the National Theatre and in the West End in 1995. Also at the National Theatre are performances in Blue/Orange, The Seagull, Arcadia, Mean Tears, King Lear, Pravda, A Map of the World, and Illuminatus!
Paul Mescal
Irish actor Paul Mescal is also up for Best Actor for his role in Aftersun. He is currently starring as Stanley in Rebecca Frecknall’s acclaimed revival of Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre, alongside Patsy Ferran and Anjana Vasan.
Austin Butler
Austin is also nominated in the Best Actor category for Baz Luhrman’s Elvis. He made his Broadway debut in 2018 in The Iceman Cometh, with other stage credits including Death of the Author at the Geffen Playhouse in LA.
Brendan Fraser
Also up for an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar is Brendan Fraser for his star turn in The Whale. Brendan made his Broadway debut in 2010 in Elling – which sadly closed a week after it opened. In London he performed in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Lyric Theatre in 2001.
Brian Tyree Henry
Brian is up for a Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Causeway. He was on Broadway in the original cast of The Book of Mormon and Lobby Hero – for which he received a Tony Award nomination. He made his stage debut in New York’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet in 2007. Off-Broadway shows include The Fortress of Solitude.
Judd Hirsch
Juddy Hirsch is also nominated in the Best Supporting category, for his role in Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. Judd has impressive Broadway credentials having played the Great White Way ten times, and has won two Tony Awards – for I’m Not Rappaport and Conversations with My Father.
Brendan Gleeson
Irish actor Brendan Gleeson is up for Best Supporting for The Banshees of Inisherin. Brendan has performed on stage in two Roddy Doyle plays: Brownbread and War, both for the Passion Machine Theatre Company in Dublin. He has also written plays for Passion, including The Birdtable, Breaking Up and Babies and Bathwater. Other Dublin theatre work includes Patrick Süskind’s one-man play The Double Bass and John B. Keane’s The Year of the Hiker.
2023 Oscar Nominations – The Full List
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
AUSTIN BUTLER
Elvis
COLIN FARRELL
The Banshees of Inisherin
BRENDAN FRASER
The Whale
PAUL MESCAL
Aftersun
BILL NIGHY
Living
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
BRENDAN GLEESON
The Banshees of Inisherin
BRIAN TYREE HENRY
Causeway
JUDD HIRSCH
The Fabelmans
BARRY KEOGHAN
The Banshees of Inisherin
KE HUY QUAN
Everything Everywhere All at Once
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
CATE BLANCHETT
Tár
ANA DE ARMAS
Blonde
ANDREA RISEBOROUGH
To Leslie
MICHELLE WILLIAMS
The Fabelmans
MICHELLE YEOH
Everything Everywhere All at Once
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
ANGELA BASSETT
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
HONG CHAU
The Whale
KERRY CONDON
The Banshees of Inisherin
JAMIE LEE CURTIS
Everything Everywhere All at Once
STEPHANIE HSU
Everything Everywhere All at Once
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO
Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH
Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
THE SEA BEAST
Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
TURNING RED
Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
James Friend
BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS
Darius Khondji
ELVIS
Mandy Walker
EMPIRE OF LIGHT
Roger Deakins
TÁR
Florian Hoffmeister
COSTUME DESIGN
BABYLON
Mary Zophres
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Ruth Carter
ELVIS
Catherine Martin
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Shirley Kurata
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
Jenny Beavan
DIRECTING
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Martin McDonagh
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
THE FABELMANS
Steven Spielberg
TÁR
Todd Field
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Ruben Östlund
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
ALL THAT BREATHES
Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED
Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
FIRE OF LOVE
Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS
Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
NAVALNY
Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS
Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
HAULOUT
Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
HOW DO YOU MEASURE A YEAR?
Jay Rosenblatt
THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT
Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
STRANGER AT THE GATE
Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
FILM EDITING
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
ELVIS
Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Paul Rogers
TÁR
Monika Willi
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Eddie Hamilton
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Germany
ARGENTINA, 1985
Argentina
CLOSE
Belgium
EO
Poland
THE QUIET GIRL
Ireland
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
THE BATMAN
Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
ELVIS
Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
THE WHALE
Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Volker Bertelmann
BABYLON
Justin Hurwitz
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Carter Burwell
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Son Lux
THE FABELMANS
John Williams
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
APPLAUSE
from Tell It like a Woman; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
HOLD MY HAND
from Top Gun: Maverick; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
LIFT ME UP
from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
NAATU NAATU
from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
THIS IS A LIFE
from Everything Everywhere All at Once; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne
BEST PICTURE
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Malte Grunert, Producer
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
ELVIS
Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers
THE FABELMANS
Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers
TÁR
Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
WOMEN TALKING
Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers
PRODUCTION DESIGN
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
BABYLON
Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
ELVIS
Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
THE FABELMANS
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE
Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
THE FLYING SAILOR
Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
ICE MERCHANTS
João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
MY YEAR OF DICKS
Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD IS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE IT
Lachlan Pendragon
SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
AN IRISH GOODBYE
Tom Berkeley and Ross White
IVALU
Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
LE PUPILLE
Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
NIGHT RIDE
Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
THE RED SUITCASE
Cyrus Neshvad
SOUND
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
THE BATMAN
Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
ELVIS
David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
VISUAL EFFECTS
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
THE BATMAN
Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Screenplay – Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
Written by Rian Johnson
LIVING
Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
WOMEN TALKING
Screenplay by Sarah Polley
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Written by Martin McDonagh
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
THE FABELMANS
Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
TÁR
Written by Todd Field
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Written by Ruben Östlund
