Oscar Smiles On Will Smith
Actor Will Smith spent more than a year preparing to play the title role in the Michael Mann film Ali, and his hard work did not go unnoticed.
Smith has been nominated for an Academy Award. In an interview on CBS' The Early Show, he said the nomination had groundbreaking implications for African-American actors, generally.
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For the first time in 30 years and only the second time in Academy Award history, three of the 10 acting nominees in lead roles are black:
Halle Berry in Monster's Ball, stars as a poor waitress struggling to keep her life together. Will Smith in Ali portrays the world's most famous boxing legend. And Denzel Washington in Training Day stars as a tough, corrupt cop.
This year also marks the first time two black men have been nominated as Best Actor in the same year. And Berry is the first black woman nominated in the Best Actress category since Angela Bassett was named in 1993 for her portrayal of Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It.
The last time three black actors competed in the leading-role categories for Oscars was in 1972 when Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield, who starred in Sounder, and Diana Ross, who starred as jazz legend Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues, were nominated. Tyson and Ross were nominated in the Best Actress category and Winfield was nominated as Best Actor. The film Sounder was also nominated as Best Film. None of them won.
Only six black performers have received the coveted award since the Academy of Motion Picture and Sciences began handing out Oscars in 1927. They are Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier, Louis Gossett Jr., Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding Jr.
Hattie McDaniel became the first black to win the prestigious film honor in 1939 for Best Supporting Actress in Gone With The Wind. She was the first black ever nominated.
More than two decades passed before another black actor won an Oscar. Sidney Poitier was named the Best Actor in 1963 for his role in Lilies of the Field. He remains the first and only black actor to win an Oscar as Best Actor.
In the 38 Academy Award ceremonies since Poitier's breakthrough, no other black actor or actress has won for a lead role. After Poitier's victory, many expected a steady stream of black nominees, but in 18 of the 38 years since Poitier's award, there were no black acting nominees.
Despite 780 total acting nominations and 152 winners since Poitier's Oscar, only four of those winners have been black, and all were recognized for supporting roles: Louis Gossett Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Washington in Glory (1989), Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost (1990) and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire (1996).
For more about about Ali, visit the official Web site.