Ralph Fiennes and Cynthia Erivo among British talent hoping for Oscar success

British stars Ralph Fiennes, Cynthia Erivo and Felicity Jones will be hoping for Oscar success in the acting categories at this year’s ceremony.

Singer and actress Erivo, 38, is nominated in the leading actress category for her role as bullied green witch, Elphaba, in the film adaptation of the hit musical Wicked.

If Erivo wins the Oscar she will earn the coveted Egot status, making her the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, alongside names such as Sir Elton John, actresses Viola Davis and Jennifer Hudson, and singer John Legend.

The Harriet actress will also perform at this year’s ceremony, the 97th Academy Awards, as will her co-star Ariana Grande, 31, who is nominated in the supporting actress category for playing Glinda in Wicked.

Also nominated in the leading actress category is Demi Moore, for the body-horror film The Substance, and Anora star Mikey Madison, who won the leading actress Bafta in February.

Other names in the running are Emilia Perez actress Karla Sofia Gascon and Brazilian star Fernanda Torres for her role in I’m Still Here.

Torres’s mother Fernanda Montenegro was nominated more than two decades ago in the best actress category for road trip movie Central Station.

Netflix musical Emilia Perez leads this year’s nominations with 13, but has also hit headlines after social media posts Gascon made about Islam, the death of George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars resurfaced following the musical’s release.

The Spanish language movie, which also stars US actresses Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez, is directed by Jacques Audiard and tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who enlists the help of a lawyer to assume a new identity as a woman.

British star Fiennes, who is nominated for papal drama Conclave, will face off against Adrien Brody for immigrant tale The Brutalist, Timothee Chalamet for Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and Colman Domingo for Sing Sing, about prisoners becoming part of a theatre group.

If Chalamet takes the Oscar, he will become the youngest winner of the prize, taking the title from Brody – who was also 29 when he won the Oscar for Holocaust drama The Pianist – by just a few months.

Sebastian Stan is also up for the category for playing Donald Trump before he became the US president in The Apprentice.

Conclave, about the election of a Catholic pope in the Vatican, and A Complete Unknown are named in eight award categories, while Wicked and The Brutalist have 10 nominations.

This year’s ceremony takes place following the wildfires which ravaged parts of Los Angeles in January.

In the supporting actor categories, The Brutalist star Jones has landed her second Oscar nomination as former Succession stars Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin secured their first Academy Awards nods.

British star Jones, who previously received a best actress nomination for biopic The Theory Of Everything, will compete against Emilia Perez star Saldana and Italian-born US star Isabella Rossellini for playing a nun in Conclave.

Also nominated in the category is US pop singer Grande for Wicked and Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown.

In the supporting actor category, Culkin is nominated for A Real Pain, for playing a cousin to Jesse Eisenberg’s character who goes on a trip to retrace his Jewish grandmother’s past escaping the Holocaust in Poland, while Strong is nominated for his role as former Trump mentor Roy Cohn in The Apprentice.

They are nominated alongside Russian actor Yura Borisov for Anora, and Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown and Australian star Guy Pearce for The Brutalist.

Sir Elton John is competing in best original song for a fifth time, on this occasion for the release of his music documentary song Never Too Late for the Disney+ film Elton John: Never Too Late, about his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert tour.

The ceremony will be hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien, and will also see performances from US rapper Doja Cat and British singer Raye.

Presenters include Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford, British stars Andrew Garfield, and Joe Alwyn, Irish Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, Scarlett Johansson, Emilia Perez actress Gomez, and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Published: 02/03/2025 by Radio NewsHub