No UK Oscar nominees for best actor or actress for first time since 2012
It is the third time in the past four years that British performers have bagged just two acting nominations.
No British performers have been nominated for either best actor or best actress at this year’s Oscars, the first time this has happened in 14 years.
The UK is represented in the other two acting categories, with Delroy Lindo in the running for best supporting actor and Wunmi Mosaku getting nominated for best supporting actress – both for their roles in the horror film Sinners.
But there is no room for British talent in the shortlist for best actor or actress, the nominations being dominated by the United States.
The last time the UK was shut out of both of the top two acting Oscars was in 2012.
This year marks the third time in the past four years that British performers have bagged just two acting nominations.
Of the 20 nomination spots up for grabs – five per acting category – the US has 10, Australia two and Norway two, with the rest split between the UK (two) and other countries.
Ireland has one acting nomination, with Jessie Buckley in the running for best actress for her role in the historical drama Hamnet.
The UK has averaged four acting nominations at the Oscars each year since the start of the century, peaking at eight in 2002 and again in 2021.
The lowest number of nominations since 2000 was one, in 2009.
The ethnicity of this year’s acting nominees is slightly more diverse than last year, with four of the 20 nominations going to non-white performers, up from three in 2025.
This is still some way below the figure for 2021, when a record nine of the 20 nominations went to non-white people.
The most diverse category this year is best supporting actress, where two of the five nominees – Mosaku and Teyana Taylor – are non-white.
The least diverse category is best actress, where all five nominees are white.
Elsewhere, the nominees for best director comprise four men and one woman, repeating the pattern of the past two years.
This year, the sole female nominee is Chloe Zhao – who won the best director Oscar in 2021 for Nomadland – and who is nominated this time for Hamnet.
