Foreign Oscar Winners
The Oscars (acting categories) have been heavily dominated by a few countries. Nearly 150 born English born actors have been nominated and over 600 Americans have been nominated. However, but many other countries have actors that have received nominations as well. In this list we’ll go through all the other countries that have nominees. A couple notes before we start, firstly I’m going solely on place of birth for consistency. Secondly if the actor won it will either be noted or the film title will be italicized. Here we go:
Argentina (2)- Bérénice Bejo for ‘The Artist’ & Norma Aleandro for ‘Gaby: A True Story’
Australia (14)- Including: Cate Blanchett with 2 wins on 8 nominations, Geoffrey Rush with 1 win on 4 nominations, Heath Ledger for ‘Brokeback Mountain’ & ‘The Dark Knight,’ Hugh Jackman for ‘Les Miserables’, Kodi Smit-McPhee for ‘The Power of the Dog,’ & Margot Robbie for ‘I, Tonya’ & Bombshell’
Austria (10)- Including: Christoph Waltz for ‘Inglorious Basterds’ & ‘Django Unchained’ & Maximilian Schell for ‘Judgement at Nuremberg’
Belgium (1)- Audrey Hepburn with 1 win on 5 nominations
Benin (1)- Djimon Hounsou for ‘Amistad’
Brazil (1)- Fernanda Montenegro for ‘Central Station’
Bulgaria (1)- Maria Bakalova for ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’
Cambodia (1)- Haing S. Ngor for ‘The Killing Fields’
Canada (23)- The country with the most nominees behind the US & England, Canadian nominees include: Anna Paquin for ‘The Piano,’ Christopher Plummer with 1 win on 3 nominations, Dan Aykroyd for ‘Driving Miss Daisy,’ Elliot Page for ‘Juno,’ Rachel McAdams for ‘Spotlight,’ & 3x nominee, Ryan Gosling.
Colombia (1)- Catalina Sandino Moreno for ‘Maria Full of Grace’
Cuba (2)- Ana de Armas for ‘Blonde’ & Javier Bardem who has 1 win on 4 nominations
Egypt (1)- Omar Sharif for ‘Lawrence of Arabia’
Eswatini (1)- Richard E. Grant for ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’
Ethiopia (1)- Ruth Negga for ‘Loving’
France (15)- Including: Gérard Depardieu for ‘Cyrano de Bergerac,’ Jean Dujardin for ‘The Artist,’ & Marion Cotillard for ‘La Vie en Rose’ & ‘Two Days, One Night’
Georgia (1)- Akim Tamiroff for ‘The General Died at Dawn’ & ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ (Tamiroff’s birthplce is disputed. It is said to have been either in Georgia or Azerbaijan when both were parts of the Russian Empire. More sources cited Georgia, so I went with that).
Germany (6)- Including: Marlene Dietrich for ‘Morroco,’ Michael Fassbender for ‘12 Years a Slave’ & ‘Steve Jobs,’ & Sandra Hüller for ‘Anatomy of a Fall’
Greece (2)- Katina Paxinou for ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ & Melina Mercouri for ‘Never on Sunday’
Hong Kong (1)- Joan Lorring for ‘The Corn is Green’
Hungary (1)- Paul Lukas for ‘Watch on the Rhine’
India (3)- Note all 3 actresses were born in British India and are not actually Indian. Julie Christie with 1 win on 4 nominations, Merle Oberon for ‘The Dark Angel,’ & Vivien Leigh for ‘Gone with the Wind’ & ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
Iran (1)- Shohreh Aghdashloo for ‘House of Sand and Fog’
Ireland (15)- Including: Barry Keoghan, Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, & Kerry Condon all for ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ Cillian Murphy for ‘Oppenheimer,’ Paul Mescal for ‘Aftersun,’ & Richard Harris for ‘This Sporting Life’ & ‘The Field’
Israel (2)- Natalie Portman with 1 win on 3 nominations & Topol for ‘Fiddler on the Roof’
Italy (11)- Including: 6x nominee Amy Adams, Robert Benigni for ‘Life is Beautiful,’ & Sophia Loren for ‘Two Women’
Japan (8)- Including: Ken Watanbe for ‘The Last Samurai,’ Mako for ‘The Sand Pebbles,’ & Olivia de Havilland with 1 win on 4 nominations
Latvia (1)- Mikhail Baryshnikov for ‘The Turning Point’
Lithuania (1)- Laurence Harvey for ‘Room at the Top’
Malaysia (1)- Michelle Yeoh for ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
Mexico (8)- Including: Anthony Quinn with 2 wins on 4 nominations, Lupita Nyong’o for ‘12 Years a Slave,’ & Salma Hayek for ‘Frida’
Netherlands (1)- Nina Foch for ‘Executive Suite’
New Zealand (1)- Russell Crowe with 1 win on 3 nominations
North Korea (1)- Youn Yuh-jing for ‘Minari’
Northern Ireland (4)- Ciaran Hinds for ‘Belfast,’ Kenneth Branagh for ‘Henry V’ & ‘My Week with Marilyn,’ Liam Neeson for ‘Schindler’s List,’ & Stephen Rea for ‘The Crying Game’
Poland (1)- Miliza Korjus for ‘The Great Waltz’
Puerto Rico (4)- Benecio del Toro for ‘Traffic’ & ‘21 Grams,’ Joaquin Phoenix with 1 win on 4 nominations, José Ferrer with 1 win on 3 nominations, & Rita Moreno for ‘West Side Story’
Romania (1)- John Houseman for ‘The Paper Chase’
Russia (7)- Including: George Sanders for ‘All About Eve,’ Lila Kedrova for ‘Zorba the Greek,’ & Yul Brynner for ‘The King and I’
Scotland (5)- 6x nominee Deborah Kerr, Sean Connery for ‘The Untouchables,’ & Tom Conti for ‘Reuben, Reuben’
Slovakia (1)- Cornel Wilde for ‘A Song to Remember’
Somalia (1)- Barkhad Abdi for ‘Captain Phillips’
South Africa (5)- Including: Basil Rathbone for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ & ‘If I Were King’ & Charlize Theron with 1 win on 3 nominations
South Korea (1)- Steven Yeun for ‘Minari’
Spain (3)- Antonio Banderas for ‘Pain and Glory,’ Penélope Cruz with 1 win on 4 nominations, & Canary Islands native, Javier Bardem with 1 win on 4 nominations
Sweden (6)- Alicia Vikander for ‘The Danish Girl,’ Ann-Margret for ‘Carnal Knowledge’ & ‘Tommy,’ 3x nominee Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman with 3 wins on 7 nominations, Lena Olin for ‘Enemies, A Love Story,’ & Max von Sydow for ‘Pelle the Conqueror’ & ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’
Switzerland (1)- Emil Jennings who was the first ever winner of Best Actor for ‘The Last Command’ & ‘The Way of All Flesh’
Tahiti (1)- Jocelyne LaGarde for ‘Hawaii’
Thailand (1)- Hong Chau for ‘The Whale’
Ukraine (4)- Including: Lee Strasberg for ‘The Godfather Part II’ & Paul Muni with 1 win on 5 nominations
Vietnam (1)- Ke Huy Quan for ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
Wales (8)- Including: Anthony Hopkins with 2 wins on 6 nominations, Catherine Zeta-Jones for ‘Chicago,’ Christian Bale with 1 win on 4 nominations, Jonathan Pryce for ‘The Two Popes,’ & 7x nominee Richard Burton
Whew. Done.
