Can an artist win the Oscar for Best Leading and Supporting Actor or Actress in the same year?

Movie buffs are gearing up for the 96th Academy Awards, one of the most anticipated events in Hollywood and key date in the calendar for all fans of the silver screen. The Oscar Awards 2024 gala will once again be held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.

An event of great relevance in which anything can happen, different surprises can come in terms of awards, as we have seen in previous editions such as when Damien Chazelle’s 2016 comedy La La Land won practically everything (six Oscars and 13 nominations) except in the Best Film category (Moonlight scooped the award).

Now, if we talk about actors and actresses, it is worth highlighting one of the questions that usually resurfaces in the days before the gala. Taking into account the numerous audiovisual projects that come to light each year, can someone be nominated in the category for Best Leading and Supporting Performer in the same year?

According to the Academy’s own regulations, each category must have a maximum of five nominations (except Best Picture award, which has 10), it is not allowed to be nominated for the same award in a single category despite appearing in two projects. A situation that does change if the actor or actress, for different films, is nominated in both individual categories, both for best actor or actress, and best supporting actor or actress.

The criteria is noted Articles 4-6 in Rule 6: Special rules for Acting awards: “The leading role and supporting role categories will be tabulated simultaneously. If any performance should receive votes in both categories, the achievement shall be placed only on the ballot in that category in which, during the tabulation process, it first receives the required number of votes to be nominated. In the event that the performance receives the number of votes required to be nominated in both categories simultaneously, the achievement shall be placed only on the ballot in that category in which it receives the greater percentage of the total votes.

“In the event that two achievements by an actor or actress receive sufficient votes to be nominated in the same category, only one shall be nominated using the preferential tabulation process and such other allied procedures as may be necessary to achieve that result.

“In the event that an actor or actress receives a sufficient number of votes to be nominated for one achievement in one category and for another achievement in the other category, both achievements shall be eligible”.

The first case of an artist being nominated in lead and supporting categories was Fay Bainter who was nominated for the Best Actress award (White Banners) and the Best Supporting Actress award (Jezebel) at the 11th edition of the gala in 1938. She only picked up the statuette for the latter. In total, 12 actors/actresses have been nominated in multiple categories - the most recent being Scarlett Johansson for her performances in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit,

No performer has yet managed to win both awards in the same year and out of the 12 artists to have been nominated in both categories, only seven of them went home with an award under their arm - Jamie Foxx for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray was the last to do so in 2004.