Guessing Game: The First Roles of Each Oscar Nominee!

by Nathaniel R

Leonardo DiCaprio's debut film "CRITTERS 3"

A spot of guessing game fun today. Some Oscar nominees are movie stars from the jump but most actors have to build their careers up slowly increasing the size and quality of their roles over the years until their awards breakthrough. 5 of our current 20 nominees across Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor kicked off their feature film career with a leading role. Can you guess who they were? Even more difficult can you pair each nominated actor with the name of their first credited feature film character? The answers to this quiz are after the jump but first jot down your guesses and see how many you can get right before looking... 

In Their Feature Film Debut They Played a Character Named...	The Current Oscar Nominees
1) Alex Dwyer	A) Jessie Buckley
2) Ben Crandall (LEAD)	B) Rose Byrne
3) Danny Vance	C) Timothée Chalamet
4) Drug Kingpin	D) Benicio Del Toro
5) Duke the Dog-Faced Boy	E) Leonardo DiCaprio
6) Erik (LEAD)	F) Jacob Elordi
7) Josh	G) Elle Fanning
8) Jules	H) Ethan Hawke
9) Lucy (2 Years)	I) Kate Hudson
10) Moll (LEAD)	J) Michael B Jordan
11) Rafi	K) Inga Ibsdottir Lilleas
12) Rastus Sommers	L) Delroy Lindo
13) Rena	M) Amy Madigan
14) Renate	N) Wunmi Mosaku
15) Rooster	O) Wagner Moura
16) Seema	P) Sean Penn
17) Sigrid Auge (LEAD)	Q) Renate Reinsve
18) Skye Davidson	R) Stellan Skarsgard
19) Teen #2	S) Emma Stone
20) Terry Jean Moore (LEAD)	T) Teyana Taylor

THE ANSWERS ARE AFTER THE JUMP... 

Got your guesses ready? Tell us how you did once you've read the answers...

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An Annual Round of Oscar Trivia Following The Nominations...

by Nathaniel R

Amy Madigan breaking things onscreen and off!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS LIST IN THE COMMENTS. These stats will also probably show up on the Oscar charts too but why not collect them here first or simultaneously while still hopped up on Oscar fever...

RECORDS BROKEN OR SET

• Longest Gap Between Acting Nominations for a Woman
Weapons standout Amy Madigan's 40 year gap between Oscar nominations (her first nomination was in 1985's Twice in a Lifetime) is not an all time record but it is the record for a female actor...

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Split Decisions at the Critics Choice Awards

by Nathaniel R

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER takes Best Picture. It's finally Paul Thomas Anderson's trophy time.

While Sinners led the nominations by a comfortable margin there wasn't a clear "favourite" to emerge at the the Critics Choice Awards this past Sunday night. Three films dominated with One Battle After Another taking Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, Sinners winning Original Screenplay, Young Actor, Casting, and Score, and Frankenstein taking Supporting Actor (Jacob Elordi), Costume Design, Production Design, and Hair and Makeup. Three to four awards is nothing to complain about but they all lost some key races, too. As we move on to the Golden Globes (Sunday) and the SAG Awards it remains to be seen if any one film will become a threat for a mini-sweep at the Oscars, or if it will be more of a spread the wealth kind of year like this. 

After the jump the full list of winners and a few comments... 

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One Award After Another

by Cláudio Alves

Jafar Panahi on the set of IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT | © Neon

In the blink of an eye, the awards season goes from a sleepy little non-starter into a breakneck race for gold. In the past few days, various organizations announced their prizes, so it's time to start doing more of these round-ups. Though, if things continue to go the way of these first few groups, you'll soon grow tired of reading One Battle After Another at the top of these things. PTA's critical darling won the top honor at the Gotham Film Awards, from the New York and Atlanta critics, as well as the NBR.

But that wasn't the only story of the past few days. Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi has, again, been sentenced to prison, banned from travelling or making films. As the It Was Just An Accident auteur has been living outside Iran since his last travel ban was lifted in 2023, the proceedings were conducted in absentia, and Panahi remains free. However, he has said he'll return to Iran to complete his sentence after the season ends. May these awards and encompassing media circus provide a platform for the director to speak up before he is silenced once more…

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Oscar Volley: Best Supporting Actress has a lot of wiggle room

The Oscar Volleys are back! Today, Cláudio Alves and Nathaniel Rogers discuss Best Supporting Actress...

Teyana Taylor is Nathaniel's frontrunner for ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER | © Warner Bros.

CLÁUDIO: It's that time of the year again, the beginning of the awards season proper, and all the punditry that comes with it. So, let's talk predictions. After all, it can't be reviews and festival coverage at The Film Experience all of the time. Because we're actressexuals at heart and lovers of actressing at the edges, it seems appropriate that the first of these volleys would be about Best Supporting Actress.

And let me tell you, having just returned from the London premiere of Wicked: For Good, still reeling from Diane Ladd's death, two thoughts are at the forefront of my mind. Ariana Grande is going to be a force to reckon with this season, as she sinks her teeth into an expanded and, in some ways, deepened version of Glinda. Nevertheless, it's hard to consider her case without thinking about what the late great Ladd was so adamant about fighting - CATEGORY FRAUD…

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