Black stars to take spotlight
2005-02-24 13:44
Hollywood - After scoring a record five acting nominations, black stars are
set to take centre stage at Sunday's Academy Awards, with Ray
star Jamie Foxx hotly tipped to snag the coveted best actor Oscar.
The serious black presence in this year's line-up marks a
victory in the battle for racial equality in Hollywood, three years
after the historic Oscars triumph of African-American stars Halle
Berry and Denzel Washington.
"It seems that every other year there has just been one,
sometimes two black actors who get nominated," said University of
California Berkeley films studies professor Linda Williams
"But this year, it is a wealth of riches.
I think this probably
symbolises that America has moved to beyond the moment at which it
could have only one token person to represent blackness," she said.
The Oscars, 2002
The last time so many black actors were nominated was in 2002,
when Berry became the first black woman to win a best actress
Oscar, Washington won best actor and Will Smith was nominated as
best actor also won a nod.
This year, in addition to red-hot Foxx, 37, nominated for his
electrifying performance as blind soul legend Ray Charles, black
actor Don Cheadle is also vying for best actor for his role in the
genocide epic Hotel Rwanda.
Bolstering the ethnically-diverse line-up is veteran
African-American star Morgan Freeman, 67, nominated as best
supporting actor for his role as a grizzled ex-boxer in Million
Dollar Baby, and Britain's Sophie Okonedo.
Okonedo her best supporting actress nod playing the wife of
Cheadle's hotelier character caught up in the Rwanda's 1994 killing
spree in Hotel Rwanda.
And completing the string of five black acting nominations is
double-nominee Foxx, who also won a best supporting actor
nomination for his role as a taxi driver in the Tom Cruise thriller
Collateral.
Hispanic best actress nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno of
Colombia, nominated for Maria Full of Grace, also notches up a
point for diversity.
But the star of this year's acting nominees in undoubtedly Foxx.
Foxx offers a role model for black Americans as he portrays
Charles overcoming the many obstacles in his life to become one of
the 20th century's greatest and most successful musicians, experts
said.