New Oscar Trivia / Stats for 2025
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at 11:00PM by Nathaniel R
FLOW is first in two different ways!
UPDATED WITH MORE STATS (03/06/25 1:30 PM EST)
With another year ending we can now look at new stats and trivia from the year that was and acknowledge records that weren't broken, too, but are of note. If you have anything to add to the list share it in the comments, please. Herewith some things to ponder in regards to Oscar trivia...
"FIRST" RECORDS. THE ONE KIND OF RECORD THAT CAN NEVER BE BROKEN.
• Flow became the first movie about a cat to win Best Animated Feature. We've had lizards, toys, humans, ogres, robots, dogs, foxes, rabbits, penguins, fish, wooden boys, and even rats as protagonists of winning films but never cats! Until now that is...
• Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win in Best Costume Design for his work in Wicked. The only other black costume designer to win is Ruth E Carter who took the Oscar for Black Panther and its sequel. Tazewell could repeat her crazy statistic/achievement if he wins again next year for the Wicked sequel.
• Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) is the first actor nominated for playing a US President while that President was in office. A gross but interesting stat from David Feldman.
• No Other Land has two firsts. It is the first time a film from Palestine has won an Oscar and the first time a Palestinian person(s) has won an Oscar (Basel Adra & Hamdan Allal) - this one is thanks to Zizo in the comments.
• In the Shadow of the Cypress is the first Iranian film to win Best Animated Short, as the director enthused in their acceptance speech!
• Zoe Saldaña became the first actor of Dominican descent to be nominated for AND win an Oscar.
• Flow has other firsts. It's the first Latvian film of any kind to be nominated for AND win an Oscar. It's also the first independent film to win Best Animated Feature. And it's the first film without any dialogue to win Best Animated Feature.
• I'm Still Here became the first Brazilian submission to win Best International Feature. One interesting caveat to this record is that the musical Black Orpheus (1959), which is is a Brazilian/French/Italian co-production, did win this category 65 years ago. Though it was set in Brazil and its male lead was Brazilian and the song score was from Brazilian composers, it was a French film for the purposes of the Oscars.
• Karla Sofia Gascon became the first out trans person to be nominated for acting with her Best Actress nomination for Emilia Pérez. One caveat here is that she's not the first trans person to be nominated for acting: Elliot Page was also nominated in this same category for Juno (2007) but only came out as a trans man thirteen years later.
• Adrien Brody is now the first actor of Hungarian descent to win two acting Oscars (several others have won a single time) - thanks to Frank in the comments for that one.
• The 97th Academy Awards mark the first time that all four acting Oscars have gone to leading roles. Three of four has been fairly common in the last 20 years. I know that category Fraud has been around since the dawn of the Oscars but we only complain it this much because it's become such an increasingly shameless plague. Before the 2000s people would never have bought these egregious categorizations without grumbling or even mocking the star or campaign. Now they actually defend them if they're not shrugging their shoulders saying 'that's just how things are'. Actors, Campaign Teams, and Critics alike all greedily embrace this way to honor only stars and no one else. We are actually inching towards extinction for industry and media honors for supporting performances. I knew we would one day reach this endpoint -- the most obvious death knell for official supporting honors before this moment, was that time they put both leads from the same movie in the supporting category together (Judas and the Black Messiah) as if a movie about two people can have zero leads. I had hoped the death of supporting honors would be slower (since I love the art of character acting) and that I wouldn't live to see it. Ah well, at least this cant happen again for the "first" time.
NEW RECORDS THAT COULD THEORETICALLY BE BROKEN
• YOUNGEST ANIMATED WINNER
Gints Zilbalodis is now the youngest winner of Best Animated Feature at 30 years of age. (The previous record holder was Andrew Stanton who was 38 when he won for Finding Nemo.) - Thanks to Angel in the comments for this one.
• MOST OSCARS FOR ONE FILM
Sean Baker has received the most Oscars anyone has ever received for a single film. He won four statues in total (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Editing) for his sex worker comedy Anora. An interesting aside to this is that he also now ties the record of Most Oscars in a Single Night (also 4) set by Walt Disney at the 27th Academy Awards. The difference between their records is that Disney won four categories for four different films: Best Documentary Feature and all three of the shorts categories!!!
• MOST SCREENTIME PERCENTAGE EVER FOR A "BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR" WINNER
Kieran Culkin now holds the dubious honor of most screen time within his movie's running time for a winner in this category. He's visible onscreen for 65% of A Real Pain (2024) which makes sense since the film begins and ends on his face, and the entire film is about him and even in the two scenes where he does not appear, he is the entire topic of conversation! The only previous supporting winner who is in more of their movie than Kieran is Supporting Actress winner Tatum O'Neal in the classic Father/Daughter duet Paper Moon (1973) -- one of my personal favourite movies of all time. She was also very obviously a Lead but at least she was a child which kinda sorta but not really excuses the demotion. Back in ye olden times Category Fraud was very common with child actors but not so much with adults who had the good sense to admit and be proud of their hard fought "lead" status.
I still maintain that if the star of a movie campaigns in supporting they should have to donate all of their salary (beyond the SAG minimum for a supporting role) to the Entertaiment Community Fund (previously called the Actors Fund) as penance. That fund helps struggling actors who don't have the benefit of well paid leading roles and easily leverageable celebrity status to pay their bills, feed their families, and keep a roof over their heads.
• LONGEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH EVER
It took over 80 years but Greer Garson's dubious record of having given the longest acceptance speech in Oscar history for Best Actress in Mrs Miniver (1942) has finally been overthrown... by seven seconds! While there is no video of Garson's full speech as proof it was oft reporteed to be five minutes and 30 seconds. Adrien Brody incredibly went on for five minutes and 37 seconds (especially hilarious since he shushed the orchestra halfway through with an "I'll be brief"). This means Brody now holds two problematic all time Oscar records since he is also (still) the youngest man to have ever won Best Actor (he won at 29 when he won for The Pianist (2002). The latter is only problematic because Oscar history is filled with twenty-something women who won in the parallel category suggesting lots of gender disparity and age biases among filmmakers and Oscar voters as to who gets the juicy roles and who is rewarded for them when they do!
• MOST NOMINATIONS FOR A FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Back in January Emilia Perez's ridiculous 13 nomination haul shattered the record previously shared by Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), and Roma (2018) with 10 nominations each.
• FEWEST OSCARS WON BY A FILM WITH 13 NOMINATIONS
Wae Mest in the comments reveals to us that with only two wins, Emilia Perez now holds the dubious record of fewest Oscars won by a film with that many nominations. The previous record holder was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) which won only 3 Oscars in its year.
[For some context: the most nominations for any film ever is a three way tie between All About Eve, La La Land, and Titanic with 14 nominations. But with Oppenheimer last year and Emilia Perez this year the tie for second place in this "most nominated ever" is now twelve films wide. Gone With the Wind (1939) was the first film to receive that many (and it remained the all time record holder until All About Eve (1950) rolled around.
NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN TRACK WELL BUT INTERESTING
• LONGEST DROUGHT BETWEEN WINS IN BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
France, which used to reign in this category, and is still the most nominated country of all time, has not won the Oscar since Indochine (1992) 32 years ago which is a very long time considering their track record. Still you can't really track this record well since you can't see the future and don't know the next time any previously winning country will win again! The actual record (which again requires a country winning again a long time after a previous triumph) is currently held by Hungary with 34 years between Mephisto (1981) and Son of Saul (2015). Argentina is a very distant second with a 24 years gap between The Official Story (1985) and The Secret in their Eyes (2010). One caveat: If you view Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic (the former was split into two countries) as the same country, which is of course not completely accurate, they would be in second place with 29 years between Closely Watched Trains (1967) and Kolya (1996).
In short if France wins again in three years time or later (but not sooner) they'll defeat Hungary's current dubious record!
WHERE IS MERYL?
...Speaking of droughts. We are now in the longest Oscar era without Meryl Streep since she hit the big screen. She was nominated in only her second year of movies (1978) and has been frequently nominated ever since. The longest Meryl absence before now was between Postcards from The Edge (1990) and The Bridges of Madison County (1995) so just four Oscar seasons without her in the early 90s. Now we've gone a full seven seasons without her since her nomination for The Post (2017). - This stat from Michael C.
• TWO-TIMER WITH PERFECT BATTING AVERAGE
This stat is ephemeral since you never know if someone is going to score another Oscar nominations and ruin their 'they win if they're nominated!' stat, but with Adrien Brody's two nominations / two wins status in Best Actor, the only remaining acting category that hasn't had someone like that is Best Supporting Actress. The only double winners of that category (Shelley Winters & Dianne Wiest) had another nomination, or two as well. Best Actress has had several 2/2s and Best Supporting Actor has two examples: Christoph Waltz and Mahershala Ali. - this one comes from Alejandro in the comments.
NOT A RECORD BUT AN INTERESTING STAT
• DIANE WARREN IN "LOSER" TIE
Diane Warren, songwriter, has now tied sound mixer Greg P. Russell, for most Oscar nominations without ever winning ("the Journey" marked her 16th nod). That said she does have an Honorary Oscar which Russell doesn't.
• PALME D'OR INFLUENCE
Cannes Palme d'Or prize used to be the furthest thing from an Oscar influencer. Now the winners regularly become Best Picture nominees. Anora (2024) just became the third Palme winner to also take Best Picture. It has only happened twice before with Marty (1955) and Parasite (2019).
• CANNES ACTING OSCAR REPEAT
Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez) is the eighth actor to win at Cannes and the Oscars for the same performance. The previous examples are: Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend, Simone Signoret - Room at the Top, Sophia Loren - Two Women, Jon Voight - Coming Home, William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman, Holly Hunter - The Piano, Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds, and Jean Dujardin - The Artist
• LORD OF THE DUNES
As I predicted in an Oscar volley, Dune Part Two closely mirrored the Oscar fate of The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (also the middle picture of a genre trilogy) winning both Visual Effects and Sound. Given the also similar track record of the first part of each trilogy, Dune Messiah could well be on track to sweep the whole ceremony whenever it arrives. We shall see.
• ANORA STATS PREDECESSOR
Anora is the first Best Picture winner to win exactly 5 Oscars since The Artist (2011). In the 21st century, Best Picture winners have not been winning as many Oscars as they used to so 5 is a fairly large haul.
Most to least amount of Oscars won by Best Pictures in the 21st century (thus far)
Titles with an asterisk did NOT win the most Oscars in their year.
Underlined titles performed a clean sweep of their nominated categories
- Return of the King (2003) 11 wins
- Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 8 wins
- Oppenheimer (2023) 7 wins
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - The Hurt Locker (2009) 6 wins
Chicago (2002) - Anora (2024) 5 wins
The Artist (2011)
Gladiator (2000) - Parasite (2019) 4 wins
The Shape of Water (2017)
Birdman (2014)
The King's Speech (2010)
No country for Old Men (2007)
The Departed (2006)
Million Dollar Baby* (2004)
A Beautiful Mind (2001) - Coda* (2021) 3 wins
Nomadland (2020)
Greenbook* (2018)
Moonlight* (2016)
Twelve Years a Slave* (2013)
Argo* (2012)
Crash (2005) - Spotlight* (2015) 2 wins
p.s. Bonus points to any reader who can find the nearest stat equivalent to Anora in Oscar history. It's a tough one (5 wins from only 6 nominations) -- CONGRATS TO JORDAN who came up with the Answer: It's Vincente Minnelli's Hollywood melodrama The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) which won 5 of its 6 nominations. Unlike Anora it was not up for Best Picture. In fact, TBATB holds the record of most Oscars ever won by a film that was up for neither Best Director nor Best Picture. Very strange stat! This record will surely stand forever (unless Oscar goes back to only 5 nominees in Best Picture).
RECORDS, RELATED TO THE DISCUSSIONS ABOVE, THAT WE STILL AWAIT BEING BROKEN
• FIRSTS FROM BLACK ARTISTS
With Tazewell's Costume Design win one more Oscar category has been crossed off the list of potential "firsts" for black men as Hollywood continues to become more inclusive. But a Black man has yet to win in the following five categories: Cinematography, Director, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design. If you include women and make the record, the broader "first black artist to win this category" the only categories that remain unwon are three: Cinematography, Director, and Editing.
• YOUNGEST BEST ACTOR WINNER
Adrien Brody maintains the record for the youngest man to ever win Best Actor -- he won at 29 for The Pianist (2002) but we do have to wonder how close Timothée Chalamet came this year to dethroning him. Chalamet is younger 29 at this particular moment so he can no longer be the one to dethrone Brody. It will happen eventually but not, we presume, for a very very long time.
• MOST COMPETITIVE WINS WHILST LOSING BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
• MOST OVERALL NOMINATIONS FOR A BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE NOMINEE THAT WON NOTHING
Theoretically either of these records (but not both obviously) could have been broken by Emilia Perez this season given its volatile awards run but with Emilia Perez's two wins (Supporting Actress, Original Song) both of these records still stand. The first record is still held by Mexico's Pans Labyrinth (2006) which won 3 Oscars but lost its main category and the second record is still a three way tie between France's The Umbrellas of Cherbrough (1964), Sweden's The Emigrants (1971) and France's Amelie (2001) which were all nominated in five categories but lost each one.
Reader Comments (55)
RE: No Other Land - I'd say that this marks as well the first Israeli film to win an Oscar. I know that it's a delicate subject, but i've never really bought that the money makes the film, and seeing as how half the film's team is Israeli, I don't see why it shouldn't count.
Also, between The Brutalist, Emilia Perez and No Other Land - are these the oscars with the most films with a direct mention of Israel?
@ César
Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend
Simone Signoret - Room at the Top
Sophia Loren - Two Women
Jon Voight - Coming Home
William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman
Holly Hunter - The Piano
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
@Antônio : Thank you !
@Frank Zappa
You are correct! Thank you for reminding me about the obvious Judy/Liza stat. I blanked out on that.
I did not know John Houston's father was also an actor so that's a fun stat as well.
I do believe 2025 marks the longest nomination drought of Streep's career. 7 years without a nomination.