Random facts about the 2023 Academy Awards

Follow the Oscars ceremony 2023 live online

The 2023 Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 12 at 8 p.m. ET at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

Nominees for Best Picture this year include “All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Avatar”, “The Way of the Water”, “The Banshees of Inisherin”, “Elvis”, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, “The Fabelmans”, “Tár”, “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Triangle of Sadness”, and “Women Talking”. With 11 nominations, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” leads nominations for the 2023 Oscars. Michelle Yeoh and Angela Bassett were among stars setting new records in Oscars history this year

Let’s take a look at some of the records and fun facts from this years’ Oscars nominees.

“All Quiet on the Western Front” first Best Picture nominee to be spoken almost entirely in German

“All Quiet on the Western Front” earned nine Oscar nominations and is the only non-English-language film to be nominated for Best Picture this year. This is the fifth year in a row that a non-English-language film has been nominated for Best Picture, but is the first to ever be spoken almost entirely in German. Edward Berger’s WWI film is the eighth non-English-language film to be nominated for both International Feature Film and Best Picture. “Parasite” is the only non-English-language film to have won Best Picture so far.

“Films like this are not cheap and they’re difficult to get financed,” said Berger in an interview. “Usually you need the English language, with a star who warrants that type of budget. But today things are different. I think people are now more open to having authentic language, whether it’s from Indonesia or Germany or Spain. The time was right for that.”

Steven Spielberg is Oscar’s most nominated producer

With his 12th nod for “The Fabelmans”, Steven Spielberg tied William Wyler as the director with most films nominated for Best Picture at 13. He also tied Martin Scorsese with the second-most Best Director nods with nine. Another fun fact: Spielberg is the first director to be nominated at the Academy Awards in six different decades.

All Best Actor nominees are first timers

The nominees for Best Actor are Austin Butler for “Elvis”, Colin Farrell for “The Banshees of Inisherin”, Brendan Fraser for “The Whale”, Paul Mescal for “Aftersun”, and Bill Nighy for “Living”. None of the actors have ever been nominated for an Academy Award before, making it the first time in 88 years (since 1934) that all the Best Actor nominees are first-timers.

“Careers go up and down on a valley-and-peak trajectory, but I believe that it’s always in the ascendancy. I’ve never been that far away, is the short answer. Was I away, or was everyone away from me?” Fraser said in an interview. “I’ll give you the answer: It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that, either by design or accident, the amount of time it took for me to arrive at the place where I could faithfully play Charlie with the dignity, authenticity, and honesty that it demands, may not have been at my disposal had I not gone on that journey.”

Angela Bassett makes history

Angela Bassett is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. She is just the fourth Black actress to ever receive multiple Oscar nominations, joining Whoopi Goldberg, Viola Davis, and Octavia Spencer. Until the “Black Panther” movies, Marvel hadn’t gotten much attention at the Academy Awards, but with the first film taking home three Oscars and even being nominated for Best Picture, they have started to get more notoriety. Bassett is the first person to ever be nominated for acting in a Marvel movie.

Cate Blanchett continues to dominate the Best Picture nominees

Cate Blanchett is just expanding on her record for most appearances in a Best Picture nominee, with “Tár” making the actress’ 10th. (She also acted in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, the three “Lord of the Rings” films, “Elizabeth”, “Babel”, “The Aviator”, “Don’t Look Up”, and “Nightmare Alley”.) Blanchett is up for Best Actress for her role in “Tár” this year, earning her eighth Oscar nomination, joining other eight+-time nominees like Judi Dench, Glenn Close, Katherine Hepburn, and Meryl Streep.

John Williams is oldest Oscar nominee at 90 years old

John Williams is nominated for Best Original Score for “The Fabelmans”, making him the oldest Oscar nominee in this or any category at 90 years old. He remains the most-nominated living person in Oscars history with his 53rd nod. He has won the Oscar five times. With no plans of retiring, Williams could surpass Walt Disney’s record pf 59 total nominations.

Catherine Martin is seventh woman to have nominations in three or more categories

Catherine Martin holds nominations in three categories at this year’s Oscars for “Elvis”: Best Picture, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design. Martin is just the seventh woman to hold nominations in three or more Oscar categories, joining the likes of Chloé Zhao with four and Barbara Streisand, Sofia Coppola, Fran Walsh, Emerald Fennell, and Jane Campion with three. She is the first person to be recognized in both Best Picture and Best Costume Design categories in the same year.

Ana De Armas becomes first Best Actress nominee of Cuban descent

Ana De Armas, nominated for her role as Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde”, is just the fifth Latina actress to be nominated for Best Actress, following Fernanda Montenegro, Salma Hayek, Carolina Sandino Moreno, and Yalitza Aparicio. She is the first Best Actress nominee of Cuban descent. Andy Garcia was the first Cuban person to have received an acting nomination when he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in “The Godfather, Part III”.

Mandy Walker makes history for women in cinematography

Mandy Walker is nominated for Best Cinematography for “Elvis”. Only two other women have ever been nominated for an Oscar in cinematography: Rachel Morrison in 2018 for “Mudbound” and Ari Wegner in 2022 for “Power of the Dog”. No woman has ever won the award.

2023 Oscars a win for Asians in film

With Oscar nominations for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Hong Chau for “The Whale”, this is the most nominees for Asian acting that there has ever been in a single year. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” leads the Oscar race with 11 nominations, including one for Best Picture. Best Actress nominee Michelle Yeoh, who also won a Golden Globe, was born in Malaysia. Her nomination makes the first time that a woman who identifies as Asian has been nominated for Best Actress. Merle Oberon, who was nominated for her role in “The Dark Angel” in 1936 hid her ancestry.

“It’s taken a long time. But I think this is more than me,” Yeoh said in an interview. “At the present moment, constantly, all the time, having Asians walking up to me saying, ‘You can do it, you’re doing it for us.’ It’s like, ‘I understand. I totally understand.’ All this time, they’ve not been recognized, they’ve not been heard.”

Yeoh is joined by Supporting Actor nominee Ke Huy Quan. Quan is the first Vietnamese actor to be recognized by the Academy. Stephanie Hsu and “The Whale” actress Hong Chau are both competing for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, making the first time ever that two Asian women have shared the category in the same year.