This is a list of African Academy Award winners and nominees, which includes both ethnic African people born and/or raised in Africa and non-ethnic Africans born and raised in Africa.
Best Actor Best Actor in a Leading RoleYearNameCountryFilmRoleStatusMilestone / Notes1959 Laurence Harvey Room at the Top Joe Lampton First Lithuanian nominated for an Oscar.Born in Lithuania, but educated and raised in South Africa, where he joined the army.
Best Actress Best Actress in a Leading RoleYearNameCountryFilmRoleStatusMilestone / Notes 1971 Janet Suzman Nicholas and Alexandra Alexandra Feodorovna 2003 Charlize Theron Monster Aileen Wuornos First African to win in an acting category. 2005 North Country Josey Aimes 2016 Ruth Negga Loving Mildred Loving 2019 Charlize Theron Bombshell Megyn Kelly
Best Supporting Actor Best Actor in a Supporting RoleYearNameCountryFilmRoleStatusMilestone / Notes 1936Basil Rathbone Romeo and Juliet Tybalt Rathbone was a South African-born British actor. 1938 If I Were King King Louis XI 1948 Cecil Kellaway The Luck of the Irish Horace 1962 Omar Sharif Lawrence of Arabia Sherif Ali First African to be nominated for an Academy Award in any category. 1967 Cecil Kellaway Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Monsignor Mike Ryan 2003 Djimon Hounsou In America Mateo First Black African to be nominated for an acting award. 2006 Blood Diamond Solomon Vandy 2013 Barkhad Abdi Captain Phillips Abduwali Muse 2018 Richard E. Grant Can You Ever Forgive Me? Jack Hock Grant is from a white British family; he was born and raised in Swaziland.
Best Supporting Actress Best Actress in a Supporting RoleYearNameCountryFilmRoleStatusMilestone / Notes2013 Lupita Nyong'o 12 Years a Slave Patsey First black African woman to be nominated and win in any category.2025Wunmi MosakuSinnersAnnie
Best Cinematography Best CinematographyYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes1966Ted Moore A Man for All Seasons Moore is a South African-born British.Won for Best Color Cinematography. 1991 Stephen Goldblatt The Prince of Tides Goldblatt is a South African-born British. 1995 Batman Forever 2002 Dion Beebe Chicago Beebe is a South African-born Australian. 2005 Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Director Best DirectorYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes 1996 Scott Hicks Shine Hicks is a Ugandan-born Australian. 1997 Atom Egoyan The Sweet Hereafter Egoyan is an Egyptian-born Canadian filmmaker.
Best Documentary Feature Best Documentary FeatureYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes 1997 Michele Ohayon (director) Colors Straight Up 2012 Malik Bendjelloul Searching for Sugar Man 2013 Jehane Noujaim (director)Karim Amer (producer) The Square 2020 Pippa Ehrlich (director)James Reed (director)Craig Foster (producer) My Octopus Teacher 2023 Moses BwayoChristopher Sharp Bobi Wine: The People's President Shared with John Battsek Kaouther Ben Hania Four Daughters Shared with Nadim Cheikhrouha
Best Film Editing Best Film EditingYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes 1970 Thelma Schoonmaker Woodstock Schoonmaker is from a white American family; she was born in Algeria. 1980 Raging Bull 1990 Goodfellas 2002 Gangs of New York 2004 The Aviator 2006 The Departed 2011 Hugo 2015 Margaret Sixel Mad Max: Fury Road Sixel is a South African-born Australian. 2019Thelma SchoonmakerThe Irishman 2023 Killers of the Flower Moon
Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film is awarded to a country, not to an individual, and the submitting country is the officially designated nominee in this category.
Best International Feature FilmYearCountryFilmDirectorStatusMilestone / Notes 1969 Z Costa-Gavras First African film to win an Academy Award. 1976 Black and White in Color Jean-Jacques Annaud 1983 Le Bal Ettore Scola 1995 Dust of Life Rachid Bouchareb 2004 Yesterday Darrell Roodt 2005 Tsotsi Gavin Hood First African film in a language other than French to win in this category. 2006 Days of GloryRachid Bouchareb 2010 Outside the Law 2014 Timbuktu Abderrahmane Sissako 2020 The Man Who Sold His Skin Kaouther Ben Hania 2025The Voice of Hind Rajab
Best Live Action Short Film Best Live Action Short FilmYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes 2019 Meryam Joobeur Brotherhood Joobeur is Tunisian-born Canadian.Shared with Maria Gracia Turgeon. 2023 Misan Harriman The After Harriman is Nigerian-born British.Shared with Nicky Bentham. 2024 Cindy Lee (director) The Last Ranger Shared with Darwin Shaw
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Best Makeup and HairstylingYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes 1999 Trefor Proud Topsy-Turvy Proud is the first Zimbabwean to win an Academy Award in this category.Shared with Christine Blundell. 2019 Tristan Versluis 1917 Versluis is a Zimbabwean-born English.Shared with Naomi Donne and Rebecca Cole.
Best Music, Original Score Best Original ScoreYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes1985 Caiphus Semenya The Color Purple 1987 Jonas Gwangwa Cry Freedom
Best Music, Original Song Best Original SongYearNameCountryFilmSongStatusMilestone / Notes1987 Jonas Gwangwa Cry Freedom "Cry Freedom" Shared with George Fenton.2012 Herbert Kretzmer Les Misérables "Suddenly" Kretzmer is from a Jewish family.Shared with Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.2022 Tems Black Panther: Wakanda Forever "Lift Me Up" Shared with Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, and Ryan Coogler.
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Best Adapted ScreenplayYearNameCountryFilmAdapted FromStatusMilestone / Notes 1983 Ronald Harwood The Dresser The Dresser by Ronald Harwood 1987 Mark Peploe The Last Emperor From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi by Henry Pu Yi Peploe is a Kenyan-born English writer.Shared with Bernardo Bertolucci. 1997 Atom Egoyan The Sweet Hereafter The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks 2002Ronald Harwood The Pianist The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman 2007 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby 2009 Neill Blomkamp District 9 Alive in Joburgby Neill Blomkamp Shared with Terri Tatchell.
Best Writing (Original Screenplay) Best Original ScreenplayYearNameCountryFilmStatusMilestone / Notes 1996 Scott Hicks Shine Hicks is a Ugandan-born Australian.Shared with Jan Sardi.
See also List of Asian Academy Award winners and nominees List of black Academy Award winners and nominees List of Puerto Rican Academy Award winners and nominees
References